Clarence Elkins
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Clarence Elkins Sr. is an American citizen who was exonerated by DNA testing after he served 6.5 years in prison for a murder and rapes he did not commit. [1]
The Case
| This section of a biography of a living person does not include any references or sources. (January 2012) |
In the early hours of June 7, 1998, Clarence Elkins’ mother-in-law, Judy Johnson, and his six year old niece were brutally attacked by an intruder in Johnson’s home in Summit County, Ohio. Johnson was beaten, strangled to death, and then raped. His niece was hit, sexually assaulted, and strangled to the point of unconsciousness, but survived. When his niece awoke, she went to a neighbor’s house in order to get help and allegedly told the neighbor that her uncle, Elkins, was the one who attacked her and killed her grandmother. Hours after the attack, Elkins was arrested. At trial, the prosecution theorized that Elkins killed his mother-in-law out of frustration because she was meddling in his rocky marriage to her daughter, Melinda. The case against Elkins was largely built on circumstantial evidence as investigators found no signs of forced entry, and no fingerprints or hairs linking Elkins to the scene. Elkins’ alibi was also corroborated by neighbors and his wife, Melinda, who testified that he had been out with friends and then home at the time of the crime. Based on the testimony of Elkins’ niece identifying him as her attacker, Elkins was convicted of murder, attempted aggravated murder, rape, and felonious assault. He was sentenced to life imprisonment. Melinda was diligent in her quest to find her mother's killer and to free her husband. Years after the attack, Elkins’ niece recanted her statements and offered new details. She said her attacker’s eyes were brown—Elkins has blue eyes. She also said her attacker wore cowboy boots and in a videotaped deposition, she said the killer was someone other than Elkins. Prosecutors believed the girl had been coached by her family members who wanted Elkins freed.
In 2004, the Ohio Innocence Project took the case and had extensive DNA testing conducted. Male DNA that did not belong to Elkins was found in crucial locations on both victims (vaginal cavity of Johnson and panties of niece). Elkins’ DNA was not found anywhere at the crime scene. Based on this new evidence, the Ohio Innocence Project sought a new trial for Elkins in a three-day hearing held in March 2005. In July 2005, the trial court denied the motion, effectively meaning that Elkins would have to spend the rest of his life in prison despite DNA test results proving that someone else committed the crimes. Shortly after this troubling loss, the Elkins defense team learned of a new suspect through Melinda, Earl Mann, a sex offender who resembled Elkins in appearance and who, it was discovered, had been staying in the neighborhood at the time the crimes were committed. Ironically, at the time this was discovered, Mann was an inmate in the same prison as Elkins. Alerted to this fact, Elkins acted as his own detective and collected Mann’s DNA from a cigarette butt Mann had abandoned in a clean ashtray. After Elkins mailed the butt to a DNA lab, the results came back proving that Mann was the true perpetrator and confirming that Elkins was innocent.
On December 15, 2005, Elkins was exonerated and left prison a free man. Ten years after the crimes were committed, in 2008, Mann was convicted of the murder of Elkins’ mother-in-law and of the attack on his niece. He is serving a life sentence without the possibility of parole.
Reform Efforts
Clarence Elkins was instrumental in getting Ohio to pass Senate Bill 77, also known as Ohio’s Innocence Protection Act.[2] This bill contains provisions requiring the police to follow best practices for eyewitness identifications, provides incentives for the videotaping of interrogations, and requires that DNA be preserved in homicide and sexual assault cases, among other things. Elkins spent countless hours pressing for what has been called the “national model” of innocence reform bills, and the “most important piece of criminal justice legislation in Ohio in a century.”[3] [4]
Clarence also engages in public speaking about his case and wrongful convictions generally at universities and other locations across the United States.
Philanthropy
In 2011, Clarence and his wife Molly established the Clarence Elkins Scholarship at the University of Cincinnati College of Law.[5] This scholarship provides $5,000 annually to the Ohio Innocence Project housed at UC Law School, and includes a scholarship to the two students in the Ohio Innocence Project each year who worked the hardest and most diligently on their cases.
References
- ^ http://www.innocenceproject.org/Content/Clarence_Elkins.php
- ^ Salzberg, Alana. "Ohio Passes Major Package of Reforms on Wrongful Convictions; Governor Is Expected to Sign Bill, Making Ohio a National Model." The Innocence Project. Innocence Project, n.d. Web. 31 Dec 2011. <http://www.innocenceproject.org/Content/Ohio_Passes_Major_Package_of_Reforms_on_Wrongful_Convictions_Governor_Is_Expected_to_Sign_Bill_Making_Ohio_a_National_Model.php>.
- ^ http://www.legislature.state.oh.us/bills.cfm?ID=128_SB_77
- ^ http://www.ohioattorneygeneral.gov/SB77
- ^ University of Cincinnati College of Law, . "OIP Exoneree Clarence Elkins Creates Clarence Elkins Scholarship for OIP Fellows." University of Cincinnati College of Law. University of Cincinnati College of Law , n.d. Web. 31 Dec 2011. <http://www.law.uc.edu/news/oip-elkins-scholarship>.