Bloodsworth (33 page)

William McGinnis, the FBI serologist who testified at the first Bloodsworth trial, has no specific recollection of the case. He reports that he would often make markings on evidence indicating the spot from where he intended to try and lift samples for identification and testing. If no spermatozoa were then found, he'd conclude that no semen was present. The fact that there were markings on the clothes, he posits, would indicate only that he probably attempted to identify blood or spermatozoa from those areas. The question thus remains, How could McInnis and the FBI have failed to find any semen on the crime scene evidence?

Sandra O'Connor has provided little in the way of a satisfactory explanation as to why her office waited ten years—from 1993 when
Dr. Blake discovered the semen stain until 2003—to try and match the DNA found on Dawn Hamilton's underclothing with a suspect. For all her office knew, the murderer of Hamilton could have been stalking other victims during those ten years or been pending release from a prison or a jail. The Baltimore County Police Department utilized dozens of officers and spent vast resources to investigate the crime. O'Connor's office also spent significant resources in prosecuting Bloodsworth twice, in vigorously resisting Bloodsworth's efforts to free himself, and in defending its convictions during two appeals. Yet after Bloodsworth's release, when it came time to appreciate that Bloodsworth was not the assailant, O'Connor's office delayed ten years before comparing the DNA retrieved from the actual killer's sperm with that contained in the state's database. It was short of funds, Ann Brobst explained.

Ann Brobst has been promoted to be deputy of the Circuit Court Division of the Baltimore County State's Attorney's Office. She was not assigned to the Kimberly Ruffner prosecution.

Robert Lazzaro presently works in a law firm in Towson, Maryland, primarily handling divorce matters. He and his partners did accept appointments in two cases to defend death penalty prosecutions brought by his old boss. “There's quite a difference being on the defense side,” he remarked. “As a prosecutor, the crime has already been committed. As a defense lawyer, you actually hold someone's life in your hands. It's a sobering responsibility.” In both cases, he was able to avoid a death sentence.

Steven Scheinin, David Henninger, and Leslie Stein all continue in private practice in the greater Baltimore area.

Judge William Hinkel sits occasionally as a retired judge but has no plans to ever again hear a capital case. Judge James T. Smith left the bench in September 2001 to run for office. He was elected as the Baltimore County executive in 2002.

In 1994 the State of Maryland abandoned the gas chamber as a means of execution, replacing it with lethal injection, considered more humane. In May 2002 Maryland governor Parris Glendening, citing continuing questions about the integrity of capital punishment, placed a temporary moratorium on death sentences in Maryland. In January 2003 Maryland's attorney general, J. Joseph Curran Jr. called for an abolition of the death penalty in Maryland citing flaws in the system and the real possibility that innocent persons could be executed. Maryland's newly sworn-in Republican governor, Robert L. Ehrlich Jr., however, has lifted the moratorium. He has done this despite a recent independent study by a University of Maryland researcher pointing out that of the twelve men then awaiting execution in Maryland, the vast majority were from one county—Baltimore County, eight were black, and all were convicted of killing white people.

Kirk Bloodsworth continues his work as a consultant with the Justice Project and regularly travels to speak on behalf of prison reform, access to DNA testing for prisoners, and against capital punishment. He has been the recipient of numerous awards for his efforts promoting civil rights and equal justice. In 2003 bipartisan sponsored legislation in Congress, called the Innocence Protection Act, contained a grant to prisoners providing funds for DNA testing. It was named in his honor—the Kirk Bloodsworth Post-Conviction DNA Testing Grant Program. Kirk lobbied hard for this legislation. He even handed out a copy of the first hardback edition of this book to each United States senator. Through his efforts and the work of many others, the legislation passed both houses of Congress in October 2004. It was signed into law by President George W. Bush on October 30, 2004.

On March 15, 2004, Sir Alec Jeffreys was awarded the prestigious Pride of Britain Lifetime Achievement Award in a ceremony in the
Grand Ballroom of the London Hilton attended by dignitaries and celebrities from all over the world. Kirk Bloodsworth, accompanied by his wife, Brenda, was secretly flown in to appear onstage as the special guest of Jeffreys before a televised audience estimated at over 10 million people.

Freedom,
Kirk Bloodsworth's workboat, at least when her skipper's in town, can usually be seen plying the tributaries of the Chesapeake Bay, trotlining for hard crabs, occasionally trolling for stripers, a fine example of a waterman's craft, not particularly fast but stable and sturdy, steadily moving forward through the waves, a white gem on a river of blue.

