Righting Wrongs Part 2: Douglas Warney
New York, NY —
In the last month, two local men have returned home from long stints in prison, after DNA testing showed they were innocent. The exonerations have focused the public’s – and politicians’ – attention on wrongful convictions. In a three-part series, WNYC’s All Things Considered host, Amy Eddings, talks to Innocence Project co-founder Barry Scheck about the root causes of wrongful convictions, and to two exonerees about what it was like to go to prison for something they didn’t do.”
REPORTER: It was overcast and rainy when I visited Douglas Warney at his sister’s home in Rochester. But Warney thinks every day is paradise, no matter the weather.
WARNEY: Walking out here is freedom, like going to the Bahamas…(laughs)…compared to prison life.
REPORTER: Last May, Douglas Warney walked out of prison a free man, after serving nine years for a murder he didn’t commit. His innocence was demonstrated through DNA testing, obtained through the help of lawyers with the Innocence Project. Since his release, the nonprofit legal clinic has helped three other wrongfully convicted men get out of New York’s prisons.
Their stories not only demonstrate our criminal justice system is flawed, and sends innocent people to jail. They also demonstrate the remarkable resilience of those who have endured such an injustice.
WARNEY: I was jumped. I had teeth knocked out, I had broken ribs, a black eye, they thought I had a broken collarbone…[take a tail and fade under]
REPORTER: Douglas Warney has been in prison before, for robbing people. The 45 year old has an eighth grade education, and a history of mental health problems. The Innocence Project says he has has a habit of calling police, offering information on the latest crime. So, when Warney called to talk about the stabbing murder of William Beason, a local civil rights advocate whose house Warney had once cleaned, police brought him in. After 12 hours of questioning, Douglas Warney confessed.
REPORTER: how is it that you confessed to something you didn’t do?
WARNEY: Because I was sick at the time.
REPORTER: Warney has AIDS. He’s had the disease since 1991. His attorneys at the Innocence Project say Warney’s AIDS-related dementia made him vulnerable to coercion. The confession he signed after his lengthy interrogation included facts known only to police.
ABBAS: They told him everything, for 12 hours, what was in the house, what they found.and then they told him to put it on paper and sign it. That’s how he knew so much about that.
REPORTER: Audrey Abbas is Warney’s sister. Doug lives with her.
ABBAS: But for him to just go, he wouldn’t’s have been able to write that. Doug’s IQ is 68, he was forced into signing that. He had no legal representation, no authority with him.
REPORTER: they write out this confession, and you sign it. Did you know what you were signing?
WARNEY: No.
REPORTER: did they read it to you?
WARNEY: No, They asked me to read it to them.
REPORTER: Could you?
WARNEY: I couldn’t even read half of it.
REPORTER: You didn’t understand the words?
WARNEY: No. And that’s how they got a confession outta me. And then they used the confession to convict me.
REPORTER: The Innocence Project has helped exonerate 185 people since 1992. Of those exonerations, the group says false confessions were the basis of 25 percent of them.
Jurors were swayed by Warney’s confession, despite troubling inconsistencies, and no physical evidence linking him to the crime scene. Although he was originally charged with first degree murder, a crime punishable by death, the charges were later dropped to second degree murder. Warney was convicted, and sentenced to 25 years to life.
WARNEY: But for seven months I was on the death penalty list in New York State. They wanted me executed.
REPORTER: Do you carry resentments?
WARNEY: Yes I do, I might not show em. Deep down, I’m hurt bad. I’m angry at the city of Rochester and the state.
Audrey says she recently refused to appear for jury duty service.
ABBAS: Because of what they did to my brother. I told them I can’t be fair after what they did to my brother. And they never called me back to jury duty.
REPORTER: Warney finally got out of prison when prosecutors ran DNA tests on the blood and tissue samples in the case. The DNA didn’t match Warney. It matched Eldred Johnson Junior. He was already serving time for a murder in Utica. He told prosecutors he killed William Beason, he was alone when he did it, and he didn’t know Douglas Warney.
REPORTER: when your conviction was vacated, did anyone say they were sorry?
WARNEY: No. They couldn’t talk, or look me in the eye. The day when the judge said, ‘OK, Mr. Warney, I’m now exonerating you,’ he told the corrections officers to take the shackles off, my family’s clapping; never once said I’m sorry.
ABBAS: No one said ‘I’m sorry, Doug.’
REPORTER: Warney is hoping to get his apologies another way, by suing the state and the city of Rochester. He’s not working – he says nerve damage in his legs from AIDS prevents him from doing so. Since getting out, he’s enjoyed his sister’s cooking, and has gotten closer to his sister’s boys, who were 7 and 11 when he was arrested.
ABBAS: you know what he really missed? Sunshine. We had 100 degree temperatures – you’d have Doug in the front yard, enjoying his freedom! (laughs)
REPORTER: What kept you going, knowing you were innocent?
WARNEY: Family. But I neer thought I’d come out alive, because of my medical situation.Even today, I still don’t see that I’m here….even though I am.
WNYC is funded by sponsors and member donations
