In December 2011, Roger Dean Gillispie walked free from the London Correctional Institute in London, Ohio, after a federal judge threw out his rape conviction. As director of UC Law’s Ohio Innocence Project, Mark had worked as lead counsel on Gillispie’s case for 9 years before finally obtaining this victory. Gillispie spent 20 years in prison. Read more about the case in Deborah Rieselman, UC Students Help Free Dean Gillispie From Prison, UC Magazine, Dec. 2011. Other media reports on Mr. Gillespie’s release follow:
- Rapist Released After 20 Year Conviction (WCPO Channel 9 News, Dec. 11, 2011);
- Gillispie Released From Prison (WTDN Channel 2 News, Dec. 20, 2011;
- Janice Morse, UC Law Students Celebrate Overturned Conviction, Cin. Enquirer, Dec. 16, 2011;
- Tom Beyerlein, His 20-Year Battle for Freedom Closer; Rape Trial Was Unfair, Man Should Be Retried or Set Free, Judge Rules, Dayton Daily News, Dec. 19, 2011, at A1; and
- Janice Morse, Man Freed After 20 Years in Prison, Cin. Enquirer, Dec. 23, 2011.
Find the two opinions and orders in the Gillispie case at:
- Gillispie v. Timmerman-Cooper, 2011 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 147841 (S.D. Ohio, Dec. 22, 2011); and
- Gillispie v. Timmerman-Cooper, 2011 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 144667 (S.D. Ohio, Dec. 15, 2011).
Mark’s article, Shining the Bright Light on Police Interrogation in America, 6 Ohio St. J. Crim. L. 711 (2009) (reviewing Richard A. Leo, Police Interrogation and American Justice (2008)), was cited in Rinat Kitai-Sangero, Commentaries: Can Dostoyevsky’s Crime and Punishment Help Us Distinguish Between True and False Confessions?, 9 Ohio St. J. Crim. L. 231 (2011).