An 18 year old young man was charged with home invasion and kidnapping, opening a lengthy, complicated criminal investigation. He said he did not commit the crimes. However, strong eyewitness testimony proved otherwise. Now, two decades later, a fresh look at the original criminal investigation done by RGH Investigations that revealed a different story.
The Original Conviction
The young man claimed he never was involved with the crimes, in fact, he was never at the scene of the crime. He was in the area that night with a friend, but for a different reason and crime entirely: drug activity. His friend could have placed him elsewhere at the time of the crime. Instead, police officers threatened the friend. They allegedly told him that if he didn’t testify to a specific version of events regarding the home invasion, he’d be arrested on drug charges, which were substantially worse. So, he testified as requested. The case moved forward largely on that testimony, paired with an eyewitness identification.
The eyewitness account itself was convincing on the surface. The witness picked the young man from a photo lineup. Juries tend to trust that level of certainty. Part of the current effort by RGH Investigations is to find and re-interview that original witness, to ask directly whether a detective influenced or steered the identification in a different direction. Witnesses aren’t obligated to cooperate at this stage, but getting them to sit down and talk again is a meaningful step toward the truth.
Reopening the Investigation
The friend our client was visiting that night, who could confirm where he truly was, was willing to recant his original testimony. That alone was enough to justify RGH Investigations re-interviewing everyone connected to the case.
The detective who originally worked the case had passed away, which complicates efforts to get a direct account of what happened. But his death hasn’t ended the inquiry, if anything, it’s pushed it further uncovering something more. Multiple other individuals connected to different criminal investigations, handled by the same detective, have come forward independently, describing similar experiences: pressure, blackmail, and coercion to testify against specific people.
That pattern led investigators to go back roughly a year before the client’s case, pulling every case file the detective worked on. We wanted to find the witnesses from older cases, sit down with them, and ask if they remember the detective. In several instances, the answer pointed to the same conclusion: that witnesses were persuaded to testify against particular defendants.
RGH Investigations and Criminal Investigation
RGH Investigations specialize in surveillance for criminal investigation. We are trained in the most up-to-date methods to get to the bottom of your case. As complex as this case was, we were able to prove his innocence by questioning…everything. This led to getting the crucial information to prove his innocence from past witnesses.
If you are in need of a private investigator for criminal investigation, contact RGH Investigations today at 312-981-8770.
