| Contact Alexander Cameron | |
|---|---|
 | Alexander Cameron # 1172733 Powhatan Correctional Center State Farm, VA 23160 USA |
| DOB: October 4, 1963 | |
| Alexander Cameron's case data | |
|---|---|
| Status | possibly innocent |
| State and County | Virginia, Arlington County |
| Case No. | CF-008825 |
| Crime | Rape, Abduction, Robbery & Breaking and Entering |
| Date of Crime | November 28, 1986 |
| Date of Arrest | December 11, 1986 |
| Date of Conviction | June 12, 1987 |
| Sentence | two life sentences plus twenty five years |
| Age at the Date of Crime | 23 |
| Contributing Factors | Mistaken Eyewitness Identification, Perjury, Official Misconduct, Junk Science, Misleading Science, Ineffectiveness of Counsel |
| Did DNA evidence contribute to the conviction? | No |
| Is there DNA evidence to test? | N/A |
Loading ...The Carydale East Apartment Complex on 2727 Duke Street is a highrise where rents are cheaper than elsewhere in Alexandria, Virginia. There live, for instance, singles, students, and those who cannot afford the usually expensive housings in and around Washington, D.C. In reviews, some alleged (ex-) residents say that there are no problems at all. Others complain about vermin, illicit drug activity, sexual harassment, not functioning or too slow elevators, etc. Even a police cruiser with a police-issued shotgun inside was stolen from the parking lot over night in December of 2012.
Summary
Alexander Cameron is the 9th of 12 children (10 boys and 2 girls) from Fayetteville, North Carolina. He grew up in a fatherless and poor setting, attended high school up to the 12th grade and then joined the military service. He had some encounters with law enforcement and some substance misuse. He left the U.S. Army with less than honorable discharge. When he applied for a car permit at the age of 23 on December 11, 1986, he was arrested for a rape charge in Alexandria, Virginia.
The rape victim in this case is Ellin Walsh, a 26-year old white woman, who was going to (and also did in fact) marry a man from her original home state Ohio at the end of December 1986. She says that an unknown black man knocked on the door of her apartment (703 Carydale East Apartment Complex, 2727 Duke Street, Alexandria, Virginia) around 7:25 p.m. (see preliminary hearing page 7) or 7:30 P.M. on Friday after Thanksgiving Day, November 28, 1986. She opened the door. He allegedly introduced himself as a private investigator, who was looking for some Terry. Walsh claims that when she did not want to let him in, he pushed his way in and assaulted her.
The perpetrator stayed in her apartment for 15 to 20 minutes. After the rape, he tied her up and gagged her, took 25.00 $, 1 bank card and 10 credit cards out of Walsh’s purse. The man allegedly threatened to kill Walsh, if she told someone, and if he did not do it, his brother would. He also said that he might come back later that night. (TT page 64)
When he was gone, Ellin Walsh called her brother, who “didn’t live too far” from her. (See preliminary hearing page 5 and 8.) He allegedly told her to call the police right away and reasoned that “the man might still be in the vicinity.” The victim then called 911. Officer Margaret Hoover was the first unit dispatched to the scene around 9:00 p.m. She secured the premises so that nobody could leave or enter the building.
According to Investigator Ann Melchior’s testimony at the Extradition Hearing, the victim described the intruder indicating that he looked like the character Jesse Hubbard (Darnell Williams) in the day-time TV soap opera All My Children. A composite drawing of the rapist was prepared by the artist L. DeLong of the Alexandria Police Department on December 3, 1986.
The description of the perpetrator in a nutshell:
Black male, approximately 25 years, 6 feet 1 inch, medium thin build, short hair, long face, medium complexion.
There were a few persons who implicated Alexander Cameron in the crime: An alleged resident by the name of Gregory Torrance (a phantom witness), resident manager Jean Bohlman, Cameron’s ex-girlfriend Valerie Brown, and her ex-room mate and friend Janet Kent Tillery. Investigator Melchior contacted the Cumberland County Sheriff’s Office in Fayetteville (North Carolina) and requested a photo of Alexander Cameron. On December 5, 1986, Detective Melchior received a photo from North Carolina authorities, which depicts Cameron wearing military fatigues when he was in the U.S. Armed Forces.
