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Around 3 p.m., Penny Ann Beernsten was jogging along Lake Michigan near Two Rivers, Wisconsin when she was pulled into secluded area, raped and choked unconscious. The victim awoke soon after and contacted the police.
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After Beernsten (the victim) selected a photograph of Avery out of a line-up, and a hair consistent with that of Beersten's was found on a shirt of Avery's, the jury convicted Avery to 32 years in prison. This was regardless of the fact that he had 16 alibi witnesses that claimed he was with his family around the time of the incident.
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Nancy DiPriest was raped and murdered at a Pizza Hut where she was manager, in Austin, Texas.
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When Ochoa and Danziger, who are Pizza Hut employees, heard about the incident, they visited the Pizza Hut were DiPriest worked to make a toast to the victim. Employees at said Pizza Hut were told by police to look out for any suspicious activity. Ochoa and Danziger were reported, and soon became main suspects of the crime.
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Around this time, after having had a meal at the deceased's former place of work, Christopher Ochoa was questioned by the police. In time, they almost forced him to plead guilty to the crime, intimidating him with the probability of the death penalty in his case. At the time, experts testified that Ochoa's semen was consistent with that found on the victim.
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Around this time, a granted DNA test found that scrapings from under Beernsten's fingernails contained DNA of unknown origins. However, this evidence alone could not clear Avery of his conviction.
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Sometime in 1996, Marino undergoes a religious conversion while in prison for other charges. He sent letters to a variety of sources, including the District Attorney, while also notifying the Austin PD of where they could locate the stolen items from the scene of the crime. The Police mostly ignored Marino, since they had already convicted Ochoa and Danziger.
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At age 17, Adams and friends Dimitri Henley and Rovaughn Hill took a trip from Chicago to the University of Wisconsin-Whitewater. All three boys, who are black, had consensual sex with a female student. The student later accussed him of rape.
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After the District Attorney's office interviewed Ochoa in prison, Ochoa contacted the Wisconsin Innocence Project. As it turned out, DNA was available in Ochoa's case. It soon became apparent that during Ochoa's conviction, the prosecution's evidence had been contaminated in testing.
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Around this time, Adams and Henley were convicted of the crime by an all-white jury in Jefferson County. During the trial, Adams' defense attorney did not call anyone as a witness, thus excluding key testimony that could have proven Adams innocent.
Adams was initially sentenced to 20 years, but the court added eight years because Adams upholded his claim to innocence. -
Forensic Science Associates in California retained a sample from 1989, and through newer testing methods were able to exclude Ochoa and Danziger as the sources of sperm from the crime scene.
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Around this time, Hill, who was convicted of the same charge as Adams and Henley, but was tried separately, had his charges dropped by the prosecution. This was due to his defense attorney's use of a key witness who was vacant from the trials of Adams and Henley.
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After new forensic testing methods proved that Ochoa and Danziger were innocent, both were released. Danziger, after sustaining head injuries in prison, was sent to a mental institution.
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In April, The Wiconsin Innocence Project's court order allowed the Wisconsin Crime Laboratory to DNA test pubic hairs found on Beernsten at the time of the crime.
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The Wisconsin Crime Laboratory reported that the pubic hairs belonged to Gregory Allen. They found this result by submitting the DNA profile to the FBI DNA Database.
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Steven Avery is freed through efforts of the Wisconsin Innocence Project and his charges are dropped. Avery is released from prison.
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After Avery's case, the Wisconsin Department of Justice reformed their eyewitness protocol.
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A free-lance photographer visited Avery's salvage yard in Mishicoti, WI. to take photographs of a car and was raped and murdered. Evidence proved that Avery was the perpetrator, and him and his nephew were sentenced to life in prison.
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The Bill (originally penned the "Avery bill" before Avery was convicted of murder charges in the same year) which was passed in December of 2005, considers a number of factors that can lead to wrongful convictions. To mitigate these factors, the bill requires that police record custodial interviews, that certain biological DNA evidence be preserved, and that there be more firm regulations in the use of eyewitness testimony.
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Adams worked with the Wisconsin Innocence Project to file an appeal with only a week left before the legal time period for filing would end. The Project filed a position asserting ineffective assistance of council, since Adams' lawyer had not used the witness who could have corroborated Adam's defense, and insufficient evidence. The U.S. Court of Appeals overturned Adam's conviction unanimously in a case that Wisconsin Innocence Project founder Kieth Findley called "racially-tinged."
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About a week and a half after his release, the prosecution dropped Adams' charges.
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In Wisconsin, the compensation for wrongful conviction is capped at $5,000 per year in prison, with a maximum of $25,000, which is the lowest compensation in the country.
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After graduating from Roosevelt University, Adams aimed to get a law degree. He received a scholarship from Chicago Bar Foundation's Marovitz Public Interest Scholarship. He is currently attending Loyola University to get a law degree in Criminal Defense.
