Victims of the State
LIB - LLO

Name Index

“A Palestinian doctor and five Bulgarian nurses, who were doing aid work in Libya [were] accused of deliberately infecting 438 children with AIDS HIV-tainted blood at the El-Fatih Children's Hospital in Benghazi, Libya's second city. They were arrested in February 1999, and protested their innocence. Thirteen other Bulgarian medical workers arrested at the same time were eventually released. The six co-defendants confessed to infecting the children, but they all retracted [their confessions], claiming they had been physically tortured into making them. They were charged with murder with a lethal substance among other lesser charges. Their trial began on February 7, 2000 in the People's Court, and two years later, in February 2002, the court declared it did not have jurisdiction to try them on the murder charge, and their case was transferred to the criminal court system. Their second trial began on July 8, 2003. They were convicted of the murder charges and on May 6, 2004 were sentenced to death by firing squad.”

“In the face of widespread international condemnation of the fairness of the trial, in December 2005 their appeal was successful and a retrial was ordered. Their third trial began in May 2006. The six co-defendants were again convicted of the same charges in December 2006, and again sentenced to death. Their convictions and sentences were upheld by Libya's Supreme Court on July 11, 2007. Six days later Libya's High Judicial Council commuted the sentences to life in prison, reportedly after European Union countries agreed to compensate Libya approximately $1 million for each of the 438 children. Libya agreed to transfer the six to Bulgaria to serve their sentences, including the Palestinian doctor who was granted Bulgarian citizenship a month earlier on June 19, 2007. After arriving in the capital of Sophia on July 24, 2007, Bulgarian President Georgi Parvanov granted the six full pardons on the basis of their innocence of the crimes. Six weeks later, on August 10, 2007, Saif al-Islam Gaddafi, the son of Libya's leader Colonel Muammar el-Qaddafi, admitted that the confessions by the six were extracted through torture with electric shocks and threats against the safety of their families.” – FJDB

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Michael Linder was sentenced to death for murdering Willie Peeples, a highway patrol officer. Linder contended he acted in self-defense because the officer had groundlessly fired six shots at him. At trial the prosecution presented expert witnesses who testified that the officer never fired his gun. At a retrial the defense secured previously undisclosed ballistics evidence from the state crime lab and was able to prove that the officer had fired his gun and that the prosecution's witnesses had distorted other evidence to make it appear that Linder had been the aggressor. Linder was acquitted at his retrial and released in 1981.  (NY Times)  [7/05]

William Marvin Lindley was sentenced to death for the murder of Jackie Marie Hamilton, a 13-year-old girl. On the day of the crime, the victim had been swimming in the Yuba River with other girls around her own age. Lindley, a redhead, operated a boathouse on the banks of the river. After finishing her swimming, the victim went to her house, changed her clothes, spoke to her father, and went out again. She was found 20 minutes to a half-hour later in a dying condition. She was able to sob out to her father that her assailant was “that old red-headed liar in the boathouse, the old-red-headed liar.” She later died without clarifying her statement.
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Herman Lindsey was convicted in 2006 of the 1994 murder of Joanne Mazollo. Mazollo was shot to death during a robbery of the Big Dollar pawnshop in which she worked. The evidence against Lindsey consisted of testimony which merely raised suspicions about him.

The strongest piece of evidence was the testimony of Mark Simms, who reportedly had a jailhouse conversation with Lindsey about a month after the crime, long before Lindsey was charged in the Mazollo murder. Simms told Lindsey he had been involved in a robbery in which someone was shot but not killed. Lindsey then told Simms that he should have killed the person he shot because this person had seen his face. Lindsey also told Simms that he had to do that once. Simms said he had no idea at the time what robbery or murder Lindsey might have been talking about. Lindsey was sentenced to death.

In July 2009 the Florida Supreme Court overturned Lindsey's conviction after finding that the evidence used against him was insufficient to convict. The Court also ordered Lindsey's acquittal.  (Lindsey v. State) (Miami Herald)  [8/09]

Johnnie Earl Lindsey was convicted of rape. The 28-year-old victim was riding her bike around White Rock Lake about 11 a.m. when she saw a shirtless man in his 20s standing on the path in a wooded area. As she tried to ride past him, the man grabbed the handlebars of her bike and knocked her off. He said he had a knife and threatened to stab her if she did not do as he said. After being sexually assaulted, the woman managed to get away and ran for help.

A year after the assault, when the victim was living in San Antonio, Dallas police mailed her a six-person photo lineup. Only two of the men in the lineup were shirtless and Lindsey was one of them. The victim subsequently identified Lindsey as her assailant. At trial Lindsey had an alibi, time clock punch cards that showed that he was working in a commercial laundry at the time of the assault. Nevertheless, the jury chose to believe the victim. Lindsey was repeatedly denied parole because he would not admit to the offense. According to his attorney, Michelle Moore, “It's been almost 26 years. I can't believe he didn't just admit to the assault so he could be released.” In 2008, DNA tests exonerated Lindsey, and he was released. In 2009, Governor Perry officially pardoned him.  (DMN) (JP)  [10/08]

Lloyd Lindsey was convicted of murdering three little girls and their brother. He was also convicted of raping one of the girls. A man who boarded with the children's family and a surviving brother told police when interviewed together that Lindsey along with Eugene Ford and Willie Robinson had strangled the children after raping the girls. The three men then set fire to the home. Lindsey confessed to this crime, parroting the details of the boarder and surviving brother. The home, at 1408 W. 61st Street in Chicago, was occupied by Mrs. Catherine Horace, her six children, and Lavelle Watkins, the boarder.

