Background Case

Background: On March 20, 1987, a young girl was raped in her Billings home by an intruder who had broken in through a window. The girl was examined the same day.（ Police collected her underwear and the bed sheets upon which the crime was committed. Semen was identified on the underwear and several hairs were collected from the bed sheets.）

Factor:

1.Based on the victim's recollection, police produced a composite sketch(素描)of the intruder. An officer familiar with him thought Jimmy Ray Bromgard resembled the composite sketch. Bromgard eventually agreed to participate in a lineup, which was also videotaped. In the live proceedings, the victim picked out Bromgard but was not sure if he was the right man. After the victim was shown the videotaped footage of Bromgard, she said she was "60%, 65% sure." When asked at trial to rate her confidence in the identification without percentages, she replied, "I am not too sure." Still, she was allowed to identify Bromgard in court as her assailant.

2. Bromgard's assigned counsel never objected to the in court identification.(lawyer)

He also gave no opening statement and didn't prepare a closing statement(inresponsible)

3.The "hair expert" said a hair from the crime scene matched Jimmy.

Reason for release:

The innocence project accepted his case and law students began the search for biological evidence.

Evidence on the victim's sheets had been preserved, and DNA testing showed that Jimmy wasn't the attacker. He was freed in2002.

The causes of Bromgard's wrongful conviction should have serious ramifications for the Montana criminal justice system. Fraudulent science and incompetent lawyering, both avoidable, were the major causes and must be redressed. The ACLU has already filed a class action lawsuit against the indigent defender system in seven Montana counties for not providing adequate counsel for indigent clients (see our Bad Lawyering section).

Punishment charges：40years

Sentence served: 14.5years (2002)

Life after exoneration:

1. He got $3.5million for compensation.

2. Real perpetrator found? Not Yet

On October 1, 2002, Jimmy Ray Bromgard became the 111th person in the United States to be exonerated by postconviction DNA testing. Bromgard spent fourteen and a half years in a Montana prison for a crime he did not commit - the rape of an eight-year-old girl.

On March 20, 1987, a young girl was attacked in her Billings home by an intruder who had broken in through a window. She was raped vaginally, anally, and orally. The perpetrator fled after stealing a purse and jacket. The victim was examined the same day. Police collected her underwear and the bed sheets upon which the crime was committed. Semen was identified on the underwear and several hairs were collected from the bed sheets.

Based on the victim's recollection, police produced a composite sketch of the intruder. An officer familiar with him thought Jimmy Ray Bromgard resembled the composite sketch. Bromgard eventually agreed to participate in a lineup, which was also videotaped. In the live proceedings, the victim picked out Bromgard but was not sure if he was the right man. After the victim was shown the videotaped footage of Bromgard,