New York Team Helps Free Man Convicted 16 Years Ago

A team from our New York office, working with the Innocence Project, helped secure the release of Alfred Swinton, who was convicted in 2001 and sentenced to 60 years for a homicide he and his family have steadfastly maintained he did not commit, a claim of innocence now corroborated by newly discovered DNA evidence and the state's forensic expert's complete recantation of his trial testimony identifying Mr. Swinton as the source of bite marks on the victim. The team petitioned for a new trial based on the previously unavailable DNA evidence and expert's recantation. In a rare outcome for a Connecticut murder case, given the strength of the exculpatory evidence and lack of evidence to support the conviction, on June 8, Judge Julia Dewey of the Hartford Superior Court granted the petition, set aside the conviction and rejected the State's demand that Mr. Swinton post $500,000 bail pending a new trial, instead releasing Mr. Swinton without bail subject to electronic monitoring.