Ernest Sonnier
In 1986, Ernest Lee Sonnier was wrongfully convicted of aggravated kidnapping and rape in Houston and sentenced to life in prison. Twenty-three years later, DNA testing proved his innocence. He became the sixth man in Harris County to be freed based on evidence of faulty forensics from the Houston Police Department Crime Lab.
Sonnier’s conviction was based largely on misleading forensic testimony and a mistaken eyewitness identification. The victim picked Sonnier out of a photo lineup almost six months after the crime occurred and later identified him in a live lineup. At trial, the victim again identified Sonnier as her attacker, but conceded that the photo of Sonnier looked more like her assailant than did the man in the courtroom.
In addition to the victim’s identification the jury was given faulty forensic testimony skewed to bolster the prosecution’s case. A Houston Crime Lab analyst testified narrowly about the rape kit slides, which evidence did not match Sonnier’s blood type, and affirmed a prosecution effort to explain away the lack of a match by suggesting that the victim’s blood type could have masked the perpetrator’s. In fact, lab records contain no indication of scientific testing or results to support this theory. The analyst also failed to disclose that additional semen evidence from the victim’s clothing was tested, and that all of it failed to match Sonnier’s blood type Jurors were left with an incomplete and misleading picture of the available evidence. Moreover, Sonnier’s attorney did not call a single witness in his defense.
In 2008 a private laboratory, Orchid Cellmark, conducted multiple rounds of DNA analysis on all available evidence. None of the results matched Sonnier as the perpetrator. On the contrary, two convicted felons were implicated by the DNA evidence. Because the statute of limitations has expired, neither is likely to be charged with the crime.
Based on these results, Ernest Sonnier was freed on Friday, August 7, 2009, pending the Court of Criminal Appeals review of the District Court’s recommendation to vacate his conviction. Sonnier will likely become the 41st exoneree in Texas to be cleared by DNA evidence.
