William Nolan tried to tell the cop who arrested him. He tried to tell the judge. He even tried to tell the jailers who gave him his jumpsuit.
But it was only after the Indianapolis man had spent five days in jail last year that authorities realized that what Nolan had been insisting was true: They had the wrong man.
Police, including a top warrants official, now suspect that a detective may have mistakenly slapped Nolan's Social Security number on the auto theft arrest warrant for another man.
But not just any other man. Another man named William Nolan.
"For people that have names that are shared by other people, this is a horror story," said Joel Schumm, clinical professor of law at Indiana University School of Law-Indianapolis. "I mean, this is something that should scare them."
Though it remains unclear just how the wrong William Nolan ended up in jail for five days, he is pretty sure someone is responsible -- and he has filed a wrongful imprisonment lawsuit against the city, set for trial in June 2010.
The mistaken-identity mess traces all the way back to August 2007. That's when someone stole a black 1997 BMW from J Frank Motors.
Jan Frank told Indianapolis Metropolitan Police Detective Donna Hayes he suspected a man who had been hired just a few days earlier to wash cars: a tall black man named William Nolan.
According to Hayes' affidavit, a woman who said that William Nolan had been staying with her said she last saw Nolan the day of the theft -- driving a black 1997 BMW.
Fast-forward to March 2008, when IMPD officer Brady Ball was making a routine check of the names in the registry of a Far-Southside motel. One name, he later testified, matched the warrant for a stolen BMW: William Nolan.
Nolan, 48, was staying at the motel while repairs were being made on his fire-damaged home. Ball knocked on his room door. Nolan answered. Ball placed him under arrest in the car theft case.
Still, Ball wasn't quite sure he had the right person. The warrant listed William Nolan as black. This William Nolan was white.
__________
Rest of the story: http://jconline.com/article/20090528/NEWS09/90528006
No comments:
Post a Comment