New murder charge for man exonerated in 1980 killing

[Jazzy]

It's been nearly two weeks since news broke that William Macumber, a man who served nearly 40 years for a double murder in Arizona before his conviction was tossed out on appeal, is back behind bars, accused of sexually assaulting a child. Now, a murder exoneree in a Chicago case - Andre Davis - is back behind bars, too; charged with slitting a 19-year-old's throat.

In both cases, organizations dedicated to helping the wrongfully convicted worked tirelessly to free these individuals from prison.

The Arizona Republic newspaper was first to report that the 78-year-old Macumber had been arrested in Denver in October 2012 on four counts of sexual assault for crimes allegedly beginning in April 2013, five months after he was released from prison.

Macumber first made headlines when he was arrested in 1974 on charges stemming from the 1962 killings of 20-year-olds Joyce Sterrenberg and Timothy McKillop. He was convicted in 1975 and sentenced to life in prison. His conviction was tossed out on appeal but he was re-tried and convicted yet again in 1976.

It wasn't until November 2012 that Macumber was freed after attorneys working on behalf of the Arizona Justice Project sought a new trial. Prosecutors said they didn't have enough evidence to retry the case. Macumber subsequently pleaded no contest to second-degree murder under a plea agreement with prosecutors and was sentenced to time served.

In Andre Davis' case, Northwestern's Center on Wrongful Convictions helped him get his conviction overturned. According to the Chicago Tribune, the organization first became involved with the case at the urging of Judy Stikel, the aunt of the 3-year-old murder victim, after she became convinced that Davis may have been innocent.

The 53-year-old Davis, of Chicago, served 32 years in prison before being declared innocent in the 1980 rape and murder of toddler Brianna Stickel, a crime that occurred when he was a teen.

Full article

In your opinion: Do their recent arrests cast doubt on their innocence in the crimes with which they were initially charged, and then cleared?

 

[DrLeftover]

In both cases they has spent several years in Crime School.

They seemed to have learned their lessons well.