On December 5, 1986, Investigator Melchior established a photo array of 7 individuals: 6 typical mugshots of presumed jail inmates and 1 close-up photo of a U.S. soldier’s face, i.e. Alexander Cameron’s. Cameron was the only person in military clothes and clean shaven. Victim Ellin Walsh identified Alexander Cameron in the suggestive photo array as her rapist. She could not identify the mole on his left cheek, the gap between two of his front teeth, and a prominent scar on the back of his right hand though.
Fingerprints from the crime scene, especially from the door, did not match Cameron’s. The owner of the fingerprints has never been identified but it would be key! “ABO” blood evidence is inconclusive. There is no physical evidence that connects Cameron to the rape.
Cameron does have an alibi. The Habeas Corpus Hearing (or Extradition Hearing) in State of North Carolina v. Alexander Cameron on February 23/24,1987 reveals that Cameron was at home (2225 Shaw Road, Fayetteville, North Carolina) at the time of the crime. Fayetteville is approximately a 7-hour drive from Alexandria, Virginia. He had Thanksgiving dinner with his mother and siblings. After dinner, he was playing cards with his mother, a friend by the name of Bobby McQueen, and his half-brother Marvin Nixon. The family gathering consisted of twenty (20) or twenty-five (25) people. However, his defense attorneys only subpoenaed one of Cameron’s half-brothers and that alibi witness never appeared on the stand. Cameron’s mother was in the court room all the time. She passed away in April of 2005.
African-American Alexander Cameron was convicted by an almost all-white jury (11 Caucasians, 1 Asian juror) due to mistaken eyewitness identification, official misconduct, perjury, misleading forensic science, and ineffectiveness of counsel. Nothing but the misidentification of the accused by the victim through a suggestive photo spread connects Cameron to the crime.
Inconsistencies
Already at the beginning of the trial, right after the victim’s testimony, Judge Alfred D. Swersky was thinking aloud that “there are a number of weaknesses in this case.” (See TT page 105, line 17.)
Socks: The victim confirms in the preliminary hearing (page 14) that the rapist put blue socks on his hands. Socks were found in the stairwell between the 4th and 3rd floor, but they were white. (TT page 222, line 8)
Eviction: Jean Bowman, the resident manager of the Carydale East Apartment Complex, stated to Detective Melchior that Alexander Cameron had become a tenant (apartment 513) along with a lady by the name of Valerie Brown in April of 1986.
Fear: Because Brown relocated in July of 1986, she allegedly had submitted a handwritten note to Bowman with a postscript indicating that “she felt her life was in danger.”
Failed Date: Although Valerie Brown allegedly had feared for her life in Cameron’s presence, she agreed to meet him on November 27, 1986. She testifies that Alexander Cameron asked her on the phone on Thanksgiving Day to meet him at the Shell gas station on Duke Street right across the street from the Carydale East Apartment Complex, where his brother Victor was working, around 7:00 p.m., and that she was late. She says she was 20 minutes too late and only saw him walking away as she drove by.
Car Theft: Alexander Cameron allegedly stole Gregory Torrance’s car (a “1980 Toyota Cellica, brown in color”, Extradition Hearing page 67) on Thanksgiving Day (November 27, 1986).
But Officer Blaine Carle, who was assigned to the burglary section of the Alexandria Police Department, first spoke with the alleged victim (Gregory Torrance) of a car theft and attempted burglary not before December 3, 1986. (Extradition Hearing pages 65, 69)
According to hearsay retold by investigator Melchior at the Extraditon Hearing (pages 52, 53), Cameron’s ex-girlfriend’s friend Janet Tillery told Cameron’s ex-girlfriend Valerie Brown that she observed a brown Ford Pinto parked outside of Tillery’s home in Fairfax County on December 2nd or 3rd, 1986, and “that she believed that vehicle was occupied by Alexander Cameron.”
