Pennsylvania+Innocence+Case-Eyewitness+Identification+2011

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**Drew Whitely**- In 1989, Drew Whitley was convicted of the murder of a McDonald’s night manager in Duquesne, Pennsylvania. On May 1, 2006, Drew Whitley was exonerated after post-conviction DNA testing proved that he was not the man who wore the mask used by the perpetrator to conceal his face from eyewitnesses.



__Evidence__  The police collected a trench coat, hat, and a 12-inch long nylon stocking from the parking lot. At trial, an Allegheny County Crime Laboratory technician testified that tiny hairs in the mask were similar to Whitley’s hairs, but could not be certain they were his. The technician also testified that saliva from the mask did not match Whitley’s. The prosecutor, argued in his closing arguments that the hairs were positively Whitley’s.

 Police also collected Whitley’s tennis shoes, which had a drop of blood on them. Whitley told police that his son had bled on his shoes the day before. When testing was performed, the blood was found to be type A. Both the victim and Whitley’s son had type A blood.

 Based on this evidence and the identifications, Whitley was convicted of second degree murder and sentenced to life in prison.

 Sixteen and a half years later, DNA tests proved that the hairs in the mask were indeed not Drew Whitley. Other false eyewitness identifications led Whitley to be convicted innocently and having served a great deal of time in prison.