Mistaken Identity Rape Case in Massachusetts Finally Comes to an End

August 12, 2011

Sexual assault charges can bring tremendous notoriety and an immediate risk to the accused offender's freedom. Law enforcement gives cases involving rape, child molestation, indecent assault and other sex crimes focused attention, and the police often rush to apprehend a suspect if the victim does not personally know the alleged assailant. This means that anyone matching the description given by the victim will be at risk for being accused and charged with the crime, particularly if that person is at the wrong place at the wrong time.

Such was the case when a so-called "John Doe" indictment led to a Massachusetts man being wrongly convicted of raping a teenager in 1992. Anthony Powell then spent the next 12 years in prison for a crime he did not commit before he was exonerated by DNA testing.

Powell was apprehended at a public skating rink the day after the girl was raped at gunpoint, because he matched her description of the actual rapist, who had arranged to meet her there. Eyewitness misidentification, whether from witness descriptions or police line-ups is a weak link in the criminal justice system. This is particularly true in cases such as sexual assault where the victim may not have been in a position to see her attacker clearly or where the mental stress of the event could affect her memory.

Mr. Powell finally gained his freedom when the Massachusetts Committee for Public Counsel Services appointed an attorney to help him obtain DNA testing of a semen sample from the rape kit. According to the New England Innocence Project, Massachusetts is one of only two states that have not passed laws to allow convicts to gain access to DNA evidence for testing, as well as the only state where preservation of such evidence is not required.

Ironically, the test also revealed the identity of the man who committed the rape and two other Boston sex crimes that occurred in 1991. The case has finally reached its just conclusion with Jerry Dixon's guilty plea. Mr. Powell himself issued a powerful statement about what he has learned in the past 20 years: "If you think that an innocent person cannot be convicted of a crime in Massachusetts, you are fooling yourself; it happened to me. There are innocent people in prison right now.''

Solid legal advice and aggressive advocacy from a Massachusetts criminal defense lawyer is an asset for individuals who need serious protection from an undeserved loss of liberty. It is also important to be represented by an attorney who is committed to protecting all who are accused, regardless of the nature of the crime

Article provided by Law Office of Michael J. Brothers
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