| First Name | Kevin |
| Last Name | Richardson |
| Year of Conviction | 1990 |
| Year of Exoneration | 2002 |
| Testing inculpated culprit | Non-Cold Hit |
| State of Conviction | New York |
| Trial, Bench Trial, or Guilty Plea | Trial |
| Type of Crime | Rape |
| Death Sentence | No |
| Gender of Exoneree | Male |
| Race of exoneree | Black |
| Juvenile | Yes |
| Description / Quotes from Testimony Concerning Defense | ● Witnesses described defendant’s whereabouts earlier the evening of the crime. Two defense witnesses took the Fifth Amendment |
| Did the defendant testify at trial? | No |
| Types of evidence at trial |
|
| Were non-public facts alleged? | Yes |
| Type of Forensic Evidence |
|
| Types of Flawed Forensics |
|
| Reason why invalid | (5) Hair probability statement relying on experience |
| Brief Quote / Description of Testimony | The analyst testified that based on experience examining hair standards, that the finding of a similarity has greater probative value. The analyst testified, “I’ve looked at thousands of hair standards over the course of my work and I haven’t seen any that have the same range of physical characteristics yet. . . . But I have in fact looked at thousands of standards and haven’t seen two that matched exactly.” See discussion of the case at Part II.B. |
| Examples of Non-Public or Corroborated Facts and Inconsistencies | ● Description of height, weight, build of victim. ● Description of color of victim’s pants and top ● Description of crime scene ● Description of other attacks in the Park ● Victim was hit with a pipe covered with black tape |
| Quotes from law enforcement testimony | “Q: In your questioning of Kevin Richardson did you ask him what the female jogger looked like? A: Yes I did. Q: And did he give you a description of what she looked like? A: Yes he did Q: Do you recall what he told you? A: Again I have to look at the notes. He described the subject as female white in her twenties, short hair, gray jogging pants with bike tights and white tank top.” “Q: And during the course of this statement you didn’t suggest to him the words to use? A: Pardon me? Q: You didn’t suggest the words to use? A: I didn’t suggest anything, no.” |
| Quotes from prosecution arguments | “Remember the description that Kevin Richardson gives about the pipe that was used? Think about what he told you about the pipe. He said there was black tape all over it. Well, if you only saw a person holding that pipe and if you only saw it for brief moment when it was being used on somebody how would you know there was tape all over it? How would you know it went from end to end? And even more important how would you know as Kevin Richardson does that that pipe is heavy? You only know that if you yourself held it if you yourself wielded it on that night.” “If you take the time to look at the evidence in this case, if you look at what the defendants said, the evidence in this case again and again corroborates for you what the defendants describe and admit that they did in the park on that night.” |
| Interrogation Recorded | Videotape of part of interrogation |
| Jailhouse informant, Co-defendant, Incentivized Witness | CD |
| Examples of Non-Public or Corroborated Facts and Inconsistencies | ● Non-public details in codefendants McCray, Richardson, Salaam, Santana and Wise’s reported and false confessions (and defendant also falsely confessed), see False Confessions Appendix. |
| Highest level reached | Appeal |
| Claims Raised During All Appeals and Postconviction |
|
| Citations to judicial opinions | People v. Richardson. 202 A.D.2d 227 (N.Y. App. Div. 1 Dept. 1994) |