Timeline/ Valerie Travers’ Testimony: According to resident Valerie Travers’ testimony, she saw Alexander Cameron for 2 to 4 minutes between 7:00 and 7:30 p.m. on November 28, 1986, when she was on the pay phone next to the elevator on the 1st floor and speaking with a babysitter. He came from the entrance of the building, was waiting for the elevator, and starring at her while halting the elevator for a sometime. (TT pages 237, 238)
(Note: See Report of Psychiatric Examination of July 10, 1987! Alexander Cameron avoids eye contact, but Travers says he starred at her.)
She says that she went up to her apartment and came down at 7:30 p.m. to drop off her little child at a babysitter in the basement and to go out. The “building was surrounded by police” when she left the apartment complex. (TT pages 239, 240)
On cross-examination, Travers states that she saw Cameron come into the building and push the button for the elevator:
Q: Which button?
A: The button going up. The elevator goes only one way from “CL” (Commercial Level) unless you are a maintenance man and had a key to the elevator to go down into the basement. (TT pages 241, 242)
Was the maintenance man her babysitter? If the babysitter lives in the building, why did Travers call that person from the pay phone?
The intruder knocked on victim Ellin Walsh’s door on or around 7:25/ 7:30 p.m. According to Walsh, he was 15 to 20 minutes in her apartment. Investigator Melchior testified that Walsh reported the crime around 9:00 p.m. Police Officer Margaret Hoover responded to the complaint of rape and was the first unit on the scene. She secured the premises. “Nobody else was let in or out,” Hoover testified.
Therefore, it was impossible for the alleged witness and resident Valerie Travers to see other units surround the building, let alone to simply leave the apartment complex as usual. The second unit was Hoover’s colleague Officer James H. Ammons IV, the ID technician, who secured the traces in Walsh’s apartment.
Sexual Harassment: Detective Melchior testified at the Extradition Hearing that resident manager Bowman had told her that “she was forced to evict Mr. Cameron as a result of complaints she had received from two to three female tenants at the Carydale East apartment. The complaints seemed to be of the nature where sexually harassing remarks were being made to these women by Mr. Cameron.”
At Cameron’s trial however, Jean Bowman confirmed that Cameron had not been a resident anymore after August of 1986 and immediately began to justify it with the complaint about Cameron not paying the rent. (See TT page 219)
Again, see the Report of Psychiatric Examination of July 10, 1987! Alexander Cameron seems to be the exact opposite of a loud, insensitive, aggressive, abusive, and violent character. He is soft spoken, quiet, almost inaudible, and introverted. He was extremely depressed in jail awaiting trial and attempted suicide on March 30, 1987. He was under suicide watch for 4 days and was drugged with an anti-depressant medication until after his trial.
Torrance’s Roommate: Phantom witness Gregory Torrance alleges that Alexander Cameron was his live-in room mate for the last 2 weeks in September of 1986 and that Victor Cameron picked up Alexander’s stuff 1 or 2 weeks before the attempted burglary incident. (Extradition Hearing pages 66, 68)
Why so late? And why did Alexander Cameron not pick up his belongings himself? Besides, if her testimony is true, resident manager Jean Bohlman obviously did not see Alexander Cameron on the property, did not know of this arrangement, and she certainly would not have tolerated it. (TT pages 219, 220)
Official Stay: Resident manager Bohlman testified that Alexander Cameron occupied apartment 513 from April through August of 1986.
Yet, Cameron’s ex-girlfriend Valerie Brown (i.e. Valerie Lynn Hughes; she married in May of 1987) testified that she had known Cameron since February 1986 and lived with him together from March through July of 1986 in apartment 515.
Unanswered Questions and Ineffectiveness of Counsel
Who is witness Gregory Torrance, whose alleged statements were used by both investigators Blaine Carle and Ann Melchior to get Alexander Cameron extradited from North Carolina to Virginia? Why did he not testify at Cameron’s trial? Why has Alexander Cameron never been arrested, indicted and tried for stealing Torrance’s car and breaking into his apartment 807 at 2727 Duke Street, Alexandria, Virginia as he allegedly had complained to police?
