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Monday, Aug. 6, 2012 | 7 p.m.
A federal appeals court has overturned the sexual assault conviction of a Las Vegas man who has spent more than 10 years in prison.
The U.S. Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals has ruled that Calvin O. Jackson, serving three life terms plus other sentences, was prevented from presenting evidence at his trial that the woman had made other false claims of prior sexual assault against him.
The court, in a 2-1 decision, ordered the Clark County District Court to issue a writ freeing Jackson unless the state decides to try him again.
Jackson was convicted of six counts in 1999 in the alleged assault of Annette Heathmon, and he has 45 more years before he would be eligible for parole.
Jackson claimed it was consensual sex.
At trial, Jackson was prevented from introducing police witnesses that Heathmon had made prior accusations on two occasions that Jackson had assaulted her. The police investigation in these cases found the attacks never occurred.
Heathmon alleged Jackson forced his way into her apartment in October 1998, threatened to stab her with a screwdriver if she did not have sex, raped and beat her. She said he cut up some of her clothes, ripped the phone from the wall and stole a ring.
The court, in the majority decision written by Judge Stephen Reinhardt, said there was no evidence of a screwdriver or that any clothes had been cut up. "The nurse who examined Heathmon after the assault found no signs of bruising and no signs of sexual assault, and the responding officer did not observe any readily visible marks or bruises," said the court.
Prior to the Jackson trial, Heathmon recanted her accusation of assault in a notarized letter. But when threatened with a perjury charge, she agreed to testify.
The appeals court said the exclusion of the critical evidence of the prior false accusations of assault by Heathmon would have undermined her credibility and was "a clear violation of Jackson's right to present an adequate defense."
Judge Alfred Goodwin dissented, saying rejection of the proffered evidence "was not a constitutional error" by the state trial court or the federal district court. He said these courts followed a federal law involving claims made in state courts.
WOW-10 years of hell. Nobody gets a fair trial. It's a myth of an evil system.
"Best legal system in the world"?
It would be appreciated if you would provide the names of both the lead prosecutor and the judge in this case.
Let's see what all this story leaves out other than what Brooke pointed out. The "victim" and Jackson were had been in a relationship for a decade when these allegations were made, and she was a prostitute, who may have been hooking on the nights in question.
This case has Diminutive Davey Rogers all over it. The suppression of evidence, threatening a witness/victim with jail if they don't lie on the stand. The anything for a conviction, even in the obvious absence of a crime is what the Lilliputian litigator built his career on.
If it wasn't him, is this criminally negligent attorney still getting paid with my tax dollars?
It is sad to say but as a retired Police Officer who investigated many "sexual assaults" the majority of the time the accusations were in fact false. The "victim" had many other motives to make the false accusastions against the alleged suspect. It was some ones fault in this case that it went to trial and led to a conviction. It does not appear to be the Investigating Police Officers fault that this occured. It was a higher source in the legal system that pushed this case forward. That said however the USA still does in fact have the best legal system in the world. Visit a 3rd world country and experience the differnce if you dare to try....
I see a suit coming.
When threatened with a perjury charge..... Someone in the prosecutor's office needs to answer for this abuse of power. There are many wackies out there including, it seems, the accuser. There was NO NEED to prosecute when the "victim" recanted.
The US has twice as many people in jail per 100,000 person than any country in the world.
This hides over 1,000,000 unemployed people. It creates gang structures and waste billions of tax dollars.
This is just another example of how so many innocent people get put in jail to make a prosecutor look good.
America is NOT THE LAND OF THE FREE. Especially for the 1 million people who should not be in jail.
The plaintiff's attorney was Mary Kay Holthus a chief deputy district attorney notorious for rape convictions anyway they can be gotten and the judge for the case Kathy Hardcastle