Skip navigation
Criminal Legal News
CLN bookstore
× You have 2 more free articles available this month. Subscribe today.

Man Freed Who Sat in Prison Nearly 30 Years While Prosecutors Withheld Evidence of Innocence

Loaded on Nov. 18, 2019 by Dale Chappell published in Criminal Legal News December, 2019, page 39
Filed under: Prosecutor/Attorney General Misconduct, Release and Reentry, Wrongful Conviction. Location: Pennsylvania.

by Dale Chappell

A man who sat in prison for almost 30 years because prosecutors and police withheld evidence that someone else committed the crime was set free July 16, 2019, after a Philadelphia judge said he was “likely innocent.”

In 1993, Chester Hollman III was convicted and sent to prison for life without parole for the murder of an exchange student in 1991. Hollman was arrested when the vehicle he was driving matched the getaway car involved in the crime.

However, police and prosecutors always had evidence that someone else might have committed the crime. They even had the name of the driver of the getaway car. But they never told Hollman’s lawyers.

The evidence was finally disclosed when Assistant District Attorney Patricia Cummings, head of the DA’s conviction integrity unit, turned over the evidence to Hollman. It was “pretty clear,” she said, that Hollman’s case probably wouldn’t have gone to trial, had he known about the evidence held by the state.

“I don’t think it’s really hit me yet,” Hollman said about his release. “Knowing that you’re in prison for something that you didn’t do and trying to convince people that you’re not lying ... it’s an uphill battle.”

Alan Tauber, Hollman’s lawyer, said Hollman had the best years of his life stolen from him. “We are only sorry that his mother did not live to see Chester declared an innocent man,” he said. 

---

Source: cnn.com

As a digital subscriber to Criminal Legal News, you can access full text and downloads for this and other premium content.

Subscribe today

Already a subscriber? Login

More from this issue:

