Victims of the State
HUD - IVE

Name Index

James Hudson - See Guntersville Four

Kenneth Hudson was convicted of the murder of Shanna Van Dyn Hoven, a 19-year-old UW-Madison student. Police alleged that Hudson, then 31, was caught with blood on his hands, chest, and legs after leading them on a high-speed chase. They also said he confessed to the crime. Prosecutors said Hudson stabbed Van Dyn Hoven, a stranger, in a fit of misplaced rage, and then tried to put her in his truck.

Hudson said he tried to help the woman when she fled from the woods, covered in blood. She sat briefly in his truck, but fled when David Carnot, a retired police detective's son, came out from the woods. Hudson drove off because he feared Carnot would attack him, and fled from police because he had marijuana on him, had an expired license, and had been drinking. After he was pulled over and arrested, Hudson fell asleep in the back of a police cruiser but awoke to find a Kaukauna police officer pouring a red liquid on him that appeared to be blood. After telling the officer to stop, Hudson was moved to a second police cruiser where another officer smeared something on his chest and hands. Hudson has maintained this story from the hours following his arrest. He also denied making any confession.

Despite Hudson's bloody hands, no blood was found on his steering wheel or gearshift. Tests revealed animal blood was on Hudson's foot. Other tests revealed no DNA in blood samples. A lab analyst suggested the samples could have been chemically contaminated so that the DNA in the material could not be tested. Transcripts and a tape of the 911 communications that day omit nearly all transmissions mentioning the murder and chase. A recently uncovered dispatch log and 911 tape shows that two Grand Chute police officers who said they were involved in Hudson's chase and arrest, did not arrive until 90 minutes afterward. Other evidence discrepancies exist with a knife, vials of Van Dyn Hoven's blood, and a missing window crank from Hudson's truck, allegedly found next to the victim's body. The DA in the case, Vince Biskupic, had been cited for a number of unrelated ethics violations, as was his former boss, Joe Paulus, who was sent to prison on bribery related convictions.  (WSJ) (WSJ2)  [9/06]

Charles Hudspeth was convicted of murder and hanged while his alleged victim was still alive. Hudspeth became romantically involved with Rebecca Watkins, and when the two were questioned on the disappearance of Rebecca's husband, George Watkins, Rebecca told authorities Hudspeth had killed him. Hudspeth was granted a retrial because testimony regarding Rebecca's alleged lack of good character was improperly barred. Hudspeth was convicted again and hanged on December 30, 1892. In June 1893, Hudspeth's lawyer located George Watkins alive and living in Kansas.  (CWC)  [7/05]

Joseph Huett, a lawyer, was charged with the shooting murder of Raoul Hunter, a sawmill worker. Along with Huett, Huett's wife and Lee Bowles, a justice of the peace, had been present during the killing. At trial Bowles testified that Huett killed Hunter without provocation because of a long-standing political feud. The jury convicted Huett of manslaughter and he was sentenced to five years of imprisonment. Seven months later Bowles admitted he perjured himself because Hunter had been his friend and “I hated Huett.” Hunter had actually been gunning for Huett who shot him in self-defense. Shortly after Bowles' admission, Huett was released from prison.  (Not Guilty) (News Article)  [6/08]

George Hughes - See Thorvik & Hughes

Darryl Hunt was twice convicted of murdering 25-year-old Deborah Sykes, first in 1985, then again or retrial in 1990. A DNA test in 1994 excluded him as the murderer, but the prosecutor refused to take any action towards Hunt's release, claiming the test did not exclude him as having some role in the murder. In 2003, Willard E. Brown confessed to being solely responsible for the murder, and Hunt was released on bond two days later. In 2004, Hunt's conviction was vacated and he was awarded $358,545 from the state compensation fund. In 2007, he was awarded an additional $1.65 million by the city of Winston-Salem.  (IP)