W
HEN
I
FIRST APPROACHED
Kirk Bloodsworth with the idea of working on this project, he agreed enthusiastically to make it a collaborative effort. He generously provided his time, shared with me the intimate and often painful details of his life story, and encouraged his prior lawyers to speak with me and give me access to their records. My job was to research and write the book. Since then, Kirk and I have spent many days together, and I am sincerely grateful for the opportunity he gave me to undertake this project and for his enormous contribution to it. In working with Kirk I have gained a profound admiration and respect for his courage, his integrity, and his character. To endure what he endured and then to turn his life into a positive force for justice is both remarkable and inspiring. It is in keeping, of course, with the grit of a Chesapeake Bay waterman.

In addition to learning from Kirk, I interviewed many of the people who participated in or reported on this real life drama. These include Kirk's father, Noble Curtis Bloodsworth, Judge Robert Morin, Dr. Edward Blake, Judge William Hinkel, County Executive Judge James T. Smith, Robert Lazzaro, Ann Brobst, Steven Scheinin, Leslie Stein, David Henninger, Valerie Cloutier, Julia Bernhardt, George Burns, Gary Christopher, Ted Weisman, Peter Loge, Katy O'Donnell, Susan Levine, Judge Gerald Fisher, William McGinnis, Major Rufton Price, and Barry Scheck, among others. I was also assisted by Michael Tigar, Laura Burstein, Jayne Miller, Stephen Nolan, and Dr. Ravindar Dhallan. My thanks go out to all these people for their cooperation and help. Detectives Robert Capel and William Ramsey have both retired from police work. Requests for interviews were made to them through Major Rufton Price of the Baltimore County Police Department, but neither agreed to come forward.

In researching the events depicted in this book, I also relied extensively on the voluminous police and FBI notes and reports, legal correspondence and pleadings, trial exhibits, court documents, and trial transcripts concerning the Dawn
Hamilton murder investigation and Kirk Bloodsworth's trials, appeals, and exoneration. Additionally, contemporaneous news stories from the
Baltimore Sun
papers, the
Times
of Baltimore County, the
News American,
and the
Washington Post
became important secondary sources. I thank the reporters for these newspapers who wrote about the Dawn Hamilton murder investigation and the events surrounding Kirk Bloodsworth's convictions and exoneration. The police reports and notes, the legal pleadings and notes, and the correspondence that I've reviewed and relied on are too numerous to list. I have attempted in the bibliography to name all other sources as well as a selection of letters specifically referred to in the book.

I am in debt as well to my editor, Shannon Ravenel, for her confidence, encouragement and skill, and particularly to Kristin Curran Junkin, for her research assistance, her many readings and suggestions, and her consummate patience and support.

K
IRK
B
LOODSWORTH WISHES
to express the following sentiments: He dedicates this story to God, for without him no things are possible; to his mother, who will always be with him; to his dad, whom he loves for all he endured and has done in helping to free him; and to Dawn Venice Hamilton and the Hamilton family. He wishes to thank Al Rose, and Anita, who will always be friends in Christ; Dave Bloodsworth and his cousin Cindy for standing by him when he was down; Janet Taylor, Pat Ryan, and, particularly, Bob Morin for helping to save him; the Justice Project and Wayne, Laura, John, Peter, Cynthia, Cheryl, Kim, Penny, Grace, Bobby, Wendy, and Lynn; Dick Dieter at the Death Penalty Information Center; Ginny and all his friends at the Constitution Project; John Rago, Maria, and his friends at the Duquesne Law School; the Lancer's Club; Judge Hammerman; Kim Summers and Lynn; Shawn Ambrose; Larry Marshall and Rob Warden of the Northwestern Center on Wrongful Convictions; Barry Scheck and Peter Neufeld; Jayne Miller; Mike Tricky; Jayne Henderson; Senator Patrick Leahy; Congressmen Bill Delahunt, Ray LaHood, and F. James Sensenbrenner Jr.; Jesse Jackson Jr. for letting his voice be heard; Aunt Frances; and he especially thanks his wife, Brenda, whom he considers the most wonderful woman on earth, and her fine family.

Amnesty International. “Abolitionist and Retentionist Countries.” Retrieved September 24, 2003, from
http://www.web.amnesty.org/pages/deathpenalty-countries-english
.

Amirani, Amir. “Sir Alec Jeffreys on DNA Profiling and Minisatellites.”
Science Watch
(1995). Retrieved September 22, 2003, from
http://www.sciencewatch.com/interviews/sir_alec_jeffreys.htm
.

