Solved UM Cases Where an Innocent Person May Be Incarcerated

[RobinW]

I've always wondered how many UM cases there are where the crime has officially been "solved", but there's a good possibility that the person convicted of said crime might actually be innocent. I'm not talking about "final appeal" cases, but crimes which were unsolved at the time they aired on the show, but eventually lead to the incarceration of someone who may not have been responsible. Some of them include:

-Doreen Picard & Susan Leferte: Raymond "Beaver" Tempest was convicted of the murder of Picard and brutal assault on Leferte, but there are a lot of people who believe Tempest is innocent and was railroaded by the cops to help protect the real killer, a currently deceased man named Donald Dagesse. Apparently, the 3-year old girl who was present at the crime did not ID Tempest as the attacker (even though she knew him personally), but got genuinely perturbed on at least one occasion while she was in Dagesse's presence and seemed to indicate he might be responsible.

-Harold & Thelma Swain: Dennis Perry was convicted of their murders. A very controversial case since LE claims that UM lost the killer's eyeglasses which Robert Stack held up during the episode, a piece of evidence which could have exonerated Perry (since he had 20/20 vision and did not require glasses)! However, by the sound of things, all of the police work here was incredibly sloppy and they lost many key pieces of evidence. Perry was also verified to be at work several hours away during the time the crime took place, but he somehow still got convicted anyway.

-Barbara Jean Horn: Walter Ogrod confessed to her murder and is currently sitting on death row. However, he also happens to be mentally handicapped and it seems likely the confession was coerced. He also does not resemble the composite sketch of the suspect and likely would have been identified by the witnesses since he lived in their neighborhood. A convicted child murderer named Raymond Sheehan seems like the more likely perpetrator. Ogrod was also nearly acquitted for the crime at his first trial when a juror suddenly changed his mind while the verdict was being read!

There are also a few cases where a suspect was convicted of a crime and later released after a light sentence, but there's a marginal chance they may have been innocent:

-Kay Hall: Her husband, Bob Hall, was convicted of running her over, but later entered an Alford plea and was released on 15 years probation. He definitely had the motive to kill his wife because of a huge inheritance he would receive, but there's still a lot of questions about whether he could have pulled off the crime in such a limited time frame. Bob has always maintained his innocence, but even if that's true, the case is officially closed.

-Tommy Gibson: His father, Larry Gibson, was convicted of second-degree manslaughter in relation to Tommy's disappearance and was released after serving 18 months of a three-year sentence. It seems pretty likely that Larry was somehow responsible for his son's death, but he's always maintained his innocence and Tommy's body has never been found, so anything's possible, I guess.

Any others you can think of?

[MegtheEgg86]

Originally Posted by RobinW

-Kay Hall: Her husband, Bob Hall, was convicted of running her over, but later entered an Alford plea and was released on 15 years probation. He definitely had the motive to kill his wife because of a huge inheritance he would receive, but there's still a lot of questions about whether he could have pulled off the crime in such a limited time frame. Bob has always maintained his innocence, but even if that's true, the case is officially closed.

This is actually the first one I thought of. I always thought Bob Hall got BIG TIME railroaded.

What about Dr. John Brannion? There was a notable timeline discrepancy in that story as well. It's possible he might have contracted hit men to commit his wife's murder, but there's really not a lot of evidence to suggest that.

ETA: Scratch that--doesn't really fit your description. But how about Frank Gable, who went to prison for the murder of Michael Francke? He's always maintained his innocence, and there is some interesting evidence that might suggest that could be true.

[RobinW]

Originally Posted by MegtheEgg86

ETA: Scratch that--doesn't really fit your description. But how about Frank Gable, who went to prison for the murder of Michael Francke? He's always maintained his innocence, and there is some interesting evidence that might suggest that could be true.

Ah yes, that was almost an unofficial Final Appeal segment from UM as they acknowledged the possibility that Gable might be innocent, but didn't interview him or focus too much on the case against him. There was a "Free Frank Gable" website that had a lot of interesting info about the case, but it looks like it's no longer up.

Of course, there are also quite a few incarcerated UM criminals (i.e. Frank Casteel, Jerry Strickland) who still steadfastly proclaim their innocence, but no one believes them.

[MegtheEgg86]

Originally Posted by RobinW

Of course, there are also quite a few incarcerated UM criminals (i.e. Frank Casteel, Jerry Strickland) who still steadfastly proclaim their innocence, but no one believes them.

Frank Casteel is a pretty heated one. While I think he was definitely the one who did the actual shooting, I think there are at least two people who were accessories to that crime that never were charged.

[Spark Of Spirit]

Tommy Ziegler is one. I'm actually quite certain he didn't do it, though that's partially because the prosecution's theory is paper thin and comes from shady sources.

I know it's Final Appeal, but it's always the first thing that comes to mind when topics like this come up.

[WishfulDreamer]

Can we add Margot Freshwater? I still think she was an innocent bystander and shouldn't be put away for someone else's actions.

Bob Hall didn't seem guilty to me. I don't think he could have done the killing in the short amount of time, particularly while so intoxicated.

I REALLY want to know more about the Picard/Laferte attack and why they believed Tempest is innocent. Any good links?

[RobinW]

Originally Posted by WishfulDreamer

I REALLY want to know more about the Picard/Laferte attack and why they believed Tempest is innocent. Any good links?

Oh yes, this website gives TONS of details about the whole thing. Apparently, the only real evidence against Tempest was a couple of witnesses who claimed he bragged about the attack, but were likely coerced by police.
http://caught.net/cases/beaver1.htm

If UM ever returned and did new Final Appeal cases, this would definitely make for an interesting segment.