Almost one year ago today, Patrick Pursley was acquitted after spending 23 years behind bars for a murder he didn’t commit. Pursley’s case, the subject of the latest episode of the Wrongful Conviction with Jason Flom podcast, was a legal nightmare from which he struggled to wake – set in motion by false information offered by an acquaintance and coerced testimony from his girlfriend as well as conflicting ballistics testimony that were all used to wrongfully convict him.
On April 2nd, 1993, Pursley was at the Rockford, Illinois apartment he shared with his girlfriend, Samantha Crabtree, celebrating his son’s birthday. Meanwhile, across town, Andrew Ascher and Becky George were sitting in his parked car when they were approached by a man in a blue ski mask who announced a stick up. As George frantically searched in her purse for money to give the man, he shot Ascher twice, killing him.
While the bullets and their casings were retrieved from the crime scene, law enforcement went for weeks with no leads in the case. Over two months later, Marvin Windham, an acquaintance of Pursley and Crabtree’s, traded false information implicating Pursley in the murder in exchange for leniency in his own legal matters and a $2,650 reward.
Police obtained a warrant and searched Crabtree’s apartment, where they found a 9 mm handgun. While being interrogated by police, Crabtree confessed and implicated Pursley in the crime. She recanted her confession at trial, however, revealing that police threatened to take away her children if she didn’t offer a confession and immediate grand jury testimony implicating Pursley. It was also revealed at trial that Windham had romantic feelings for Crabtree.
Two ballistics experts testified at the trial, with the prosecution’s expert insisting that the weapon found in Crabtree’s apartment was the murder weapon “to the exclusion of all others,” while the expert for the defense testified that while he could not conclusively exclude the gun due to insufficient markings, the crime scene bullets were not fired by the gun recovered by police.
Despite no physical evidence linking him to the crime scene, on April 28, 1994, Pursley was convicted of first-degree murder and sentenced to life in prison without parole. He was acquitted on January 16, 2019 in a retrial before Illinois Circuit Judge Joseph McGraw.
On the January 15th episode of Wrongful Conviction with Jason Flom recorded in front of a live audience at ComplexCon Chicago 2019, Pursley talks with Flom about his wrongful conviction, his fight for freedom, and how he worked from within prison to change a law in order to obtain the ballistic testing that was instrumental in setting him free.
Wrongful Conviction with Jason Flom is a podcast that explores the tragedy and triumph of unequal justice and actual innocence. Based on the files of the lawyers who freed them, Wrongful Conviction with Jason Flom features interviews with men and women who have spent decades in prison for crimes they did not commit.
Wrongful Conviction with Jason Flom, and an upcoming slate of Wrongful Conviction Presents podcasts, are produced by Lava for Good Podcasts in association with Signal Co. No1 and PRX.
Find Wrongful Conviction with Jason Flom here.
