|
U.S. wrongful convictions:
recently Exonerated Peter Rose
| Clifford St. Joseph
| John Stoll | Ludrate
Burton | Albert Johnson
| Stephen Cowans | Laurence
Adams | Peter Reilly
| Marty Tankleff | Still
working on it: | Dennis
Deschaine | Dennis Perry
Dwayne McKinney
Murder He Wrote
DA used a convicted murderer
for a campaign photo op-then told state officials the man was
still guilty
by R. SCOTT MOXLEY, OC Weekly, February 18 - 24, 2005
Weeks before his heated 2002
re-election bid, District Attorney Tony Rackauckas stood outside
his Santa Ana office, shook hands, smiled and traded words of
affection with Dwayne McKinney, whom Rackauckas had successfully
prosecuted for robbery and murder 20 years earlier.
No one would have known that
the county's top lawman and the convicted murderer met on Saturday,
Jan. 26, 2002, but for this: the DA ensured that a Los Angeles
Times reporter and photographer were present to record the
event and tout it in the paper's well-read Sunday edition.
You might be asking yourself:
Why would a then-first-term DA-especially one in the midst of
an election campaign-embrace an alleged murderer? The answer
might provide a rare glimpse into the cynical world of Orange
County politics, the unseemly machinations of its prosecutor's
office and the integrity of the DA.
At the time of the LA Times
photo op, Rackauckas hailed himself as a hero with the courage
to free an innocent man, McKinney, from prison after investigators
with the county's public defender's office unearthed exculpatory
evidence. Court observers had reason to believe Rackauckas since
he was the prosecutor who put McKinney away for the robbery and
murder of a Burger King manager in 1982. Back then, Rackauckas
wanted the death penalty, but the court sentenced McKinney to
life in prison without the possibility of parole.
Two decades after the incident,
Rackauckas flip-flopped during a flurry of negative publicity
about McKinney's questionable conviction. Witnesses recanted,
tainted police tactics were exposed, and two other individuals
confessed to the crime. In 2000, the DA admitted that "sufficient
evidence exists to undermine confidence in the judgment."
By 2002, Rackauckas apparently saw a way to exploit McKinney.
According to a Jan. 27, 2002,
story by Times reporter Stuart Pfeifer-the only reporter
tipped to the photo op-McKinney forgave Rackauckas, endorsed
his re-election bid and promised to campaign door-to-door for
the DA. As the Times photographer snapped pictures, Rackauckas
noted how "surprised" he was by the endorsement and
delighted that McKinney wasn't "bitter or resentful"
for spending 19 years in state prison for a crime he didn't commit.
"Our job is to do justice,"
the DA told Pfeifer. "And justice means convicting the guilty
and making sure the innocent are not convicted."
[For the record: DA spokeswoman
Susan Kang Schroeder claims that the campaign photo op with McKinney
was Pfeifer's idea. "Stuart called me on the phone one day
whispering like he does," said Schroeder. "He set the
whole thing up. He thought it was a great idea as an exclusive
for him. He didn't want any of you other reporters knowing about
it. We just went along his idea."]
Regardless of who set up the
photo, the timing of Pfeifer's story couldn't have been better
for Rackauckas, who was then the target of a grand-jury investigation
into corruption in the DA's office. With the election five weeks
away, Times columnist Dana Parsons supplemented Pfeifer's
bombshell news by declaring Rackauckas the winner over challenger
Wally Wade before a single vote had been cast.
"Pack it up. It's all
over," Parsons began his Jan. 27, 2002, column. "Let's
put it this way: If you can get an endorsement from a man you
wrongly prosecuted for murder and for whom you sought the death
penalty and who lost 19 years of freedom . . . who can't you
get one from?"
We can imagine the cheers and
high-fives among Rackauckas campaign strategists. Wade, who lost
the race, recently said the Pfeifer story helped deflate his
campaign. "That certainly hurt," he said.
