Marvin Anderson Case

In 1982, at the age of 18, Marvin Anderson’s dreams of becoming a professional fireman had been taken away. He was in the fireman academy at the time he was convicted of robbery, sodomy, abduction, and rape. The victim of the rape reported that the rapist said, he “had a white girl” (Innocence Project, n.d.). Marvin never had a criminal record, but because a police officer only knew of one black man, who dated a white girl, so, he singled out Marvin Anderson (Innocence Project, n.d.).
The victim also picked out Marvin through a photo and lineup. But, there was another individual named John Otis Lincoln, who stole a bike right before the rape occurred. The victim states the rapist was on a bike. The owner of the bike was contacted, and stated the bike was stolen by John Otis Lincoln.

Marvin Anderson was convicted, by an all white jury, to 210 years in prison. In 1988, John came forward confessed, and gave details of the crime, but the judge didn’t change the decision for Marvin. It was also noted that the rape kit, used in the case was destroyed. Marvin also requested DNA tests, but that was also denied.
When the Innocence Project became involved in 2001, access to DNA testing was won for Marvin. Luckily, conventional serology tests were performed on swabs from the rape kit, which contained sperm from the victim’s body, instead of being placed back in the rape kit. The results of these tested were in a notebook. The results exonerated Marvin from the case, as the DNA results matched two inmates, who were already convicted offenders in the state Virginia’s DNA