Who is the manager of the Shell gas station, who allegedly saw Alexander Cameron in a brown Toyota Cellica when he picked up his brother Victor Cameron on the night of November 28, 1986?
Who are the two or three female witnesses from the Carydale East Apartment Complex, whom Alexander Cameron allegedly harassed according to investigator Ann Melchior?
All those people put Alexander Cameron near the scene and implicated him in the crime, but Cameron has never gotten the chance to confront, challenge and impeach them. Without them and the hearsay evidence fabricated by investigators Ann Melchior and Blaine Carle, there very likely would have been no probable cause to arrest Cameron, and no ground for Alexander Cameron’s extradition to Virginia in the first place. The job of Cameron’s trial counsel would have been to bring it out to the public.
In this context, it is also negligent at its best that Cameron’s trial attorneys did not cross-examine investigator Blaine Carle, investigator Ann Melchior, resident manager Jean Bohlman, and police officer Margaret Hoover.
Why were no police reports and medical examiner’s reports used during trial and submitted into evidence?
Alexander Cameron’s defense attorneys did not object to the photo spread. Why did they not question the identification process when they had a chance to do so in court? Instead, they actively avoided a confrontation and initiated a stipulation. (TT page 225, line 18 through page 226, line 1)
Commonwealth (Q): How did you arrive at these particular pictures?
Defense (Mr. Clark): I will stipulate that there are some other people.
The Court: All right.
Commonwealth: Okay. The stipulation that there are some other people.
The initial court appointed attorney for Alexander Cameron was some Andrew Melby. (See arrest report) He has never been on the case. Instead, Becky Moore and James Clark defended Cameron at trial, quite obviously replacing Andrew Melby without any motion known to Cameron. Really strange is this: Cameron learned from Public Defender (now Chief Public Defender) Melinda Douglas on February 17, 1995, in writing that neither Becky Moore (now Chief Judge of the Alexandria General District Court) nor James Clark (now Judge of the Alexandria Circuit Court) “have ever been employed by the Public Defender Office.” The questions therefore are, why did they work on the case of an indigent defendant, and who did pay them?
Junk Science
Former F.B.I. Special Agent Myron T. Scholberg was the F.B.I. hair and unit chief from 1978 to 1985. Two years after his retirement from the F.B.I., Scholberg testified at Cameron’s trial for the Commonwealth as an expert examiner in the field of hairs and fibers. There was no accepted scientific research behind the alleged rareness of coincidental hair matches though. In 1996, the F.B.I. stopped hair comparison analysis without the additional confirmation by DNA testing. In summer of 2012, the United States Department of Justice announced that the F.B.I. was to review thousands of cases involving F.B.I. examiners. Scholberg said in an interview conducted by the Washington Post that “FBI testimony should be reviewed in all hair convictions. If the testimony was scientifically invalid and hair evidence was key to convictions, the evidence should be retested using DNA.”
Also see the IIPPI Forum: Junk Science
http://www.iippi.org/forum/viewforum.php?f=172
“ABO” Blood Evidence, Its Chain of Custody, and DNA
Forensic scientist Deanne Dabbs testified concerning “ABO” blood evidence. On page 158 and 159 of the trial transcript, she explains what a secretor is. In this case, both the victim and Alexander Cameron are “O” secretors.
Direct examination
A: Secretions that are present on the cigarette butt are from a non-secretor, or they are insufficient in amount to test. (TT page 173, lines 13-15)
Cross examination
Q: Would I be correct in saying there are two explanations for that, either that there was insufficient saliva on the cigarette butt for typing or that the saliva that was deposited on the cigarette butt was deposited there by a non-secretor?
A: That is correct, yes.
Q: If the latter is true, that would exclude Mr. Cameron as the one who placed the saliva on the cigarette butt, would it not?
A: If it was able to be determined that was the case, yes. (TT page 196-197)
Q: Let’s say for the sake of argument that Ms. Walsh was raped by a non-secretor. How would your testimony differ – how would our results differ from what you have testified today?
A: It wouldn’t differ at all.
Q: So, it’s entirely consistent with being raped by a non-secretor?