Henry Lee Hunt was convicted of the murders of Jackie Ray Ransom and Larry Jones. Ransom had married Dorothy Locklear while she was still married to Rogers Locklear. Dorothy and Rogers then hired A. R. Barnes to kill Ransom so Dorothy could collect on a $25,000 life insurance policy. The policy paid a double indemnity for accidental death including homicide. Barnes recruited his brother, Elwell Barnes to help in the murder. Someone shot Ransom to death on Sept. 8, 1984 in the woods near a bar. A week later, on Sept. 14, someone shot and killed a man named Larry Jones, apparently because Jones was telling police what he knew about the Ransom murder. Jones was implicating Rogers Locklear in the murder, but made no mention of Hunt. Jones was buried in a shallow grave.

A. R. Barnes confessed to the crimes. Subsequently, he recanted and blamed Hunt, who had a criminal record and was in prison for a drug offense. Other witnesses also pointed to Hunt, although their initial statements conflicted with each other. According to two reconstruction experts, witness Jerome Ratley's account of Jones's murder could not have happened the way that Ratley told the jury at Hunt's trial. Prosecutors introduced a shovel into evidence that they said Hunt used to bury Jones, but they did not tell the jury that the soil on the shovel did not match the soil in which Jones had been buried.

Hunt consistently maintained his innocence and passed two lie detector tests regarding the murders. While such tests do not prove Hunt's innocence, they raise doubt about his guilt. Elwell Barnes signed an 1989 affidavit in which he wrote that Hunt “has been convicted for a crime that A. R. Barnes, Jerome Ratley, Roger Locklear and myself committed.” The prosecution withheld evidence and then “lost” field notes and other files that would have undermined the state's case. In 2003, the state was refusing to allow lawyers to see the evidence that remained. Hunt was executed by lethal injection on Sept. 13, 2003.  (Charlotte Observer) (Greensboro News & Record)  [5/08]

Lee Wayne Hunt was convicted of the murders of Roland “Tadpole” Matthews Jr. and his wife, Lisa K. Matthews. Both were shot execution-style, their throats slit, in their home on a dirt road near Fayetteville. Prosecutors argued that the murders were punishment for an alleged theft of marijuana by Roland from Hunt's drug ring. Hunt was an admitted marijuana dealer. A codefendant, Jerry Dale Cashwell, was also convicted.
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Patrick Hurley was convicted of sexual assault. His conviction was reversed after three years of imprisonment when the alleged victim admitted she made-up the accusation. Hurley's lawyer, public defender Tom Earl, was disbarred for life in May 2004 for a multitude of actions, including charging people assigned to be represented by him at public expense.  (Seattle PI) (FJDB) (JD)  [7/05]

Michael Hutchinson was convicted of the robbery of a Milpitas 7-Eleven store. After the robbery, the clerk who was on duty told the store manager that his friend had robbed the store. With a local police officer, the store manager reviewed a video/audio surveillance tape of the robbery. The manager expressed surprise that the robber appeared to be Michael Hutchinson. The officer agreed that the robber appeared to be Hutchinson. Both had known Hutchinson since childhood. The robber wore a stocking mask, so it is not clear what basis the two men used to recognize him. The clerk identified Hutchinson in a photo lineup and at trial. At trial, the manager and the officer identified Hutchinson from the surveillance tape, although the officer expressed uncertainty. Hutchinson was sentenced to 11 years in prison.

Hutchinson's appeals attorney thought the robber on the surveillance tape was too small to be Hutchinson. In 2001, he sought funds from an appeals court to scientifically analyze the tape but was denied. However, the San Jose Mercury News had the tape analyzed and the analyst concluded that the actual robber is several inches shorter than Hutchinson. A frame photo of the robber leaving the store with a height overlay added to the door shows that the robber could not be more than 5'8" tall. Hutchinson is 6' tall.

