Westchester Judge Vacates 1976 Rape Conviction of Innocent South Carolina Man

Believed to be Oldest Case Overturned by DNA Evidence in U.S. History

WHITE PLAINS, NY (September 5, 2023) — New York State Supreme Court Judge Anne E. Minihan today vacated the conviction of a South Carolina man who served more than seven years in a New York prison for a 1975 rape in Greenburgh that he did not commit.

Leonard Mack, 72, was conclusively excluded by new DNA testing performed by the Westchester County Department of Laboratories and Research. The DNA evidence identified a convicted sex offender, who has since confessed to the rape.

This is believed to be the longest wrongful conviction in U.S. history to be overturned by new DNA evidence, according to the Innocence Project, the national litigation and criminal justice policy reform organization dedicated to exonerating the wrongfully convicted.

The Conviction Review Unit of the Westchester County District Attorney and an attorney for the Innocence Project appeared in the Westchester County Courthouse to ask the court overturn the conviction of Mr. Mack who was accused on May 23, 1975 of forcing two high school students at gunpoint into the woods and tying up, gagging and blindfolding them before raping one of the girls twice, and attempting to sexually assault the other.

Stepping outside the courthouse, Mack smiled, laughed and waived his hand in triumph, his other hand holding a cane.

What they are saying:

Leonard Mack: “I’m a free man. Free. Free. Free at last. Free at Last. Thank God almighty I am free. Thank you. Thank you. Beautiful day. I got a double blessing. Got a birthday and exonerated. Thank you. Thank you. Now I can smile. I can hold my head up. Yeah, yes. Thank you, Lord. Nobody but God. Nobody but God.”

Westchester County District Attorney Miriam E. Rocah: “Today we’re asking the courts to find Leonard Mack actually innocent for a rape he never committed; for which he unjustly served more than seven years in prison. We were able to prove Mr. Mack’s innocence, in large part, due to our independent Conviction Review Unit’s commitment and Mr. Mack’s unwavering strength fighting to clear his name for almost 50 years. This exoneration confirms that wrongful convictions are not only harmful to the wrongly convicted but also make us all less safe.”

Innocence Project Attorney Susan Friedman (attorney for Mr. Mack): “Mr. Mack has lived with the stigma of this wrongful conviction for nearly five decades. His courage and determination are why we now have indisputable scientific evidence that proves he is innocent. Mr. Mack’s case had many of the hallmarks of a wrongful conviction, including multiple witness misidentifications. We are grateful that the Westchester County District Attorney’s Conviction Review Unit investigated Mr. Mack’s case and reached similar conclusions.”

The 1975 Arrest and Fight for Justice

Hours after the attack, Mr. Mack was arrested by then-Westchester County Parkway Police on the Bronx River Parkway who indicated that Mr. Mack fit a suspect description of a Black man with an earring and wearing a hat. After an investigation conducted by the Parkway Police and the Greenburgh Police Department, Mr. Mack was charged with rape, and other related charges.

Asserting his innocence, and presenting alibi witnesses, Mr. Mack proceeded to trial and a jury found him guilty of Rape in the First Degree and Criminal Possession of a Weapon in the Second Degree. He was sentenced on April 27, 1976, to seven-and-a-half to 15 years in state prison.

While incarcerated, Mr. Mack made multiple challenges to his conviction in the 1980s, which were opposed by the Westchester DA’s Office and denied by the courts.

After the Innocence Project requested that the DA’s Office review the claim of actual innocence on behalf of Mr. Mack in August 2022, the CRU examined the initial investigation and prosecution. The investigation found that eyewitness identifications were tainted by problematic and suggestive procedures used by the police.

Upon discovering physical evidence preserved since 1975 by the Westchester County Department of Laboratories and Research, the CRU ordered new DNA testing this year. The lab results excluded Mr. Mack’s DNA.

A search in the state and local DNA database returned a match to a Westchester man who was convicted of a June 1975 rape in Queens, just two weeks after the rape in Greenburgh, and a 2004 sex crime in Greenburgh.

When interviewed by a District Attorney’s Office investigator, the man confessed to committing the 1975 Greenburgh rape.

New York’s statute of limitations bars the prosecution of this individual for the 1975 crime. However, he is currently being prosecuted for failing to register as a sex offender related to the 2004 sex crime. He remains in custody. The case is being prosecuted by Special Prosecutions Deputy Division Chief Michelle Lopez.

The CRU investigation was conducted by Bureau Chief Anastasia Heeger, Assistant District Attorney Charity Brady and Criminal Investigator James Menton.

The District Attorney thanked Director Lydia de Castro of the Westchester County Department of Laboratories and Research and Detective Daniel O’Malley of the Greenburgh Police Department.

Press Release from Innocence Project

Hit in DNA Database Proves Leonard Mack’s Innocence After 47 Years of Wrongful Conviction

Unreliable witness identifications along with racial bias and tunnel vision led to Mr. Mack’s wrongful conviction, the longest to be vacated based on DNA evidence.

(September 5, 2023 — White Plains, NY) Leonard Mack was exonerated today nearly five decades after he was wrongfully convicted of rape and two counts of criminal possession of a weapon in March 1976. New DNA testing of crime scene evidence found in a post-conviction investigation by the Innocence Project and the Westchester County District Attorney’s Conviction Review Unit proved Mr. Mack did not commit the crime. Mr. Mack’s wrongful conviction is the longest to be overturned based on new DNA evidence known to the Innocence Project. The DNA profile developed from the evidence was uploaded to the state and local DNA database and yielded a hit. The actual assailant identified by this search has since confessed to the crime.

This case contains virtually every common contributing factor in wrongful convictions. Eyewitness misidentification, the leading cause of wrongful convictions, played a central role, in addition to misleading forensic testimony presented by the State’s forensic analyst at trial, racial bias, and tunnel vision. Despite alibi witnesses and serological evidence from the victim’s underwear that excluded Mr. Mack in 1976, he spent seven-and-a-half years in prison and has since lived with this wrongful conviction for 41 years.

“Today, indisputable DNA evidence proves that Leonard Mack is innocent. Nearly five decades later, he finally has some measure of justice,” said Mary-Kathryn Smith, one of Mr. Mack’s Innocence Project attorneys. “Mr. Mack’s resilience and strength is why this day has finally come. We want to thank the Westchester County District Attorney and its Conviction Review Unit for their cooperation and commitment to search for the truth.”

“I want to first thank God for this day. Next, I want to thank the Innocence Project. Today has been a long time coming. I lost seven-and-a-half years of my life in prison for a crime I did not commit and I have lived with this injustice hanging over my head for almost 50 years. It changed the course of my life — everything from where I lived to my relationship with my family. I never lost hope that one day that I would be proven innocent. Now the truth has come to light and I can finally breathe. I am finally free.”

Westchester County District Attorney Miriam E. Rocah said, “Today we’re asking the courts to find Leonard Mack actually innocent for a rape he never committed; for which he unjustly served more than seven years in prison. We were able to prove Mr. Mack’s innocence, in large part, due to our independent Conviction Review Unit’s commitment and Mr. Mack’s unwavering strength fighting to clear his name for almost 50 years. This exoneration and the new DNA evidence confirm that wrongful convictions are not only harmful to the wrongly convicted but also make us all less safe.”