Joseph Buffey: New Evidence of Innocence

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Innocence Project Newsletter of June 29, 2012

New Evidence of Innocence in Case of Joseph Buffey

The Innocence Project recently filed a petition presenting new DNA evidence that proves the innocence of Joseph Buffey, of Clarksburg, West Virginia. Buffey pled guilty of the rape and robbery of an elderly woman in 2001 after having falsely confessed to the crime. Recent DNA testing on crime scene evidence definitively excludes Buffey, yet local officials have ignored the results and have refused to enter the DNA profile into a national database to see if it can identify the true perpetrator.

One week after the rape and robbery, Buffey and two other men were arrested in connection to a string of robberies. After being questioned for nearly eight hours, Buffey confessed to the rape, then recanted minutes later. According to the petition, the lead detective presented at least four pieces of false information to the grand jury.

The Innocence Project has requested a hearing to consider the petition and seeks to vacate Buffey’s conviction. Watch a video http://www.innocenceproject.org/underst ... tr=0&par=1 that explains how false confessions happen, then read how the mandatory recording of confessions http://www.innocenceproject.org/fix/Fal ... tr=0&par=1 can reduce the risk of false confessions.

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Innocence Project Newsletter of December 29, 2012

DNA Evidence Proves Joseph Buffey’s Innocence, Identifies True Perpetrator

Innocence Project attorneys asked a Circuit Court Judge in Harrison County, West Virginia, to reverse the rape conviction of Joseph Buffey and release him on bond based on DNA evidence pointing to the real perpetrator. The court stopped short of releasing Buffey, but adjourned the case for a full hearing in March.

Buffey was arrested for the 2001 rape and robbery of an 83-year-old woman. Based on the advice of his lawyer who told him he risked a sentence of 200 to 300 years in prison if he went to trial, he took a plea that he soon regretted, but unfortunately it was too late. He eventually sought the help of the Innocence Project, which was able to secure DNA testing in May 2011 that excluded Buffey as the perpetrator. Even though the victim made it clear to the police that only one man committed the robbery and rape, the Harris County Prosecuting Attorney’s Office has refused to acknowledge that the testing proves Buffey’s innocence and fought efforts by the Innocence Project to run the profile in the federal DNA database to see if it matched a convicted offender. After 18 months of needless delay, the Innocence Project was finally able run the profile through the database, which identified another man with multiple felony criminal convictions, including breaking into a residence and robbing and assaulting a woman.

Read more: http://www.innocenceproject.org/Content ... tr=0&par=1

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Innocence Project Newsletter of January 31, 2013

DNA Proof Not Enough for Joseph Buffey

Innocence Project client Joseph Buffey has served 11 years in prison for a rape and robbery that a DNA test proves he did not commit. After more than a year of resistance from prosecutors, the DNA sample that was recovered from the elderly victim of a single perpetrator rape was uploaded to the federal DNA database and came back with a match to a convicted offender with a history of assaults against women. The court will conduct a hearing in March to determine whether to overturn Buffy’s conviction.