n October 1998, the victim of an abduction and rape in Houston initially described her attacker as five feet, seven inches tall and weighed 135 pounds. Even though he was six feet tall weighing 200 pounds, Josiah Sutton was identified as the perpetrator and was arrested.
An eyewitness identification and false DNA testimony resulted in the wrongful conviction of Josiah Sutton.
The Houston Crime Lab compared DNA samples from Sutton to the two DNA profiles obtained from the biological evidence at the crime scene. According to the lab, Sutton’s DNA was a match. At trial, an analyst from the crime lab testified that the DNA match was solid-the DNA profile was shared by only one person in almost 700,000. Sutton was convicted and sentenced to twenty-five years in prison.
In 2002, journalists with KHOU-TV in Houston exposed pervasive flaws with the Houston Police Department Crime Lab, causing several cases to be reexamined, including Sutton’s. Independent experts concluded that the forensic testimony at Sutton’s trial was false. When the lab retested the evidence, the DNA results excluded Sutton as the perpetrator.
Because of faulty forensic testing, false forensic testimony, and a mistaken eyewitness identification, Sutton spent over four years in prison for a crime he did not commit.
