As the holiday season approaches, we continue to make strides toward bringing our clients home. Here are some highlights from the NCIP docket:
THE CASE OF JEREMY PUCKETT
Years served: 15
First contacted NCIP on: November 8, 2012
On November 8, the California Supreme Court requested informal briefing in the case of Jeremy Puckett. In 2002, Puckett was convicted of murder and robbery in Sacramento. Since his first letter to NCIP in 2012, we have uncovered overwhelming evidence of Puckett’s innocence, including an admission of guilt by the real perpetrator, hundreds of pages of withheld evidence, and a witness recantation verifying someone else committed the murder. On {X DATE}, the Third District Court of Appeal denied Puckett’s petition for writ of habeas corpus. NCIP and pro bono partner Simpson Thacher & Bartlett LLP have since jointly filed a petition challenging the denial. The petition remains pending in the California Supreme Court.
THE CASE OF ZAVION JOHNSON
Years served: 15
First contacted NCIP on: January 10, 2007
On November 2, the district attorney conceded that false medical testimony was introduced at Zavion Johnson’s trial, and that had the false medical evidence not been introduced, it more likely than not would have changed the outcome of the case. In 2002, Johnson was wrongfully convicted of the homicide of his 4-month-old daughter when he was 19 years old. His conviction was based on medical evidence now clearly established as false. The prosecution’s two primary experts have repudiated their trial testimony that her death could not have been the result of an accidental fall. Multiple other experts confirm her injuries are consistent with the fall Johnson described 17 years ago. We await a court date for the ruling.
THE CASE OF RICKY DAVIS:
Years served: 11
First contacted NCIP on: June 21, 2006
On January 10, the El Dorado Superior Court issued an order to show cause in response to NCIP’s petition for writ of habeas corpus challenging the conviction of Ricky Davis. Davis was convicted in 2005 of second-degree murder for the stabbing death of a woman in 1985. New DNA evidence contradicts the testimony of the sole witness who claimed Davis was involved with the murder. The case has been fully briefed for the court and an order is expected on November 27, 2017.
THE CASE OF KEVIN GALIK
Years served: 20
First contacted NCIP on: November 2, 2011
On November 21, a two-day evidentiary hearing will be held for NCIP client Kevin Galik in the Kings County Superior Court. In 1997, Galik was sentenced to life without the possibility of parole for the murder and sexual assault of an eleven-year-old girl. Post-conviction DNA testing revealed the presence of an unknown male DNA profile in the body of the victim, and excluded Galik as a contributor. Since 2014, NCIP has filed multiple pleadings arguing that the newly discovered DNA evidence establishes that Galik is actually innocent of the crime and that had the jury known about it, there would more likely than not have been a different outcome.
THE CASE OF JACK SAGIN
Years served: 32
First contacted NCIP on: December 30, 2001
On June 26, NCIP filed a petition for writ of habeas corpus on Jack Sagin’s behalf in Sixth District Court of Appeal. In July 1985, a Monterey County woman was murdered in her home. A month later, police arrested Sagin on an unrelated crime. While incarcerated, he was housed with two jailhouse informants who claimed Sagin admitted to the woman’s unsolved murder to them. With no physical evidence connecting Sagin to the murder, he was convicted based solely on the unreliable claims of the jailhouse informants. NCIP conducted DNA testing which showed Sagin’s DNA was absent from all items of evidence recovered from the crime scene. In addition, DNA of an unidentified male was found under the victim’s fingernails and DNA from several men was also discovered on other items of evidence. We await the court’s decision. 