But the Rackauckas-McKinney
relationship may have been a fraud on the voters. No one can
doubt the sincerity of McKinney's praise for the DA; he'd just
been released from prison. Rackauckas, however, never believed
in McKinney's innocence, according to state officials.
Records obtained by the Weekly
show that at the time of the photo op, the DA vouched for McKinney's
murder conviction when questioned by the state attorney general's
office. Rackauckas' private stance helps block the former inmate's
right to $100 per day in state compensation for the approximately
7,000 days he spent locked in the state prisons in San Quentin,
Chino, Folsom and Lancaster.
In a Jan. 11, 2002, letter
to California's Victim Compensation and Government Claims Board,
state Deputy Attorney General Michael P. Farrell noted that "lengthy"
conversations with Rackauckas and Deputy DA Lew Rosenblum convinced
him that McKinney was not innocent and undeserving of compensation.
"The Orange County district
attorney's office informed me that, even though they still believe
that McKinney is the robber/murderer, they recognize the problems
that have arisen throughout the history of the case," Farrell
wrote in a five-page letter. "Because a new trial would
have been problematic, and because McKinney already had served
17 years, they decided not to oppose [McKinney's release from
prison]."
Rackauckas believes he's been
misunderstood. "I never told the attorney general's office
that," he said. "I just don't recall that conversation
with Mr. Farrell. I've never told anyone that I believe this
guy [McKinney] is the robber/murderer. I'm just not so sure."
According to the DA, he posed
with McKinney for the campaign photo op because "I was really
impressed with him, and I still am. This is a guy who is exceptional
in his attitude and his work ethic-and there's no anger, resentment
or bitterness. I'd tell the victim's-compensation board the same
if they call me to testify."
McKinney's reparations case
has been in limbo for two years. The state claims board is expected
to schedule a hearing on the matter in coming months. McKinney's
lawyers will argue their client is "factually innocent"
and deserving of compensation.
Of course, questions surrounding
Rackauckas' stance won't help his cause, but McKinney shouldn't
give up hope. He might once again temporarily win the DA's affections.
An election is upcoming.
rscottmoxley@ocweekly.com
Man Serving Life May
Be Innocent
September 6, 1999
SANTA ANA, Calif. (AP) - A
man who has served 19 years in prison for murder might win a
new trial because two witnesses who identified him at his trial
now say they picked the wrong man, the Orange County Register
reported.
The development is enough to
warrant a new investigation in the case of imprisoned Dwayne
McKinney, said Orange County District Attorney Tony Rackauckas,
who prosecuted the case.
``I'm not ready to say, `Oh,
my gosh, we've got the wrong guy.' But we're going to take a
hard look at it,'' Rackauckas said. ``Something like this isn't
going to be taken lightly. We're not in the business of trying
to keep innocent people in jail.''
Public Defender Carl Holmes
said he will file a motion this week seeking a new trial.
McKinney was convicted of killing
19-year-old Walter Horace Bell during a 1980 robbery attempt
at a restaurant in Orange.
McKinney, 39, has always insisted
he is innocent, the newspaper reported Sunday.
``I haven't done anything and
I'm stuck in a box,'' McKinney said.
He was arrested six days after
the shooting when witnesses identified him through photos. Four
witnesses identified him as the gunman at his trial.
The Orange County Public Defender's
Office learned last year that convicted robber and rapist Willie
Charles Walker said he drove the getaway car for the robbery
and that McKinney was not involved.
In a prison interview, Walker
said his partner, Raymond Herman Jackett III, committed the murder.
And two trial witnesses - restaurant
employees Brian March and Donald Bulla - recently viewed photographs
of Jackett and now say McKinney wasn't the gunman.
``If I had seen Jackett's picture
18 years ago, McKinney wouldn't be in this situation,'' said
Bulla.
Jackett, who is in prison for
another crime, did not respond to the allegations, the Register
said.
|
Truth can never be
told so as to be understood, and not be believ'd. William Blake, The Proverbs of Hell