Archaeology Online News, Archaeological Institute of America. “Neandertal DNA.” (July 29, 1997). Retrieved September 25, 2003, from
http://www.archaeology.org/online/news/dna.html
.

Bishop, Jerry E., and Michael Waldholz.
Genome.
New York: Simon and Schuster, 1990.

Blake, Edward T., and Jennifer S. Mihalovich. “Report to Robert E. Morin re:
Maryland v. Kirk Bloodsworth,
File No. 92-508. Forensic Science Associates, Richmond, Calif., 17 May 1993.

Bloodsworth v. State
, 307 Md. 164, 512 A.2d 1056 (1986).

Bowerman, Sam, and Sa W. Hagmaier. “Criminal Personality Profile—The Dawn Hamilton Homicide–Sexual Assault.” Report prepared in consultation with other members of the Behavioral Science Unit of the FBI Academy, Quantico, Va., 1984.

Brobst, S. Ann. Letter from the assistant state's attorney for Baltimore County to Robert E. Morin, re:
State v. Bloodsworth,
17 April 1989.

Brown, Clarence. “Dawn's Father: Didn't Know of Camp Plans.”
News American
(Baltimore, Md.), 28 July 1984, 1A.

Brown, Clarence. “Man Sought in Slaying of Rossville Girl.”
News American
(Baltimore, Md.), 26 July 1984, 1A.

Brown, Clarence. “Police Seek Leads in Killing.”
News American
(Baltimore, Md.), 27 July 1984, 1A.

Browne, Gary Lawson.
Baltimore in the Nation, 1789–1861.
Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina Press, 1980.

Butler, John M.
Forensic DNA Typing: Biology and Technology behind STR Markers.
San Diego, Calif.: Academic Press, 2001.

Carson, Larry, and Frank D. Roylance. “Man Held in Girl's Murder.”
Evening Sun
(Baltimore, Md.), 9 August, A1.

Criminal Justice Legal Foundation. “Minority Views on Senate Bill 486, the Innocence Protection Act.” Retrieved October 12, 2003, from
http://www.cjlf.org/deathpenalty/Dpinformation
.

Davis, Paul J. Letter of congratulations from the chairman of the Maryland Parole Commission announcing the pardon of Kirk Noble Bloodsworth by Governor William Donald Schaefer, 28 December 1993.

Erlandson, Robert A. “Bloodsworth, on Stand, Denies Murdering Child.”
Sun
(Baltimore, Md.), 8 March 1985, 1D.

———. “County Detective Learns to Use Psychological Profile.”
Sun
(Baltimore, Md.), 19 May 1985, 2B.

———. “Kirk Bloodsworth Gets Death Penalty in Child's Murder.”
Sun
(Baltimore, Md.), 23 March 1985, 7A.

Evans, Martin. “Dawn Trusting, Guardian Says.”
News American
(Baltimore, Md.), 27 July 1984, 8A.

Evans, Martin, and Joe Nawrozski. “Slain Girl Was ‘Supposed to Be at Camp.'”
News American
(Baltimore, Md.), 27 July 1984, 1A.

Fridell, Ron.
DNA Fingerprinting: The Ultimate Identify.
New York: Franklin Watts, 2001.

Gans, Jeremy, and Gregor Urbas.
DNA Identification in the Criminal Justice System.
Trends and Issues in Crime and Criminal Justice, no. 226. Canberra: Australian Institute of Criminology, 2002.

German, Ed. “The History of Fingerprints.” Retrieved September 16, 2003, from
http://www.onin.com/fp/fphistory.html
.

Goldstein, Louis L.
Louis Goldstein's Maryland.
Annapolis: Maryland State Archives, 1985.

Gove, Maureen. “Bloodsworth Denied New Trial in Hamilton Murder.”
Essex Times
(Baltimore County, Md.), 20 March 1985.

———. “Bloodsworth Guilty in Hamilton Murder.”
Essex Times
(Baltimore County, Md.), 13 March 1985, 1.

———. “Bloodsworth Sentenced to Death for Hamilton Murder.”
Essex Times
(Baltimore County, Md.), 27 March 1985, 1.

———. “Testimony Begins in Bloodsworth Murder Trial.”
Essex Times
(Baltimore County, Md.), 6 March 1985.

Hiaasen, Rob. “The Second Life of Kirk Bloodsworth.”
Sun
(Baltimore, Md.), 30 July 2000.