In 2006, a federal court overturned Hutchinson's conviction. The prosecution planned to retry him using his apparently hostile ex-wife as a identification witness. Rather than face retrial, in 2007 Hutchinson pleaded to a time-served deal.  (Tainted Trials (with robber photo)) (Mercury News)  [1/08]

Amanda Hypes, aka Amanda Gutweiler, was indicted in April 2002 for the arson murder of her three children, Sadie Plum, 10, Luke Hayden, 6, and Jessica Gutweiler, 3. A fire “expert,” John DeHaan, ruled that the Jan. 2001 fire that destroyed her home on Friar Tuck Road in Tioga was arson. Prosecutors said they would demand the death penalty. After being held in jail awaiting trial for more than four years, a judge dismissed the indictment and released Hypes. He ruled that the original arson finding was based “merely on an old wives tale,” of discredited fire investigation techniques.  (Chicago Tribune)  [3/07]

Kevin Ibbs was convicted of sexual assault for “raping” Christine Watson. Watson was a close friend of Ibbs' wife, Katrina Carter, and was living in the same house as the couple. Watson agreed to have consensual sex with Ibbs with the full knowledge of Carter who was in the house at the time. As Ibbs was nearing ejaculation, Watson withdrew her consent to sex (or said she did) and tried to push Ibbs away. Ibbs, however, continued for about 30 seconds without consent.

For this non-consensual sex, Ibbs was charged and convicted of sexual assault. He was dubbed the “30 second rapist.” Ibbs was sentenced to four years in prison, although the sentence was later reduced to six months. Some years later Watson admitted that the whole incident was a setup by Carter to get Ibbs out of the house they were sharing. Watson and Carter were subsequently convicted of conspiring to pervert the course of justice. They served seven months in jail.  (IPWA)  [12/10]

Paul Kern Imbler was convicted of the shooting murder of Morris Hasson. Hasson was the owner of the Purity Market on West Eighth Street in Los Angeles. The conviction was due to prosecutorial concealment of exculpatory evidence and police manufacturing of evidence. Imbler was sentenced to death, but he was granted a stay of execution 7 days before it was scheduled to take place. After Imbler's exoneration in 1971, he sued the prosecutor for damages, but the U.S. Supreme Court dismissed the suit on the grounds of prosecutorial immunity.  (ISI) (Imbler v. Pachtman)  [7/05]

William Darin Irvan was was convicted in 2003 of the 1987 murder of Michelle Shadbolt. He was sentenced to death. Irvan had a relationship with Michelle who had separated from her husband, Jack Shadbolt, six weeks before. Two days before her murder she had told her husband that they were through and that she was filing for divorce.  (IIPPI) (Associated Content)

Walter Lee Irvin - See Groveland Three

“Kazeem Adeshina Ishola was wrongly convicted in 2005 of assuming the ‘identity of another’ after attempting to open two bank accounts using names other than his own. Ishola appealed on the basis that he used fictitious names, not those of real persons. Ishola's conviction was upheld in 2007 by the state Court of Special Appeals. However, the Maryland Court of Appeals overturned his conviction on April 10, 2008, ruling that the law only applied to assuming the identify of an actual person, not a fictitious person.” – FJDB  (Ishola v. State)

J. L. Ivey, Jr. was convicted of murdering 25-year-old Allan Sturman during a late night holdup at an Elmwood Avenue gas station in Buffalo.  In 1981 the Appellate Division overturned Ivey's conviction because the prosecutor, Albert Ranni, committed “numerous and repeated acts of improper and prejudicial conduct” at Ivey's trial. Ranni made repeated attempts to offer into evidence composite sketches in direct contravention of the trial court's rulings and over the objections of defense counsel. He then insinuated to the jury that the court's rulings unfairly precluded him from showing such composites to them. He also disparaged Ivey's alibi witnesses by referring to their testimony as “lies,” “garbage” and advising the jury that “We should wash that chair [the witness chair] after she [Ivey's alibi witness] leaves.” At Ivey's 1982 retrial, he was able to provide a new witness who implicated her boyfriend in the murder. Ivey was acquitted and released after five and one-half years of imprisonment. In 1985, Ivey won a judgment against the state for wrongful conviction and imprisonment.  (Appeals)  [7/05]