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Mark Reid

Other Connecticut Cases
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Twenty-two-year-old Mark Reid was arrested On November 19, 1996 and charged with raping and threatening to kill a woman walking on Burnside Avenue in East Hartford, Connecticut.
 
The 30-year-old victim told police that on November 8 at about 1:30 a.m., a man asked her for a cigarette and then, armed with a knife, dragged her along a dirt path to a secluded area in a park where he forced her to engage in oral sex and then raped her while wearing a condom.
 
The victim told police her attacker was a light-skinned black man with freckles about the eyes and standing about 5 feet, 7 inches tall. Four days later, the victim identified Reid, who lived on Burnside Avenue, as her attacker although Reid bore no freckles and stood six feet tall.
 
Reid was convicted November 10, 1997 after the victim identified him and a state criminologist testified that microscopic analysis of three pubic hairs found on the victim’s clothing showed the hairs had characteristics similar to Reid’s hair.
 
Reid was sentenced to 12 years in prison.
 
In May 2003, State Superior Court Judge John F. Mulcahy Jr. granted Reid a new trial after a mitochondrial DNA test indicated that the pubic hairs were not Reid’s.
 
The charges were dismissed on July 18 after the victim declined to participate in a second trial. Reid, who had other felony convictions, was deported to his native Jamaica.
 
In 2004, Reid a claim with the Connecticut Office of the Claims Commissioner seeking $2 million. At the same time, he filed a federal lawsuit seeking $2 million in damages from East Hartford. The state claim was dismissed as having been filed too late. Reid later withdrew his federal lawsuit and subsequent efforts to reinstate it were denied..
 
Maurice Possley
 
 
 
 
 
 

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Posting Date:  Before June 2012
Last Updated: 10/16/2017
State:Connecticut
County:Hartford
Most Serious Crime:Sexual Assault
Additional Convictions:Kidnapping
Reported Crime Date:1996
Convicted:1997
Exonerated:2003
Sentence:12 years
Race/Ethnicity:Black
Sex:Male
Age at the date of reported crime:22
Contributing Factors:Mistaken Witness ID, False or Misleading Forensic Evidence
Did DNA evidence contribute to the exoneration?:Yes*