In the year 1987 my client, Bruce Godschalk was convicted of 2 counts of Burglary and Rape in Montgomery County, Pennsylvania. He was tried and found guilty of a crime he did not commit. I have obtained evidence to prove my client`s innocence. The list of contributing causes that enabled my client to be incarcerated was Eyewitness Misidentification, False Confessions, and Government Misconduct.

Eyewitness misidentification played a crucial role into why bruce was detained. There is some data to propose that Bruce was misidentified by the witnesses and that he did not commit the crime. According to statistics, “Eyewitness misidentification is the single greatest cause of wrongful convictions nationwide, playing a role in nearly 75% of convictions overturned through DNA testing,” proving that Eyewitness identifications, most of the time, is unreliable. Secondly, of the two victims that were raped and robbed only 1 of the 2 victims identified Bruce Godschalk. The other victim was able to draw a sketch of the perpetrator that was later said to resemble Bruce. Based on the information received, the the victims were awoken by the criminal. The victims could not have seen the criminal due to the point that when woken up a human`s eyesight is blurry. Also based on research, “The human mind is not like a tape recorder; we neither record events exactly as we see them, nor recall them like a tape that has been rewound”. Therefore proving that there is no hard evidence to prove that bruce committed this crime.

False Confessions are another contributing cause of the detainment of Bruce Godschalk.

Bruce was told by the police officers investigating the case that if he were to plead guilty his consequences would be far less harsher and he might walk away. Due to that influence, Bruce gave them a detailed confession of a crime he did not commit. According to data, “ In about 25% of DNA exoneration cases, innocent defendants made incriminating statements, delivered outright confessions or pled guilty.” This proves that he made this false confession in order to ensure that he was set free. Additionally, bruce was threatened that if he pleaded innocent he would be put in jail for a longer period of time. He was innocent and had nothing to hide. The police officers made him wary of the consequences and because of this fear he gave in a false confession. Based on data, “These cases show that confessions are not always prompted by internal knowledge or actual guilt, but are sometimes motivated by external influences.” In other words, this is proving that my client is innocent and just lied to ensure safety.

Government Misconduct is one more decisive reason to why Bruce Godschalk was incarcerated. Based on intelligence,” Some wrongful convictions are caused by honest mistakes. But in far too many cases, the very people who are responsible for ensuring truth and justice — law enforcement officials and prosecutors — lose sight of these obligations and instead focus solely on securing convictions.” All of the evidence that was connected to Bruce Godschalk was said to be consumed in secret testing. They had my client detained but had insufficient evidence to prove that he committed the crime. Also according to intelligence, “The cases of wrongful convictions uncovered by DNA testing are filled with evidence of negligence, fraud or misconduct by prosecutors or police departments.” They had discarded evidence that was thought to be irrelevant but that evidence was used in his trial to persuade the jury into thinking that he was completely connected to the crime. Therefore proving that he was in jail with no evidence linking him to the crime.

The prosecution believes that Bruce Godschalk is guilty because the victims identified him as the killer. However, it must have been impossible for the victims to notice the perpetrator when they were being raped and robbed. According to the innocence project,”The human mind is not a tape recorder.” The victims could not have been able to pinpoint the person who did it with no doubt in mind. The prosecution cannot convict him for rape and burglary because of an inkling of who did the crime.

To conclude, I believe that my client, Bruce Godschalk, was not guilty of any of the charges he was convicted of. There is no more reason for Bruce to be incarcerated anymore. He has stayed in jail for a long period of time and there was no hard-evidence connecting him to the crime. Bruce Godschalk should be set free and should receive some compensation for the mistake of the government.