Lawyers Seek Special Prosecutor to Probe Brevard, Fla., State Attorney's Office
After news earlier this week that William Dillon will not be retried in a murder case for which the apparently wrongfully convicted Florida man spent 27 years in prison, defense lawyers are calling for an investigation of what they described at a news conference yesterday as prosecutorial corruption in Brevard County.
Both public defender James Russo and lawyers from the Innocence Project of Florida criticized the Brevard-Seminole State Attorney’s Office in harsh terms, and called for Gov. Charlie Crist to appoint a special prosecutor to investigate it, reports Florida Today.
A primary focus of their complaints is evidence repeatedly used in court in the early 1980s from a now-discredited dog handler, John Preston, who was one of the witnesses against Dillon, 49. DNA testing this past summer seemingly cleared Dillon in the murder of an Indian Harbour Beach man, James Dvorak, of which he was convicted.
“Dillon’s case is just one piece of the corruption in Brevard County,” said Seth Miller, the executive director of the Innocence Project. “We need to root out the bad actors. People have to pay for what they’ve done.”
Additional coverage:
Orlando Sentinel (2007): “Fate of killer convicted in 1981 Orlando-area case lies in DNA”
Florida Today: “Dillon released from prison”
Plain Error: “Press Echoes Call for Investigation Into Brevard”