A: That is one of the possibilities, yes. (TT page 199, lines 11-18)
Cross examination
A: I cannot reach a conclusion, any conclusion with regard to the possible contributor of seminal fluid on any of those items, because I am not detecting anything different from Ms. Walsh’s type.
(TT page 193, lines 15-18)
Ten years after his conviction, when Cameron had the independent and impartial Innocence Project look into his case, the Attorney for the Commonwealth (Deputy Stephen Randolph Sengel) asked for a DNA test. The Circuit Court for the City of Alexandria (Virginia) ordered that several of the items submitted as evidence during trial be tested for DNA by the Virginia Bureau of Forensic Science.
The gap between the date of the court order (November 25, 1996) and the date of day when the laboratory eventually received the items to be tested (December 31, 1996) shows that there is no clear chain of custody. Also, the lab would have come to clearer results, if the State had provided (new) samples of the victim’s blood.
Alexander Cameron says that the state tampered with his evidence to cover-up the illegal conviction.
The state’s test result was that Cameron was eliminated as a contributor of the genetic material in the non-sperm fraction of the vaginal swab. The test result of the genetic material in the sperm fraction came back inconclusively. Cameron could not be eliminated as a possible contributor, because the DNA profile obtained from the underpants “are consistent with a mixture of the DNA profile of Alexander Cameron and another individual.”
This would not have been enough to find Alexander Cameron guilty of the rape without doubt, but the courts rule it is sufficient to uphold the conviction. Nonetheless, the discrepancy between the victim’s testimony concerning her sexual activities, i.e. alleged abstinence, and the DNA evidence is key to correcting a 30-year old miscarriage of justice.
Alternative Suspects other than Alexander Cameron
Victor Lee Cameron
Victor Cameron is one year older than his little brother Alexander Cameron. Both are said to resemble each other very much and that they could be twins.
Victor had worked at the Shell gas station right across the street from the victim’s apartment complex up to Thanksgiving of 1986. He then lived at home in North Carolina and later, Victor moved to Norfolk, Virginia, according to their half-brother Marvin Nixon’s testimony in February of 1987. Nixon and their sister Joyce Nixon Walker testified at the Extradition Hearing that both Victor and Alexander had been at the family gathering in Fayetteville, North Carolina, at the time of the rape.
However, Marvin Nixon did not show up in the court room although he had been subpoenaed to testify for Alexander Cameron’s defense. Joyce Nixon Walker could not really tell exactly who was there the day after Thanksgiving and who was not, because there were more than 20 relatives and family friends. Alexander Cameron testified at his own trial that his brother Victor was not at his mother’s house on November 28, 1986.
Alexander Cameron has never said anything bad about his brother Victor. Research has revealed that in contrast to Alexander, who did not have a criminal record before his nightmare began, Victor seems to be in constant trouble with the law. In Cumberland County (North Carolina), Victor was convicted of robbery with a dangerous weapon and assault on policeman in 1991. He was facing 20 years in prison but was paroled on April 9, 1998. Parole ended on April 11, 1999. He has been in and out of jail for misdemeanors as drug possession, resisting officer, driving while intoxicated, assault, shoplifting, larceny, and violation of probation ever since.
Gregory Torrance
Gregory Torrance has been a phantom witness so far. He allegedly lived on the 8th floor of the same apartment complex as the victim. Detective Melchior says that she learned from him (without signed statement and trial testimony) that Alexander Cameron smoked Newport cigarettes such as those of the empty pack found in the stairwell between Torrance’s and the victim’s apartments. He alleged that Cameron had been his roommate from mid to end of September of 1986, that he believes that Cameron called him on the phone several times on or around November 15, 1986, without speaking to Torrance or even hanging up. According to this phantom witness, Cameron had allegedly stolen Torrance’s car on Thanksgiving Day and Cameron broke into his apartment on the day after. Still, Alexander Cameron has never been arrested, indicted, tried for and convicted of those alleged crimes.
Someone, who is known but protected.
According to statistics, most rape victims have known their rapists before the sexual assault. It is undisputed that the victim Ellen Walsh and Alexander Cameron have not known each other prior to this case.
