Alan Crotzer Dna Exoneration

Alan Crotzer—DNA Exoneration

In the United States, there have been a total of 321 DNA exonerations to date, with twenty of these exonerees having served time on death row (“The Innocence Project,” n.d.). Alan Crotzer was not one of these twenty, however he was sentenced to 130 years in prison for a crime that he didn’t commit. Charged and convicted of sexual battery, kidnapping, burglary, aggravated assault, robbery, and attempted robbery, it wasn’t until 24.5 years later, on January 23, 2006, that Crotzer was released from prison after post-conviction DNA testing proved his innocence (“The Innocence Project,” n.d.).

On July 8, 1981, three men forced entry into a home in Tampa, Florida. The five occupants of the home were threatened and then robbed by one of the assailants that possessed a shotgun. Afterwards, two of the female victims, ages 38 and 12, were forced into the trunk of the car, driven to a nearby wooded area, and raped by two of the assailants while the third remained inside the vehicle. Left tied to trees, they were able to untie themselves and contact the police, similarly to those victims left inside the recently burglarized house. Luckily, the license plate number of the vehicle being driven was able to be identified in an attempted pursuit.

Petersburg police department was contacted, as that was where the car was registered. Photographs of the car’s owner were included in the lineup that was then shown to the victims. Only two of the robbery victims made identifications of the owner, although they were not positive about their identification. Another photographic lineup was assembled on July 9, 1981, which included photographs of Douglas James, his brother Corlenzo, and Alan Crotzer. Each of these men were identified by the victims as assailants, with Crotzer being identified as the man carrying the shotgun, as well as the one that raped both