Man’s conviction for 1989 rape vacated

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A Lake Superior Court has vacated the conviction and dismissed the charges against a Gary man who was wrongly punished for a 1989 rape and served his full sentence.

Roosevelt Glenn was one of five men accused of abducting and raping a woman in Hammond. Only Glenn and Darryl Pinkins were convicted despite questionable evidence. Pinkins was sentenced to 65 years but walked out of prison a free man in April 2016 after his conviction was vacated and the charges dismissed. Glenn was sentenced to 35 years and was released in 2009.
 
On Jan. 30, Temporary Judge T. Edward Page granted Glenn’s petition for post-conviction relief, which requested that the defendant’s judgment of conviction and sentence be vacated based on newly discovered evidence. With the order, Glenn is no longer a convicted rapist.

Both Glenn and Pinkins had their cases picked up by the Indiana University Robert H. McKinney Wrongful Conviction Clinic. Professor Fran Watson and her students represented the pair beginning in 1999 after received a referral from the Innocence Project.

None of the DNA evidence left at the scene of the rape matched either Glenn or Pinkins. Instead the men were convicted by slim evidence, including the victim’s single identification made five months after the crime, testimony based on a faulty hair comparison and the use of serology inclusion evidence.  

Glenn’s first request for post-conviction relief was denied by Page in June 2008. However with Watson’s help, he was able to continue his legal challenge and convince the Indiana Court of Appeals to allow the process to move forward based on claims of new DNA technology and actual innocence.

The CBS news show, “48 Hours,” will profile Pinkins and Glenn on Feb. 4, highlighting the more than 15 years of work by the IU McKinney team.  

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