New Haven Judicial District State's Attorney Moves to Vacate 1993 Sexual Assault and Burglary Convictions of New Haven Man Following Review by Conviction Integrity Unit;[...]

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07/18/2024

New Haven Judicial District State's Attorney Moves to Vacate 1993 Sexual Assault and Burglary Convictions of New Haven Man Following Review by Conviction Integrity Unit; Division of Criminal Justice Initiates Review of Additional Cases Involving HLA-DQ-alpha DNA Testing

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

(Rocky Hill, CT) - New Haven Judicial District State's Attorney John P. Doyle, Jr. today announced that his office moved to vacate two 1993 convictions of Charles William Coleman (DOB 9/29/58) of New Haven. The move to vacate comes following an extensive investigation conducted by the Conviction Integrity Unit (CIU) of the Office of the Chief State's Attorney, who worked in close cooperation with Coleman's lawyers from The Connecticut Innocence Project / Post-Conviction Unit of the Division of Public Defender Services, and forensic scientists with the Division of Scientific Services of the Department of Emergency Services and Public Protection.

Coleman was serving a combined sentence of 170 years of incarceration in three separate cases. Those cases, all of which went to trial in 1993, arose from sexual assault and burglary incidents that occurred in New Haven in 1986. In each incident, the perpetrator entered the female victims' apartments in the middle of the night with a knife or sharp cutting tool and placed his hand over the victims' mouths while they were in bed sleeping. The perpetrator sexually assaulted two of the victims and assaulted the third with a knife. Coleman was convicted in all three cases, in part, based upon fingerprint evidence found at the crime scenes.

As set forth more fully in the CIU report released today, new and more sophisticated testing did not detect Coleman's DNA in forensic evidence. In one case, docket number NNH-CR86-0262767, a sexual assault crime kit containing forensic evidence not previously tested for DNA, and long believed to have been destroyed, was located by the New Haven Police Department and CIU members. Subsequent DNA test results indicate that Coleman has been eliminated as a contributor to the samples tested.

In the other case, docket number NNH-CR86-0261438, DNA tests were conducted pre-trial on samples from a sexual assault crime kit obtained from the victim utilizing a testing method then in widespread use, known as HLA-DQ-alpha. Testimony at the 1993 trial from state forensic laboratory personnel established that Coleman was included as a potential donor to the samples tested, and that he was within the 15 percent of the black population that could have been the source of the DNA.

As part of the CIU investigation, samples of genomic material obtained from the sexual assault crime kit were retested by the Division of Scientific Services utilizing more advanced DNA testing methods, GlobalFiler and YFiler Plus, not available at the time of Coleman's 1993 trials. Results of these recent DNA tests of original samples from 1986 have now eliminated Coleman as a contributor to the samples retested. Dr. Guy Vallaro, Director of the Division of Scientific Services, stated, "Advances in technology over the past thirty years have led to vastly improved testing. This means greater sensitivity to detect DNA from minute degraded samples, the ability to detect and separate out the individual DNA profiles in mixtures, and much higher discriminating powers. During the 1990's, the Division of Scientific Services, along with forensic labs across the country, used a DNA test called DQ Alpha, the first forensic PCR-based DNA test."

"In June, the forensic lab reanalyzed evidence from a 1986 sexual assault case originally analyzed in 1993 using DQ Alpha," Vallaro said. "Charles Coleman was convicted of Sexual Assault in the First Degree in a case where his DNA profile was found in forensic evidence using the DQ Alpha test. Reanalysis of the evidence in June 2024, using current and more sophisticated DNA technology, determined that Coleman's DNA profile was not detected in the forensic evidence."

State's Attorney John P. Doyle, Jr. stated, "The state's decision to move to vacate Mr. Coleman's convictions comes after careful review of the CIU report and the newly discovered DNA evidence, which has led me to no longer have confidence in two of Mr. Coleman's convictions." State's Attorney Doyle added that "the state is not in a position to retry the cases based on its evaluation of the totality of the available evidence." Coleman's conviction on the first case, docket number NNH-CR86-0261648, in which he was tried and convicted of Burglary in the First Degree, Assault in the First Degree, and Attempted Robbery in the First Degree, was not vacated and still stands. Coleman has served that sentence which was imposed in 1993.

As a result of this investigation, the CIU and the Division of Scientific Services, in consultation with The Connecticut Innocence Project, have initiated a review of the cases of currently incarcerated individuals wherein HLA-DQ-alpha testing was a primary contributor to the conviction. That review will include a reexamination of available evidence which may warrant reanalysis using current DNA technology.

"This case is an example of our commitment to the best science to ensure that the Division of Scientific Services uses the most advanced technology to detect DNA and to uphold the highest forensic science standards," said Dr. Vallaro.

Building upon Dr. Vallaro's sentiments, Chief State's Attorney Patrick J. Griffin stated, "The Division of Criminal Justice is dedicated to proactively utilizing all available tools to ensure justice." Griffin added, "Mr. Coleman's case underscores that advancements in DNA technology may play a crucial role in achieving that objective. I would like to thank the state laboratory and The Connecticut Innocence Project for their commitment to undertaking a review of other cases in which HLA-DQ-alpha testing occurred. Further, I would like to commend the entire CIU and Supervisory Assistant State's Attorney Stacey M. Miranda for the thoroughness of their investigation."

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