Anthony caravella Walking out of Court in September 2009 (on right)

Broward prosecutors will step into court this morning with Anthony Caravella and his lawyer Dianne Cuddihy to ask that Caravella’s conviction and life sentence be thrown out (with video):

Final DNA results released Wednesday completely exonerate a Broward County man who served 26 years in prison — more than half his life — for a rape and murder, his defense attorney said. Broward prosecutors will ask a judge Thursday to throw out his conviction and life sentence, freeing him of restrictions imposed since he was temporarily released from prison on Sept. 10.

“I never had any doubt that Anthony was innocent,” said Diane Cuddihy, the public defender who worked for nine years to free him. “The shocking thing is that an innocent man can be convicted like this.”
. . .

“It’s over,” Caravella told the Sun Sentinel in a phone call minutes after he learned of the DNA results. “I’m OK now.”

Anthony was convicted for the 1983rape and murder of a 58 year-old-woman in Miramar, FL.  Anthony had an IQ of 67 and was prone to falsely confessing to crimes he didn’t commit (he had been used by law enforcement to close unsolved burglary cases).  this time they chose to use him to close this murder case.  He gave several inconsistent statements that were treated as confessions and used against him in court even though there was no physical evidence to connect him to the crime.  He was convicted and received a life sentence after the prosecutor, Robert Carney, sought the death penalty.

In 2001, Dianne Cuddihy from the Broward Public Defender took on his case and got him DNA testing at the Broward Seriff’s office wlab which did not achieve a result.  New DNA testing in 2009 at a Forensic Science Associates, a private laboratory in Richmond, California obtained the result that showed semen and sperm left on the victim during the rape/murder on the victim was not from Caravella.

Prosecutors released Anthony conditionally in September 2009 pending their own confirmatory testing.  That testing was finished yesterday and confirmed that Anthony is actually innocent and spent 26 years in prison for a crime he didn’t commit.

You can read more on Anthony’s case by clicking here.

Just so there is no confusion, IPF played the most minor of roles in this case (assisting Caravella’s attorney with some issues surrounding the DNA testing and assisting with some pleadings).  IPF wishes to congratulate Anthony and his family, and his attorney,  Dianne Cuddihy who has been fighting to achieve this moment for Anthony for the last 9 years.

IPF has been assisting Anthony Caravella to transition well into free society since he was released in September 2009.  If you would like to contribute to our Emergency Exoneree Fund, which helps Anthony and other exonerees who have not yet been compensated, you can kindly do so by clicking here.

Related posts:

1. 26 Years Taken Away, But A Whole Life Ahead Wrongful conviction vacated; charges dropped; Anthony Caravella’s nightmare officially over; the first day of the rest of his life: A...
2. Anthony Caravella Round-Up We have been really busy in the last week and haven’t been able to keep up with all the news...
3. Caravella Follow-Up Paula MacMahon of the Sun Sentinel has a good follow-up story that touches on Anthony Caravella’s options for redress and...
4. DNA Tests Prove Broward Man Innocent Yesterday, DNA results were released in the case of Anthony Caravella, a mentally retarded man who was convicted at the...
5. Broward Pays Up Two weeks ago, Anthony Caravella’s was released from prison based on DNA results that prove he is not a rapist...
6. Paul House exonerated in Tennessee! From the New York Times: Prosecutors dropped charges against a former Tennessee inmate who spent 22 years on death row...