Convicting the Innocent
DNA Exonerations Database

Robert Lee Stinson

First Name Robert Lee
Last NameStinson
Year of Conviction1985
Year of Exoneration2009
Testing inculpated culpritCold Hit
State of ConvictionWisconsin
Trial, Bench Trial, or Guilty PleaTrial
Type of CrimeMurder
Death SentenceNo
Life / LWOP sentenceLife
Gender of ExonereeMale
Race of exonereeBlack
JuvenileNo
Type of Innocence Defense
  • Alibi
Description / Quotes from Testimony Concerning Defense

● Alibi witnesses described defendant having been with them at a party the night of the crime.

Did the defendant testify at trial?Yes
Quotes from Exoneree Testimony

Defendant described his alibi and claimed innocence.

Types of evidence at trial
  • Forensic Evidence
Type of Forensic Evidence
  • Bite Mark
Types of Flawed Forensics
  • Invalid
Reason why invalid-6
Brief Quote / Description of Testimony

The analyst testified that “there was no question that there was a match to a reasonable scientific certainty” that features in the bite marks were “unusual and remarkable,” and “They would have to have been made by Robert Lee Stinson.”

Highest level reachedAppeal
Claims Raised During All Appeals and Postconviction
  • Ineffective Assistance of Counsel
  • Jackson Claim
  • State Law Evidence Claim
Harmless Error Rulings
  • G
Citations to judicial opinions

State v. Stinson, 397 N.W.2d 136 (Wis. App. 1986)