![]() ![]() Collectively, the formerly incarcerated had served more than 800 years behind bars. Since its inception in 2003, the Ohio Innocence Project has worked to free 42 wrongfully convicted Ohioans. One board member, however, tossed Herring some hope, suggesting he contact the Ohio Innocence Project. (Photo by Maddie McGarvey for The Marshall Project) Herring, like others who appear before the board, was urged to show remorse.Ĭottle and her family have consistently shared their disgust over Herring, insisting his repeated denials are proof he has “no remorse and no respect for the human race.”Īt a hearing in 2019, Herring told the board he could not take responsibility for a crime he didn’t commit.Īs a result, the board determined releasing him “would not be in the best interest of society and would demean the seriousness of the offense.” The Richland Correctional Institution in Mansfield, where Samuel Herring is currently serving a sentence of up to 330 years. It’s a message parole board members traditionally don’t want to hear. Herring’s continued incarceration comes largely because he’s never budged from his claims of innocence. I never got the chance to prove my innocence to her. Cottle died hating me,” Herring said, his voice trailing off during an interview at the Richland Correctional Institution. Still, he said, his lost years in prison don’t compare to Cottle’s losses. Herring is optimistic a DNA assessment of his case will correct the shortcomings of 1980s-era justice when such forensic measures were not yet available. “He put me in a prison of darkness for the rest of my life.” ![]() In a 2004 interview with News 5, Cottle, a hobbyist photographer before the attack, called Herring a “creep” and vowed to work to keep him behind bars. Her stance on Herring’s release was always clear. ![]() But her story endured for years as she devoted her life to advocating for crime victims and those living with blindness. (Photo by Phil Masturzo/Akron Beacon Journal) In a 2004 interview with News 5, Cottle called Samuel Herring a “creep” and vowed to work to keep him behind bars. Phyllis Cottle talks about her attack in a July 2009 file photo. ![]() The Marshall Project – Cleveland and News 5 contacted more than 10 of Cottle’s relatives. “We will continue to investigate to ensure justice for Phyllis Cottle’s family.” “We jointly agreed to ongoing and additional DNA testing,” Walsh said in a statement to The Marshall Project – Cleveland and News 5. Summit County Prosecutor Sherri Bevan Walsh said her office’s Conviction Review Unit has been working with the Ohio Innocence Project, who first accepted Herring’s case about three years ago. The work of the Ohio Innocence Project has prompted Summit County prosecutors to agree in October to a forensic review of seven pieces of evidence collected from the Cottle rape: bindings, wire, Cottle’s clothing, a can of car refinisher and a white cloth. I just want everyone to know I wasn’t the man … They had the wrong guy.” I want them to know I wasn’t the one who did that. “I want to prove my innocence, regardless if I did all the time (in prison). “I care about what people think,” Herring said. Īnd now, for the first time, the lens of modern science will test Herring’s veracity as well as the resolve of law enforcement long bent on keeping him in prison.ĭNA testing is taking place, potentially opening the door for Herring to win his freedom after nearly four decades behind bars. This racial disparity can largely be attributed to the misidentification of Black suspects by White victims of violent crimes, according to the group. Innocent Black people are almost eight times more likely than White people to be falsely convicted of rape. Their review of his case, they say, has exposed common deficiencies that have led to exonerations for dozens of people in Ohio: disparate treatment of a Black man, a conviction won with misleading forensic evidence, historically erroneous cross-racial eyewitness identification and a rush-to-arrest police investigation.īlack people represented over half the 3,200 exonerations through September 2022 in the National Registry of Exonerations. He was sentenced in 1984 to what amounts to a life sentence for kidnapping and raping Phyllis Cottle, crimes punctuated by blinding her with a knife and forcing her to free herself from a burning car.ĭecades later, out of appeals and resigned to dying in prison after several failed parole requests, Herring wrote a Hail Mary letter to the Ohio Innocence Project. And all, he insists, for a crime he didn’t commit. ![]()
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