  1. News in Brief
  2. $750,000 Settlement for St. Louis County Cops Shooting Dog, by Jayson Hawkins
  3. The Two-Edged Sword of DNA Exonerates Another Prisoner, by Edward Lyon
  4. National Fingerprint Database Frees Man After 36 Years, by Jayson Hawkins
  5. Free Speech Is Sometimes Expensive, by Edward Lyon
  6. New York City Cops Can Always Tell by Just the Smell, by Edward Lyon
  7. Man Freed Who Sat in Prison Nearly 30 Years While Prosecutors Withheld Evidence of Innocence, by Dale Chappell
  8. Payouts for Police Misconduct Claims Rise While Number of Claims Appear to Fall, by Douglas Ankney
  9. Michigan Supreme Court Reverses Criminal Sexual Conduct Convictions in Two Consolidated Cases Due to Improperly Admitted Expert Testimony, by Douglas Ankney
  10. High Bail Amounts Lead to Sharp Increase in Franklin, PA, Jail Population, by Dale Chappell
  11. New Law Makes It Harder for California’s Cops to Get Away with Killing People, by Douglas Ankney
  12. Not Guilty but Punished Anyway, by Douglas Ankney
  13. Maryland Court of Appeals Announces Circuit Court Retains Authority to Exercise Its Revisory Power for Up to Five Years After Granting Belated Postconviction Motion, by Douglas Ankney
  14. Indiana Supreme Court: Postconviction Petition Addressing Only Issues From New Trial, New Sentencing, or New Appeal From Federal Court via Habeas Proceedings Is Not a Second Petition Under State Law, by Douglas Ankney
  15. Ninth Circuit: Federal Sentencing Court Must Hear Defendant Before Determining If Acceptance of Responsibility Reduction Applies, by David Reutter
  16. Sixth Circuit Grants § 2254 Habeas Relief in Unusual Case of Attorney Failing to Initiate Plea Negotiations, by Douglas Ankney
  17. Law Professor Peeks at Prosecutor’s Veiled DNA Database, by Douglas Ankney
  18. Fifth Circuit: Practices of Orleans Parish Judges in Collecting Fines and Fees Violates Due Process, by Douglas Ankney
  19. Seventh Circuit Vacates Conviction and Remands for a Franks Hearing, by Douglas Ankney
  20. California Supreme Court Holds Discovery Statute Requiring ‘Good Cause’ Not Applicable When Evidence Held by Court, by Dale Chappell
  21. Minnesota Supreme Court Announces Heightened Pleading Standard for Birchfield/Johnson Claims Raised in Collateral Postconviction Proceedings, by Douglas Ankney
  22. Missouri Supreme Court Clarifies Defendant Is Entitled to Self-Defense Instruction When Substantial Evidence Supports Instruction Regardless of Whether Defendant Presented Evidence Contrary to Self-Defense, by Douglas Ankney
  23. Ninth Circuit Reverses Convictions Where Trial Court Failed to Provide Oral Jury Instructions, by Chad Marks
  24. Tenth Circuit: ‘Relevant Background Law’ Trumps Unclear Record in Granting § 2255 Relief From Johnson Error, by Michael Berk
  25. Another notable (but ultimately disappointing) ruling about sentence reductions under § 3582(c)(1)(A) after FIRST STEP Act, by Professor Douglas A. Berman
  26. Maryland Court of Appeals Abrogates Rule Requiring Corroboration of Accomplices’ Testimony and Announces New Rule, by Douglas Ankney
  27. In Landmark Opinion, Colorado Supreme Court Announces Courts May Not Sentence Defendant to Both Prison and Probation in Multi-Count Cases, by Richard Resch
  28. 9th Circuit: Sentence Under 18 U.S.C. § 3583(k) Violated Ex Post Facto Clause When Underlying Offense Was Committed in 2005, by Douglas Ankney
  29. California Supreme Court: Where Electronics Search Condition of Probation Is Not Reasonably Related to Future Criminality, Condition Is Invalid, by Douglas Ankney
  30. Risk Assessments in Cook County Ineffective, by Jayson Hawkins
  31. $2.4 Million Paid by Sacramento in Wrongful Death Suit of Stephon Clark, by Kevin Bliss
  32. Second Circuit: Federal Habeas Relief Warranted Where State Trial Court’s Evidentiary Rulings Deprived Defendant of Right to Present a Complete Defense, by Douglas Ankney
  33. South Carolina Supreme Court Grants New Trial Based on IAC Because of Botched Alibi Defense, by Dale Chappell
  34. Massachusetts Supreme Court Suppresses Evidence Obtained After Miranda Warnings Translated into Spanish Deemed Incapable of Conveying Meaningful Advice, by David Reutter
  35. Civil Death Laws: When Life is Death, by Jayson Hawkins
  36. 10th Circuit: Child Porn Stored on Multiple Devices Constitutes One Count of Possession Under 18 U.S.C. § 2252A(a)(5)(B), by Douglas Ankney
  37. Tell Me What I Want to Hear, Not What I Need to Hear: How Confirmation Bias Causes Wrongful Convictions, by Dale Chappell
  38. Flaws in Mobile Phone Records Free Danish Prisoners, by Jayson Hawkins
  39. Second Circuit Clarifies Conditions for Releasing a Defendant on Bail to Home Detention With Private Armed Security Guards, by Douglas Ankney
  40. Eighth Circuit Vacates Sentence for Improper Supervision Length After ACCA Enhancement Removed, by Anthony Accurso
  41. Oregon Supreme Court Explains PCR ‘Escape Clause’ Availability for Untimely Filed Petitions, by Mark Wilson
  42. Roadmap for Filing a Second or Successive § 2255 Motion Under Davis, by Dale Chappell
  43. Law Crazy, Government’s Insatiable Desire to Criminalize All Facets of Life, by Edward Lyon
  44. Why Juries Need Expert Help Assessing Jailhouse Informants, by Alexandra Natapoff
  45. Massachusetts Supreme Court Suppresses Evidence Obtained Following Illegally Prolonged Traffic Stop, Orders New Trial, by Douglas Ankney
  46. How the Secretive 'Discipline' Process for Federal Prosecutors Buries Misconduct Cases, by Brooke Williams, Samata Joshi, Shawn Musgrave

More from Dale Chappell:

More from these topics:

 

 

CLN Subscribe Now Ad 450x600
Advertise here
PLN Subscribe Now Ad