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Evan Lee Deakle, Jr.

Other 2015 Alabama Exonerations
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In April 2014, police in Mobile County, Alabama arrested 59-year-old Evan Lee Deakle, Jr. after his 14-year-old step-granddaughter accused him of sexually assaulting her.
 
Deakle was charged with one count of sodomy and one count of second-degree sexual abuse. He went to trial in Mobile County District Court in September 2015. The complainant, who was then 15, testified that Deakle had sexually assaulted her. The prosecution did not present any physical or forensic evidence.
 
Deakle testified and denied that he sexually assaulted the complainant.
 
On September 28, 2015, the jury acquitted Deakle of sodomy and convicted him of second-degree sexual abuse.
 
A few weeks after the verdict, the complainant asked her father for permission to go on a camping trip. He declined to allow her to camping. That night, she sneaked out of the house and met a friend who drove her to the Mobile County Sheriff’s Office where she said her father had sexually and physically assaulted her on numerous occasions.
 
Following an investigation by the Sheriff’s Office and the Alabama Department of Human Resources, no charges were filed because the complainant’s account was proven false in several respects, one of which was that her father was out of state at the time she said she was assaulted in their home. When she was confronted with that evidence, the complainant admitted she had lied about being assaulted physically and sexually by her father.
 
The results of the investigation were turned over to the Mobile County District Attorney’s Office. The prosecution informed Deakle’s attorney who then filed a motion to vacate the conviction. The motion was granted in October 2015. On December 10, 2015, the prosecution dismissed the charge.
 
– Maurice Possley

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Posting Date: 12/15/2015
State:Alabama
County:Mobile
Most Serious Crime:Child Sex Abuse
Additional Convictions:
Reported Crime Date:2014
Convicted:2015
Exonerated:2015
Sentence:Not sentenced
Race/Ethnicity:White
Sex:Male
Age at the date of reported crime:59
Contributing Factors:Perjury or False Accusation
Did DNA evidence contribute to the exoneration?:No