After 37 Years, A New DNA Test for a Convicted Rapist

The Nebraska State Legislature passed the DNA Testing Act in 2001 to open an avenue for appeal for those convicted of a crime before that technology even existed.  Few cases made it through the gauntlet of objections.  Juneal Pratt did it today.

A Douglas County District Court put Pratt in jail 37 years ago for a pair of rapes he claims he did not commit.  In a ruling handed down today the justices acknowledge improvements in DNA testing are reason enough to justify new testing of the victim’s clothing to determine if there is a clear match to Pratt.

Tracy Hightower-Henne, an attorney with the Nebraska Innocence Project, called the ruling  “incredibly exciting.”  Hightower-Henne, a volunteer who argued on Pratt’s behalf, said in a prepared statement “the Nebraska Supreme Court rightly recognized that state law requires broad access to DNA testing when it might show that someone was wrongly convicted.” (Read the court's ruling here.)

Omaha World-Herald 1975

In 1975, Pratt’s arrest and conviction barely caused a ripple in Omaha.  He was 19 years old “with a history of minor, petty crimes” according to Hightower-Henne. Police accused him of raping two sisters from Sioux City, Iowa staying at an Omaha hotel. The woman each pointed out Pratt in a police lineup and claimed to recognize his voice.  His shoes and a ring he wore also seemed familiar to the women. 

The case presented the jury was nearly all circumstantial but convincing enough that Pratt was found guilty.  In jail waiting for his trial he got in a fight with a guard, adding a charge of assault to the list.  In all, Pratt’s sentence totaled 95 years in prison. 

Through it all Pratt insisted he is innocent, making repeated attempts to get the evidence reviewed.  The State of Nebraska objected throughout. 

In 2005 the courts agreed to DNA testing of the clothing worn by the victims at the scene of the rape.  That type of sophisticated lab work did not exist in 1975. The Nebraska Legislature didn’t add post-conviction DNA testing into state law until 2001. 

Tests were done at the University of Nebraska Medical Center DNA laboratory.  As summarized in the Supreme Court’s brief “most of the 2005 DNA test results were inconclusive” in linking Pratt to the crime scene.  One stain on a victim’s shirt showed DNA originating from a male other than Pratt.  Prosecuting attorneys argued it was impossible to tell if the poorly stored evidence had been contaminated.  The District Court judge felt the evidence did not warrant overturning the original conviction and, at the time, the Nebraska Supreme Court agreed. 

Pratt and volunteer attorneys from the Innocence Project and the ACLU did not give up.  In 2011 they returned to district court with a nationally recognized DNA expert who testified significant advances in methods and research made it possible to identify and segregate DNA left behind by multiple individuals.  He also stated labs were better equipped to work with aging and degraded evidence.  “The previous test was not the final answer,” Hightower-Henne said.  “Scientific improvements in DNA testing mean that while the last test gave no definitive answer, a test today will show whether Mr. Pratt’s or another male’s DNA was present.” 

 

Juneal Pratt (Dept. of Corrections)

The District Court denied the request for additional testing.  The Supreme Court disagreed. Relying on the language in Nebraska’s DNA Testing Act the court’s majority wrote “the district court clearly erred in determining that test results that could identify another male’s semen on the victims’ clothing would have no bearing on Pratt’s guilt or culpability.”

While the court ordered an immediate, updated inventory of all the evidence still being held in the original rape case, it is not clear how quickly the new tests can be performed.  

Listen to the original oral arguments before the Nebraska Supreme Court here.

The Death of Amanda Baker and the Risky Business of Jail Guards.

The murder of a jail guard in Nebraska is rare. It’s been difficult to track down how many corrections officers and guards have been killed while on duty. We do know one more was added to the list last Friday.

Amanda Baker

For Scottsbluff, Neb., the murder of Amanda Beth Baker hit just as hard as the death of any law enforcement officer killed on the job. (There had not been an officer murdered in Scotts Bluff County since 1923.) The fact that Baker was only 24 and the inmate accused of killing her is only 15 might make it even more poignant and unnerving.

Funeral services for Baker will be held Saturday.  She was a single mother of a 6-year-old son who had returned to school hoping to stay in corrections, but as a nurse.   A statement issued by her family through the sheriff's department said: "Amanda Baker was a light in our world that was blown out much too early. With a great sense of humor and a smile that took over her whole face, any room would brighten when she entered."

Dylan Cardeilhac was in court today answering a charge of first-degree murder. He had already been busted on armed robbery. That’s where the details of the attack were made public, in paperwork filed in County Court. 

