Page 22 - Florida Sentinel 2-21-20

National
A Texas Jury Found Him Guilty Of Murder. A Computer Algorithm Proved His Innocence
Boy Scouts Seek Bankruptcy Under Wave Of New Sex Abuse Lawsuits
The Boy Scouts of America filed for bankruptcy protec- tion amid declining member- ship and a new wave of sex abuse lawsuits.
The Boy Scouts of Amer- ica, one of the nation’s oldest and largest youth organiza- tions, filed for bankruptcy protection late Monday as former Scouts’ legal claims of past sexual abuse continue to mount.
The Scouts’ Chapter 11 pe- tition, filed in Bankruptcy Court in Delaware, comes amid declining membership and a wave of new sex-abuse lawsuits after several states, including California, New York and New Jersey, re- cently expanded legal options for childhood victims to sue. California’s law, AB 218, took effect in January and, among other provisions, opens a three-year “lookback win- dow” for victims to sue for damages on claims previ- ously barred by statutes of
BOY SCOUTS OF AMERICA
limitation. It also relaxes age restrictions on filing claims, giving victims until age 40 or five years after they become aware of injury caused by abuse.
The Boy Scouts of Amer- ica “cares deeply about all victims of abuse and sin- cerely apologizes to anyone who was harmed during their time in Scouting. We are out- raged that there have been times when individuals took advantage of our programs to harm innocent children,” Roger Mosby, the Scouts’ president and chief executive officer, said in a statement.
“While we know nothing can undo the tragic abuse that victims suffered, we be- lieve the Chapter 11 process — with the proposed Trust structure — will provide equi- table compensation to all vic- tims while maintaining the BSA’s important mission,” he said.
Scouts officials will not say how many abuse lawsuits have been filed in recent years or how much has been paid out in settlements and judgments. Plaintiffs attor- neys say the lawsuits number well into the hundreds and that many other claims were settled with confidential agreements before lawsuits were filed.
The bankruptcy petition, filed on behalf of Delaware BSA LLC early Tuesday, East- ern Standard Time, lists as- sets of zero to $50,000 and liabilities of $100 million to $500 million. The Scouts statement noted that local Scouts councils are not part of the bankruptcy.
Some of the Scouts’ insur- ers have refused to cover pay- outs in sex abuse cases, contending that the 110-year- old organization could have prevented the abuse that led to the claims, court records show.
The Scouts’ bankruptcy is not likely to affect local Scouting activities but will halt ongoing lawsuits while settlements are negotiated. It also will require new abuse claims to be handled in that venue rather than in state court.
Nearly a decade into his life sentence for murder, Lydell Grant was escorted out of a Texas prison in November with his hands held high, free on bail, all thanks to DNA re-ex- amined by a software program.
"The last nine years, man, I felt like an animal in a cage," Grant, embracing his mother and brother, told the crush of reporters awaiting him in Houston. "Especially knowing that I didn't do it."
Now, Grant, 42, is on a fast track to exoneration after a judge recommended in Decem- ber that Texas' highest criminal court vacate his conviction. His attorneys are hopeful a ruling is made in the coming weeks.
For Grant to get to here hinged on two prongs: the DNA evidence, which was re- analyzed through an emerging software that has also come under scrutiny, and an un- precedented decision to use the findings to conduct an FBI criminal database search that was initiated by a third party not part of the initial investiga- tion. That led to the discovery of a new suspect, who has been charged after police said he confessed.
The search process used in Grant's case has enormous potential to solve cold cases or re-evaluate other convictions that could pave the way for more exonerations nationwide, forensic scientists say.
"There's probably 5,000 or 6,000 innocent people in Texas prisons alone," said lawyer Mike Ware, executive direc- tor of the Innocence Project of Texas, which is representing Grant. "How many of them could benefit from such a re- analysis of DNA that was used to convict them? I don't really
LYDELL GRANT WITH HIS MOM AND BROTHER know, but this is a historic case
that could open the door for those who thought it was shut forever."
A MATCH IN THE DATABASE
Grant's ordeal began in December 2010, when Aaron Scheerhoorn was stabbed outside a Houston gay bar. Au- thorities said Scheerhoorn, who was bleeding from his ab- domen, had run to the bar's en- trance seeking help from horrified bar patrons and em- ployees. The witnesses de- scribed the killer as a black man, about 25 to 30 years old and around 6 feet tall. Police told local media that it may have been a "crime of passion."
A tip came in about a car that might belong to the sus- pect. Five days later, an officer pulled over a vehicle matching its description, and Grant, who at the time was driving on a suspended license, was taken in for questioning.
Investigators also inter- viewed seven witnesses, all but one of whom picked out Grant as the suspect from a photo lineup.
Grant, then 33, had a crim- inal record going back several years, including aggravated robbery, marijuana use and theft. But he maintained his in- nocence in the stabbing, said he had never met Scheer- hoorn and produced an alibi for his defense.
At Grant's trial in 2012, prosecutors centered their case on the eyewitness testimony — a practice that the Innocence Project argues plays a major role in defendants' being wrongfully accused. In addi- tion, jurors heard about DNA collected from fingernail scrap- ings from Scheerhoorn's right hand. The DNA was actu- ally a mixture of that of two people: the victim and a second male profile.
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