Man Cleared After 22 Years in Prison
Monday April 2, 2007 10:01 PM
By CAROLYN THOMPSON
Associated Press Writer
BUFFALO, N.Y. (AP) - Rape convictions that placed Anthony Capozzi to prison for the past 22 years were erased Monday because of recently found DNA evidence that tied the crimes to another man.
A prosecutor last week declared Capozzi, 50, exonerated. He is expected to be freed from prison this week.
``There is a big load lifted off,'' said his lawyer, Thomas D'Agostino.
Capozzi was not in court for the seven-minute hearing when Erie County Judge Shirley Troutman threw out the two 1987 rape convictions. He remains at the Central New York Psychiatric Center in Marcy while authorities arrange for his release.
D'Agostino has said he is prepared to sue the state for wrongful imprisonment as a way to ensure Capozzi is taken care of. Before being sent to prison, Capozzi suffered from schizophrenia.
Capozzi was found guilty of the rapes Feb. 6, 1987, and sentenced to a term of 11 to 35 years. He had been denied parole five times since becoming eligible in 1997.
The break in his case came with the Jan. 15 arrest of Altemio Sanchez, 49, after DNA evidence allegedly identified him as a serial criminal known as the Bike Path Rapist.
After linking Sanchez to three murders and several rapes dating to 1981, investigators questioned whether the 1983 and 1984 attacks for which Capozzi was convicted - which occurred in the same park as two of the rapes linked to Sanchez - might also have been committed by the Bike Path Rapist.
Tests were conducted on DNA evidence collected after those two rapes and recently found at the Erie County Medical Center, and Erie County District Attorney Frank Clark announced last week that the DNA matched Sanchez, not Capozzi.
Capozzi resembled Sanchez at the time of the rapes, and the victims identified him in lineups.
Sanchez has pleaded not guilty to charges of murdering two women in the early 1990s and one woman last fall. He is not charged in any of the rapes because the five-year statute of limitations has expired.
LinkHere
By CAROLYN THOMPSON
Associated Press Writer
BUFFALO, N.Y. (AP) - Rape convictions that placed Anthony Capozzi to prison for the past 22 years were erased Monday because of recently found DNA evidence that tied the crimes to another man.
A prosecutor last week declared Capozzi, 50, exonerated. He is expected to be freed from prison this week.
``There is a big load lifted off,'' said his lawyer, Thomas D'Agostino.
Capozzi was not in court for the seven-minute hearing when Erie County Judge Shirley Troutman threw out the two 1987 rape convictions. He remains at the Central New York Psychiatric Center in Marcy while authorities arrange for his release.
D'Agostino has said he is prepared to sue the state for wrongful imprisonment as a way to ensure Capozzi is taken care of. Before being sent to prison, Capozzi suffered from schizophrenia.
Capozzi was found guilty of the rapes Feb. 6, 1987, and sentenced to a term of 11 to 35 years. He had been denied parole five times since becoming eligible in 1997.
The break in his case came with the Jan. 15 arrest of Altemio Sanchez, 49, after DNA evidence allegedly identified him as a serial criminal known as the Bike Path Rapist.
After linking Sanchez to three murders and several rapes dating to 1981, investigators questioned whether the 1983 and 1984 attacks for which Capozzi was convicted - which occurred in the same park as two of the rapes linked to Sanchez - might also have been committed by the Bike Path Rapist.
Tests were conducted on DNA evidence collected after those two rapes and recently found at the Erie County Medical Center, and Erie County District Attorney Frank Clark announced last week that the DNA matched Sanchez, not Capozzi.
Capozzi resembled Sanchez at the time of the rapes, and the victims identified him in lineups.
Sanchez has pleaded not guilty to charges of murdering two women in the early 1990s and one woman last fall. He is not charged in any of the rapes because the five-year statute of limitations has expired.
LinkHere
posted by Kangaroo Brisbane Australia at 4:13 AM
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