Medical evidence indicated that the children had not been strangled, but had died of smoke inhalation. Two of the girls, moreover, were virgins and showed no signs of sexual abuse. Lindsey and his compatriots, who had not confessed, were tried together, but with separate juries. Lindsey was convicted, but his compatriots were acquitted. In 1979, the Illinois Appellate Court reversed Lindsey's conviction, and barred a retrial. It ruled “the inconsistencies in the testimony of [the principal prosecution witnesses] were not only contradictory but diluted [their testimony] to the level of palpable improbability and incredulity.”  (CWC)  [1/06]

When questioned by police about the murder of neighbor, Karen Ann Phillips, Steven Linscott told them of a violent dream he had the night of the murder. The dream allegedly had details consistent with the murder, and his statement to police was regarded as a confession and used to convict him. In 1992, DNA tests exonerated Linscott. In 2002, Gov. Ryan granted him a pardon based on innocence.  (IP) (CWC) (CBJ)  [12/05]

Linberg Hall, Robert Clark, and Secola Kuykendall were convicted of the shooting murder of David Lipton, the proprietor of a drug store. Lipton was shot during a holdup of his store. At trial, Hall's girlfriend testified she accompanied the men in Clark's car to the drug store and heard shots fired while she remained outside. Following the murder, the girlfiend said she left with Hall in another car on a road trip to Chicago. Evidence, however, indicated this road trip began a half-hour before the murder.

Following trial, a defense attorney and a newspaper reporter got a tape-recorded statement from the girlfriend admitting she lied at trial. She said police promised to drop charges that she was facing in exchange for implicating the three men. After police subsequently talked to her, she repudiated this admission, claiming her trial testimony was truthful and that she only gave the taped statement in an effort to save Hall, her boyfriend. Eventually, however, physical evidence matched other individuals to the crime, to which they confessed. The convictions of Hall, Clark, and Kuykendall were then overturned and they were set free.  (The Innocents) (People v. Kelley)  [12/10]

Bruce Lisker was convicted of murdering his mother, Dorka, allegedly when she caught him rifling her purse. Lisker's former roommate, Mike Ryan, is a much more likely suspect. Ryan gave a false birth date to an investigator to prevent the investigator from learning about his criminal past. Ryan strangely volunteered that he had stabbed a robber on the same day as the murder. Ryan arrived in California from Mississippi on March 6 and returned the day after the murder. Lisker's trial judge did not permit him to mention Ryan in his defense. Case investigator Monsue presented fraudulent facts. Additional evidence has surfaced that exonerates Lisker and implicates the now deceased Ryan. In 2009 Lisker's conviction was overturned and charges against him were dropped.  (L.A. Times)  [7/05]

During winter 1988-89, Edenton police attended a Satanic Ritual Abuse (SRA) seminar. Shortly thereafter accusations of mass child abuse began to surface involving the Little Rascals Day Care in Edenton. More than 90 children accused 20 adults including the mayor and the sheriff with 429 instances of child sexual abuse. Seven adults were eventually charged. Charges were dropped against three. Two were allowed to plead no contest. Two, Bob Kelly and Dawn Wilson, were found guilty of multiple charges of child sex abuse and given long sentences. The convictions were overturned on appeal and new trials were ordered. The cases were finally settled in 1999 when all charges were dropped against Kelly.  (Religious Tolerance)  [7/05]

Matt Livers, a mentally retarded man, confessed to murdering his uncle and aunt after 18 hours of police questioning. He also implicated his cousin, Nick Sampson. The victims were Wayne and Sharmon Stock, who were found shot to death in their home. Livers knew a few facts about the crime that he learned from relatives, but was unable to provide many details about it without being spoon-fed them by police.

Less than two months after Livers and Sampson were arrested, two Wisconsin teens, Gregory Fenster, 19, and his girlfriend, Jessica Reid, 17, were caught with evidence that they engaged in a multi-state crime spree of farmhouse burglaries and car thefts. A ring left behind in the Stock's car was identified as having come from one of their burglaries. The teens then confessed to the murders of the Stocks and were charged. However, authorities did not drop charges against Livers and Sampson. Instead, they clung to the idea that Livers and Sampson recruited the teens to kill the Stocks. The teens at one point adopted this theory after police insisted they were lying. However, physical evidence soon made this theory untenable and charges against Sampson were dropped on Oct 6. Charges against Livers were dropped on Dec 4, after the state's own expert agreed with the defense expert that Livers was mentally retarded, vulnerable to police tactics, and that his confession was almost certainly false.  (TruthInJustice)  [2/07]

Eddie Joe Lloyd was convicted of the brutal murder of 16-year-old Michelle Jackson. Lloyd, a mentally ill man, wrote to police from a mental institution with suggestions on how to solve various murders, including the murder for which he was convicted. Police officers visited him and convinced the heavily medicated Lloyd that by confessing to one murder, he would help them “smoke out” the real perpetrator. Lloyd's defense attorney wanted him to plead not guilty by reason of insanity, but Lloyd refused insisting that he was innocent even if he was mentally ill. The sentencing judge thought Lloyd should be hanged, and the case convinced many people who had reservations about capital punishment to jump over the fence and sign petitions. However, DNA tests exonerated Lloyd in 2002.  (IP) (NY Times)  [7/05]