The victim says at the preliminary hearing “I was watching the news and we got a knock on the door.” Was anyone else present? The victim corrects herself. “I got a knock on the door.”
The person at the door pretended to be an investigator who was looking for some Terry. Let’s say it is true: Who was the investigator, who was Terry, and why did anyone have an interest in Terry?
Conclusion
The weird thing in this case is that there is no physical evidence that links Alexander Cameron, and only him, to the crime. Instead, there seem to be many red herrings. The cigarette butt that was eventually found under a carpet did have saliva, but its smoker could not be identified. An empty pack of Newport cigarettes was found outside the apartment, but there were no fingerprints on it. The rapist knocked several times on the door and eventually pushed himself in, but there are no fingerprints matching Alexander Cameron’s inside or outside of apartment 703. He allegedly used a pair of blue socks as gloves after the rape. A pair of white socks was later detected in the stairwell on the floor between the 4th and 3rd floor, and no traces lead to Alexander Cameron.
Conclusion: Someone may have wiped off fingerprints and purposefully planted distracting items without fingerprints or other clear traces near the scene.
Who is who?
Around 1960, Detective Ann Melchior was one of the first policewomen hired at the Alexandria Police Department. Their job was to investigate juvenile cases.
Investigator Blaine Carle joined the Alexandria Police Department in 1982 and “has steadily moved upward through the ranks” ever since according to his biography on the city’s website. Carle grew up in Johnstown, Pennsylvania. He is Deputy Chief now. In light of Alexander Cameron’s case it may sound ironic, but one of Carle’s responsibilities is to oversee the “property and evidence handling”.
Alexander Cameron’s trial counsel Becky J. Moore is the Chief Judge at the Alexandria General District Court now. She had just graduated from law school, when she assisted her colleague James C. Clark. The only witness she cross-examined in the courtroom was the first witness for the Commonwealth: victim Ellin Walsh.
Alexander Cameron’s trial counsel James C. Clark has been practicing law since 1976 and an appointed circuit court judge for the Alexandria Circuit Court since January of 2012.
John E. Kloch (pronounced “clock”) was Alexandria’s Attorney for the Commonwealth from 1979 through 1997. He left the office to become a judge at Alexandria’s Circuit Court. Judge Kloch retired in 2007. John E. Kloch grew up in Sand Hills, Nebraska, as the son of a wheat farmer. He studied agricultural science, joined the Army, was stationed in France and trained as a tank mechanic. Then Kloch studied Economics in Maryland. He graduated and after this last detour, he eventually began to study the science of law. Kloch graduated in 1970, started to practice law in Washington D.C., set up his own law firm in Alexandria 2 years later, and was asked by the newly elected Alexandria Commonwealth Attorney, Bill Cowhig, to join his office. There are at least 2 controversal capital cases of the early 1980s that cast a shadow on Kloch’s career as a prosecutor. They are those of convicted murderers Wilbert Lee Evans (executed by electrocution on October 17, 1990) and George Alec Robinson (serving multiple life sentences). Both are African Americans.
S. Randolph Sengel: As a deputy commonwealth attorney, he filed a motion at the end of 1996 for certain exhibits introduced at trial of this case to be released and to be submitted to the Virginia Bureau of Forensic Science for further scientific (DNA) testing. At that time, he very likely knew that he would be running for Alexandria’s Commonwealth Attorney in 1997. He ran and won the election. In total, he was 33 years in that office, 15 of them as commonwealth attorney until 2012. He was also the chairman of the Virginia Forensic Science Board for 2 terms.
The Alexandria Police Department, including Police Chief Charles T. Strobel who was to retire, had been under investigation for misconduct for 3 years when Alexander Cameron was prosecuted. Police officers were punished, were labeled as whistle-blowers, and under pressure not to leak anything internal to the press.
How you can help
Go to the IIPPI Forum for updates!
Alexander Cameron needs a fingerprint expert, a DNA expert, a post-conviction attorney, an investigative journalist or private investigator, and supporters.
