10 Criminals That Walked Free Due To Technicalities

10 Criminals Released on a Technicality

Welcome to WatchMojo, and today we’ll be looking at the most egregious instances in which suspected or convicted criminals evaded justice after their charges were thrown out due to a legal technicality.

Mohammed Izzeddin

On December 23rd 2023, Mohammed Izzeddin and Mohammed Alwi broke into a business in New York City, where they allegedly sexually assaulted a woman and robbed her of about $300. Izzeddin was arrested a few days later and faced multiple criminal charges, including robbery and unlawful imprisonment. However, in January 2024, Izzeddin was unexpectedly released from custody after a judge ruled that prosecutors had missed a crucial deadline to file an indictment against him. According to New York state law, the District Attorney’s office must formally charge a suspect within six days of their arrest. Izzeddin’s lawyer successfully argued that this legal requirement had been breached, prompting the judge to grant the suspect supervised release.

Courtney Hackney

In May 2017, police responded to a home in Independence, Kansas, where they discovered 57-year-old Holly Barnett dead. Subsequently, a woman named Courtney Hackney, who claimed to be Barnett’s niece, was arrested for her murder. The trial commenced in 2018, but ended in a mistrial after jurors failed to reach a unanimous verdict. Prosecutors aimed for a retrial in 2019, but scheduling conflicts with Hackney’s defense attorney and some state witnesses led to the charges being dropped with the intention to refile later. However, as Hackney had already been tried and did not affirmatively consent to the refiling, double jeopardy applied, which prevented her from further prosecution for the same offense. Consequently, the charges were dismissed and Hackney was set free.

Donald Clark

Willis and Edna Sample had just returned to their Cottondale, Alabama home on November 30th 2016, when they were accosted by two assailants and robbed at gunpoint. Tragically, shortly after the incident, Willis Sample suffered a heart attack and passed away. One of the suspects, Donald Clark, was arrested a few days later and charged with Sample’s murder, as well as first-degree robbery, burglary, theft and kidnapping. Although Clark admitted to his involvement in the home invasion, a judge later determined that he did not fully comprehend his Miranda rights when he waived them. Since prosecutors lacked additional evidence beyond Clark’s confession, the charges against him were dropped and he was released.

Mark Papamechail

Peabody, Massachusetts resident Mark Papamechail first encountered legal trouble for sexual impropriety in 1986, resulting in a conviction on indecent assault and battery. Since then, he has faced further convictions for similar charges, including two for sexual assault. In October 2017, Papamechail was arrested yet again, this time for assaulting a 55-year-old woman. Her testimony before a grand jury was pivotal in securing an indictment against him. However, before Papamechail could stand trial for the crime, his alleged victim passed away. Admitting her testimony in court would have violated Papamechail’s sixth amendment right to confront his accuser. Hence, the charges were dismissed and he was allowed to walk free – a decision that left his alleged victims and their families deeply unsettled.

Steven Mendez

This Bronx, New York teenager was out on probation for an unrelated armed robbery when he allegedly shot and killed another man in October 2021. The victim, 21-year-old Saikou Koma, was believed by authorities to have been killed in a case of mistaken identity. Steven Mendez was subsequently arrested and indicted on murder charges by a grand jury. However, during the proceedings, a Bronx Supreme Court Justice found the detectives’ testimony before the grand jury to be “problematic” and “improper.” This potentially biased the jury against Mendez and likely influenced his indictment. Despite his violent past, Mendez was released on his own recognizance, with the judge granting prosecutors 45 days to re-present their case to the grand jury.

Dwight DeLee

In November 2008, Lateisha Green, a transgender woman, was fatally shot in Syracuse, New York. Police arrested Dwight DeLee for the shooting, accusing him of committing the crime out of hate for Green’s sexual orientation. Following a trial, the jury delivered a perplexing verdict: DeLee was found guilty of manslaughter as a hate crime, but not of regular manslaughter. This posed a dilemma which DeLee successfully exploited during his appeal. Consequently, he was granted a new trial solely for the hate crime charge, and chose to represent himself. He managed to convince a jury that he harbored no bias against Green, resulting in his acquittal and release. By this time, DeLee had spent around eight years behind bars awaiting a retrial.

José Inez García Zárate

When 32-year-old Kate Steinle was fatally shot along Pier 14 in San Francisco, it was quite clear who had fired the weapon: a man named José Inez García Zárate. However, García Zárate maintained that the shooting was not intentional, claiming he had found the gun moments before and it accidentally discharged when he handled it. Despite this assertion, he faced multiple charges including first-degree murder and illegal possession of a firearm. At trial, the jury acquitted García Zárate of the murder and manslaughter charges, but found him guilty of firearm possession. This charge was however overturned on appeal, as the court found that jurors had not been properly informed about the lesser charge of momentary possession of a firearm.

Kamari Belmont

Kamari Belmont, a Chicago defendant in a murder case, had a stroke of luck in the form of a legal technicality. Belmont had been charged with attempted murder in the May 2015 shooting of Sorrell Marshall. After Marshall succumbed to his injuries three weeks later, the charge should have been upgraded to murder. However, prosecutors failed to do so until a year later, violating Belmont’s right to a speedy trial. As a result, the charges were dismissed and Belmont walked free. However, whatever luck Belmont had quickly turned sour as he was gunned down mere minutes after leaving the Cook County jail. Authorities suspect it was a meticulously planned attack, likely carried out by rival gang members.

Bill Cosby

Bill Cosby faced dozens of sexual misconduct accusations, some dating back to the 1960s. Among these accusers is Andrea Constand, who initiated a civil lawsuit against him in 2005. To secure Cosby’s testimony during the deposition, then District Attorney Bruce Castor assured him no criminal charges would be pursued. However, after the allegations against Cosby came to light, he was charged with the aggravated indecent assault of Constand, using his own admissions as evidence. In 2018, Cosby was found guilty, but this was overturned by the Pennsylvania Supreme Court three years later. The justices determined that his due process rights were violated when prosecutors broke their promise to not prosecute, and barred any further legal action on those charges.

Rodney Alcala

Referred to as the Dating Game Killer, for his infamous appearance on “The Dating Game,” Rodney Alcala was linked to eight murders, but the actual number may be way more. Police arrested Alcala in 1979 after the murder of Robin Christine Samsoe. He faced trial twice, and in both cases, was convicted and sentenced to death. However, both convictions were also overturned on technicalities. The first occurred in 1984, when the California Supreme Court ruled that the jury had been wrongly informed about Alcala’s prior sex crimes. Then in 2001, Alacala’s defense successfully argued against the use of testimony from a previous witness who claimed amnesia. Alcala was ultimately convicted in 2010, but he died of natural causes while awaiting execution.

What other criminals have you heard of that slipped through the cracks of the law? Let us know in the comments below.