Here’s how Kevin Mooney of KNEB radio summarized the police report:

The arrest affidavit filed in Scotts Bluff County Court by sheriff's investigator Matt Holcomb says video from a camera in the cell shows Cardeilhac had talked Baker into coming into the cell to look at something on the floor. The documents say the video shows (that) as Baker's back was turned to Cardeilhac, he jumped on her back and wrapped both arms around her back and neck, the attack lasting just over two and a half minutes. 

The documents say after the attack Cardeilhac got the facility keys off Baker's belt, left the room, and opened and entered a number of cells that housed other juvenile offenders in the facility. A short time after the attack he was located in another cell and relocated to a secure cell by corrections officer Mark Botzki, who noticed a number of open doors and saw things were not as usual.

Dylan Cardeilhac is lead into court (Courtesy KOTA)

The attack only lasted a couple of minutes. About 12 hours later doctors declared Baker dead.

It was the middle of the night when Baker was called over by Cardeilhac to his cell. Throughout the state there are jail guards and sheriff deputies who work that shift every night. It takes an event like this reminds everyone it is an incredibly boring job that can become, in seconds, horribly risky.

Last fall, after two Douglas County corrections officers were injured on the job within days of each other, more rigid safety procedures were put in place. Douglas County Corrections Director Mark Foxall told the Omaha World-Herald at the time that a felony assault “on a guard typically occurs once or twice a month, a number that rises with the inmate population.”

It’s been 50 years since a guard has been killed at the Nebraska State Penitentiary. That was correctional officer John Claussen, stabbed to death in the prison’s print shop. Claussen was 70 years old. The inmate convicted of killing him died in prison in 2002, but not before he’d murdered another inmate.

Norfolk News-Journal, March 15, 1912

The penitentiary marked its deadliest day on March 14, 1912, when the warden, a deputy warden and a guard were gunned down during a dramatic prison escape in the midst of a blizzard. Three inmates escaped and later killed a farmer near Gretna. Eventually two were killed by police and the third returned to prison.

Only two months later Deputy Warden Robert Taylor was stabbed to death by convict James B. King following a church service. King was the last man in Nebraska to die by hanging.

In all, six employees of the Nebraska Department of Correctional Services have died while on duty.

Meanwhile, Scottsbluff grieves Amanda Baker. The tributes from other corrections officers and those in law enforcement have filled a tribute page set up online. 

Typical was a note from a writer identified as working for corrections in Saunders County, Neb.

Know that the thoughts and prayers of all CO's here in the great state of Nebraska are with your son, your family and co-workers. Your time on this earth was short, but you served our citizens and your son well. Protecting them from the worst of the worst. Lay your shield at the doors of heaven and know we have your watch. Thank you for your service and ultimate sacrifice!

Life sentences thrown out for three juvenile murderers. 23 more could be next.

It’s considered a big step for juvenile justice advocates.  Those favoring tough sentences are not pleased, even if they knew it was coming.

Image Courtesy Photo.com

Douglas Mantich, Eric Ramirez, and Juan Castaneda all committed murder.  They were also teenagers at the time and sentenced to spend the rest of their lives in prison.  Two years ago the rules changed when the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that no juvenile should be handed a mandatory life sentence.  It was considered cruel and unusual punishment.

Nebraska had been slower than some states to follow the Supreme Court’s mandate.  That changed today.

All three inmates had their life sentences overturned by the Nebraska Supreme Court.  Each will not get a new sentencing hearing in the District Court which found them guilty and sent them to jail.  The three will be the first inmates given reduced sentences since the federal court ruling and a resulting change in Nebraska state law ending life sentences for juveniles.

Today’s rulings will likely lead to hearings for 23 others also put away for life when they were still juveniles.  The key was the ruling in Mantich’s case, in which a majority of the court stated that even though the U.S. Supreme Court made its decision only two years ago, it applies retroactively to convictions handed out years earlier.  Two justices in the minority strongly dissented.

It appears all 26 inmates facing a life sentence have filed briefs to have their sentences reviewed, according to the Nebraska Commission on Public Advocacy, which is handling some of the case.  There may be additional delays in setting hearing dates while attorneys wait to see if the state Supreme Court allows a review of today’s rulings.

The cases sent back today for re-sentencing (click on the link to read the rulings).

• Douglas Mantich was 16-years-old living in Omaha when he was involved in a gang-related murder of Henry Thompson in 1993.

• Juan Castaneda and Eric Ramirez were both convicted of several charges related to three separate shootings that occurred in Omaha in 2008.  They were part of a group involved in the killing of Luis Silva and Tari Glinsmann during a series of robberies.  Castaneda was 15-years-old at the time. Ramirez was 17.

  

  Eric Mantich, Eric Ramirez, Juan Castaneda (Dept. of Corrections)