Donations can be made directly in Cameron’s inmate account via the JPay website as explained by the Virginia Department of Corrections at https://vadoc.virginia.gov/offenders/accounts/jpay.shtm.
Documents
Extradition Hearing Transcript/ Habeas Corpus Hearing
involving the extradition of Alexander Cameron after being served with a Governor’s warrant
86-CRS-54881
February 23, 1987
Defendant’s Witnesses: Marvin Nixon, Joyce Nixon Walker
State’s Witnesses: Alford Marlow, Ann Melchior, Blain Corle
http://www.iippi.org/pdf/alexandercameron5.pdf (79 pages)
Preliminary Hearing (pdf)
March 24, 1987
The tape is not clear. The alleged victim’s in court identification was not in accordance with the identification given to police the night of the alleged crime. Pay close attention to page two (2) where the alleged victim states that Alexander Cameron pushed his way in. This point of entry was changed at trial, where at, the alleged victim states that Cameron stuck his foot in the door when she tried to close the door. The prosecutor knew that the fingerprints that were recovered from the door did not match Cameron’s fingerprints or anyone else’s who lived in the apartment.
Attachment A (pdf)
Victim’s testimony (page 89)
Q: Now, prior to this incident on November 28th, had you had intercourse with anyone within the last three months or seventy-two hours, or even three months before that?
A: No, sir.
Attachment B (pdf)
Forensic expert’s testimony (page 171)
A: I determined that they were both type “O” secretors.
Q: So, in the “ABO” System, they had identical characteristics?A: Yes, that is correct.
Attachment C (pdf)
Doctor’s report of alleged rape (1 page)
Attachment D (pdf)
Warrant of arrest
Attachment E (pdf)
Letter from the Public Defender Office of February 17, 1995 concerning trial counsel Andrew Melby, who initially had been appointed to the case. (See warrant of arrest)
Attachment F (pdf)Certificate of analysis (April 3, 1987)
Attachment G (pdf)
Forensic expert’s testimony (page 198)
There are 2 different certificates of analysis: those of February 17, 1987 and April 3, 1987. The expert used the first report in the court room. Result: Every bit of body fluid was either not capable of being typed in the “ABO” System, or was entirely consistent with the victim’s own type.
Attachment H (pdf)
Cumberland County Schools: Alexander Cameron’s school certificates
Attachment I (pdf)
Report of psychiatric examination (Alexander Cameron)
July 10, 1987
Attachment J (pdf)
Memorandum
Alexandria Community Mental Health Center
April 2, 1987
Alexander Cameron is suicidal
Attachment K (pdf)
Motion to withdraw claims
December 20, 1991
Circuit Court of the City of Alexandria
Attachment L (pdf)
Case No.: GV99-4803 and GV99-4804
Alexander Cameron v. Christian C. Westerman
Alexander Cameron v. Becky J. Moore and James C. Clark
August 3, 1999
Attachment M (pdf)
Court order
November 25, 1996
Circuit Court for the City of Alexandria
The court orders specific exhibits to be submitted to the Virginia Bureau of Forensic Science for further scientific testing
Attachment N (pdf)
April 21, 1997
Department of Criminal Justice Service Division of Forensic Science
Test result/ certificate of analysis
Despite court order, only 1 item was tested. DNA was taken from the victim’s vaginal swab and underpants. No typing results could be obtained.
Attachment O (pdf)
Test result: table
Attachment P (pdf)
Test result: conclusion
Sperm fraction: Alexander Cameron cannot be eliminated as a possible contributor of the genetic material detected on the underpants or in the sperm fraction of the vaginal swab, because the DNA profile obtained from the sperm fractions and the non-sperm fraction from the underpants are consistent with a mixture of the DNA profile of Alexander Cameron and another individual.
Non-sperm fraction: Alexander Cameron is eliminated as a contributor of the genetic material in the non-sperm fraction of the vaginal swab, because the DNA profile is difffernt from that of Alexander Cameron.
