A mentally disabled man serving a 55-year prison sentence for an Elkhart murder 17 years ago that he maintains he did not commit is reviving his efforts for post-conviction relief, presenting new evidence in a petition he claims exonerates him.
An effort to exonerate a man with limited mental capacity who was convicted of murder 13 years ago is the latest in a string of criminal cases that have put a spotlight on the extraordinary number of wrongful convictions in Elkhart County.
A mentally disabled man challenging his conviction in a 2002 Elkhart murder has moved to withdraw his petition to vacate judgment in favor of filing a successive petition for post-conviction relief.
A northern Indiana judge has agreed to enter an injunction against a Chicago attorney accused of making “extrajudicial statements” in defense of a mentally-disabled man currently serving time for an Elkhart murder.
The Elkhart County prosecutor is accusing a Chicago attorney who is leading the charge to overturn a mentally disabled man’s conviction for an Elkhart murder of violating Indiana professional conduct rules, arguing comments the attorney made at a press conference were “extrajudicial statements” that could jeopardize his pro hac vice status.
The 7th Circuit Court of Appeals declined to allow a plaintiff to seek money damages against an Elkhart County detective who incorrectly identified latent fingerprints as those of a woman convicted of murder in 2002. The panel ruled that despite his training, the detective was still considered an expert on fingerprint identification.