Tejas Bhatt is a public defender in New Haven. The views in this column are his alone and do not reflect those of the Division of Public Defender Services. Nothing in this column should be construed as legal advice.
After deliberating for nearly 10 months, in late July 2013, the Connecticut Supreme Court issued its opinion in a case called Sean Adams v. Commissioner, which involved a murder from 1996.
The Court had been asked to decide whether a prosecutor’s failure to correct a key witness’ perjured testimony about any agreement the witness had entered into was sufficient to reverse the conviction.
The court found it was. A few days later Michael Dearington, the State’s Attorney for New Haven — now retiring after an illustrious 40-year career — declined to re-prosecute Adams and his three co-defendants, setting them free.
Similarly, in March 2014, Glenn Ford was exonerated by a court in Louisiana and his conviction reversed because, according to prosecutors, there was evidence that Ford “was neither present at, nor a participant in, the robbery and murder.” He was released from the notorious Angola Prison after serving 30 years on death row there — an American record.
See the complete story at CT News Junkie.
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