Attachment 2 (pdf)
Forensic expert’s testimony (page 174)
Attachment 3 (pdf)
Alexander Cameron’s application dated August 29, 1984
“Blood type: O-Pos”
Trial
June 11, 1987
Index, exhibits, proceedings, opening statements by the state and the defense
http://www.iippi.org/pdf/alexandercameron6.pdf (53 pages)
Ellen Wash’s Testimony
http://www.iippi.org/pdf/alexandercameron7.pdf (53 pages)
Medical Doctor Donald B. Chapman’s Testimony
http://www.iippi.org/pdf/alexandercameron8.pdf (8 pages)
Nurse Bonita Stanley’s Testimony
http://www.iippi.org/pdf/alexandercameron9.pdf (7 pages)
Officer James H. Ammons, IV’s Testimony
http://www.iippi.org/pdf/alexandercameron10.pdf (23 pages)
Officer Blaine Corle’s Testimony
http://www.iippi.org/pdf/alexandercameron11.pdf (8 pages)
Forensic Scientist Deanne Dabbs’ Testimony
http://www.iippi.org/pdf/alexandercameron12.pdf (48 pages)
Forensic Scientist Myron Scholberg’s Testimony
http://www.iippi.org/pdf/alexandercameron13.pdf (17 pages)
Resident Manager Jean Bolman’s Testimony
http://www.iippi.org/pdf/alexandercameron14.pdf (3 pages)
Police Officer Margaret Hoover’s Testimony
http://www.iippi.org/pdf/alexandercameron15.pdf (3 pages)
Investigator Ann Melchior’s Testimony
http://www.iippi.org/pdf/alexandercameron16.pdf (4 pages)
Valerie Brown’s Testimony (Alexander Cameron’s ex-girl-friend)
http://www.iippi.org/pdf/alexandercameron17.pdf (6 pages)
Valerie Travers’ Testimony
http://www.iippi.org/pdf/alexandercameron18.pdf (10 pages)
June 12, 1987
Alexander Cameron’s Testimony
http://www.iippi.org/pdf/alexandercameron19.pdf (6 pages)
Janet Tillery’ Testimony (Valerie Brown’s ex-roommate)
http://www.iippi.org/pdf/alexandercameron20.pdf (6 pages)
Valerie Brown’s 2nd Testimony
http://www.iippi.org/pdf/alexandercameron21.pdf (3 pages)
Closing Statements by the State and the Defense
http://www.iippi.org/pdf/alexandercameron22.pdf (42 pages)
External Links
http://pacer.ca4.uscourts.gov/opinion.pdf/006453.U.pdf
United States Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit, Nov./Dec. 2000
Appeal is dismissed.
https://www.washingtonpost.com/archive/politics/2000/09/10/dna-testing-in-old-cases-is-disputed/
DNA Testing In Old Cases Is Disputed
“Marquis and local advocates of limited testing point to cases like that of Alexander Cameron. In 1996, an advocacy group called the Innocence Project sought DNA testing for Cameron, who was serving two life sentences plus 25 years for an Alexandria rape and robbery. Prosecutors were skeptical, because he had once written a letter to a judge that seemed to apologize for the crime, but they eventually allowed the testing.
When the results came back, Cameron was a match, court records show. The Innocence Project dropped his case, although he is still pursuing additional tests.
“Some people really don’t understand DNA, or they think they have nothing to lose or maybe he can’t bear to tell his mother he did it,” said Jane Siegel Greene, the project’s executive director.”
Note: A letter of July 17, 2015 from the Innocence Project will be posted here soon. It states that the Innocence Project is reevaluating Alexander Cameron’s case.
Alexander Cameron v. Commonwealth of Goochland Coun
No. 09-6849 (4th Cir. 2009)
http://law.justia.com/cases/federal/appellate-courts/ca4/09-6849/096849.u-2011-03-15.html
Cameron v. Swersky et al
Defendants: Myron T. Scholberg, Deanne Dabbs, Becky J. Moore, John Kloch, Alfred D. Swersky, Edward Semonian, James C. Cacheris and Gerald Lee
Case Number: 1:2014cv00179
Filed on February 27, 2014
In the Virginia Eastern District Court
https://dockets.justia.com/docket/virginia/vaedce/1:2014cv00179/303570