Lynn DeJac

[wheezer]

Wrongly imprisoned upstate NY mother exonerated by new findings

Feb 13, 2008 11:51 AM (1 hr 58 mins ago) AP

BUFFALO, N.Y. (Map, News) - Forensics experts have determined that a 13-year-old girl believed to have been strangled by her mother in 1993 actually died of a cocaine overdose.

The findings announced by Erie County District Attorney Frank Clark on Wednesday exonerate Lynn DeJac, who served 13 years in prison after a wrongful conviction for murdering her daughter, Crystallynn Girard, in their Buffalo home.

Clark says the new cause of death was determined by two forensics experts recently called in to review the case after DeJac's conviction was overturned late last year based on unrelated DNA evidence. DeJac was facing retrial but the charges will now be dropped.

Lawyers knew cocaine was in Crystallynn's system when she died, but it wasn't brought up at trial.

http://www.examiner.com/a-1218231~Wrongly_imprisoned_upstate_NY_mother_exone rated_by_new_findings.html?cid=rss-New_York_Headlines

[Roamer]

Omigosh. They knew cocaine was in her system but didn't bring it up at the trial???? :shock: The article didn't say which lawyers knew (pros or defense, or both), but that's terrible!

[wheezer]

http://i104.photobucket.com/albums/m196/wheezer5695/737-caroldejac_Local_DeJac_Wipperte.jpg
Crystallynn M. Girard

http://i104.photobucket.com/albums/m196/wheezer5695/734-lynn_dejac_local_Lynn_DeJac_Can.jpg
Lynn DeJac

http://i104.photobucket.com/albums/m196/wheezer5695/877-dejac_LOCAL_DEJAC_GEEembeddedpr.jpg
Crystallynn Girard Gravestone


DeJac charges dropped
Daughter Crystallynn Girard died of cocaine overdose, DA says

Updated: 02/13/08 12:25 PM

New examination of the evidence shows Crystallynn M. Girard died of a cocaine overdose.

All charges are being dropped against Lynn DeJac — who spent more than 13 years in prison for allegedly killing her teenage daughter — because new forensic tests showed that the girl died from a cocaine overdose rather than strangulation, District Attorney Frank J. Clark announced at a news conference this morning.

DeJac was released from prison Nov. 28, after DNA tests from the crime scene showed that DeJac's ex-boyfriend, Dennis Donohue, who was facing murder charges in another unrelated strangulation, was in the house sometime before the body was found.

The daughter, Crystallynn Girard, was found dead in her bedroom on Feb. 14, 1993. DeJac had been out with friends that night and into the morning.

DeJac had been facing a new trial in April.

DeJac, 44, was convicted of second-degree depraved indifference murder at her 1994 trial.

She has been free since Nov. 28, when another judge set aside the conviction because of newly discovered DNA evidence that implicated Donohue in the killing.

When Erie County Senior Judge Michael L. D'Amico set aside the verdict in November, Clark indicated that his office would seek a retrial, but only on manslaughter charges.

DeJac had told The Buffalo News before she was released from prison that she welcomed a chance at a new trial.

"The truth is on my side," she said.

DeJac was convicted of second-degree murder on April 20, 1994. During the trial, a witness testified that DeJac had confessed to him that she had killed her daughter. Evidence also showed that DeJac waited 45 minutes with her daughter's body before calling 911.

Prosecutors had also given Donohue immunity in the case, although it had been established that he had been following DeJac through the night.

Just before DeJac went on trial, she gave birth to twin boys … boys she did not get a chance to raise while she was in prison.

DeJac always maintained her innocence. She complained that she had been put on trial for her hard-partying lifestyle and not on the facts of the case.

She was sent to the Bedford Hills Correctional Facility, a prison for women, where she says she was beaten and accused of being a baby killer.

http://www.buffalonews.com/home/story/275406.html

[packy]

Can you imagine losing your daughter and being blamed for it, and then being beaten for being a baby killer while in prison. And pregnant yet and not getting to raise her twins. And they knew the girl had cocaine in her system? Makes me fire-eating mad. Some scumbag said she confessed so did a jury go on that I wonder.

[Roamer]

So often, we've seen these cases where one gets immunity by testifying against the other. If they need immunity, dangit, they've done something wrong. Make some other kind of deal, maybe, but immunity? No way!!! Of course they're going to push it off on the one who didn't take or wasn't offered the deal, sometimes just to make LE look good. :mad:

[wheezer]

The case against Lynn M. DeJac, accused child killer, was officially dismissed Thursday, ending a long, strange and sad saga.

She has been exonerated and she is a free woman.

But just as this chapter closes, a new one opens.

Det. Dennis Delano of the Buffalo Cold Case Squad, who was instrumental in having DeJac's case reopened, was suspended from his job Thursday for leaking a videotape from the 1993 investigation into DeJac's daughter's death to the news media.

Delano is not convinced that the 13-year-old girl's death on Valentine's Day 1993 wasn't a homicide and has not been hesitant about making his views public.

But with the retrial canceled and the charges dropped against DeJac, paired with the fact that a man many suspect may have been involved in Crystallynn Girard's death has immunity in the case, there's no longer any reason for authorities to continue to investigate.

But should they?

http://buffalonews.typepad.com/inside_the_news/2008/02/another-chapter.html

[Roamer]

Although it isn't fair, because they gave him immunity, what can they do? :rolleye0001:

[wheezer]

Although it isn't fair, because they gave him immunity, what can they do? :rolleye0001:

That is my question as well Roamer.
I mean they gave the guy immunity. I can't believe they did it, but none the less they did. This to me is what happens when deals are made. I understand there might not be enough evidence, but is it worth it to make deals with the devil? Two things went terribly wrong in this case. The mother was wrongly convicted, and the man that more than likely had a part in this child's death will now never be held responsible. Total tunnel vision. They were so convinced that the mother did this crime they IMO ignored everything else. They also relied upon this man's testimony when IMO they could not get enough evidence against the mother. This whole case is just sad. I hope there is a loophole somewhere in this immunity deal they made with him. If there isn't, I am sad to say that it seems no one will ever answer for this young lady's death.

[packy]

It does seem that it won't do any good to investigate anymore. Maybe get him on something else and pray he isn't involved with another young daughter somewhere.

[wheezer]

BUFFALO, N.Y. (AP) - A mother recently exonerated in her teenage daughter's death in 1993 is suing New York state for almost $14.5 million in damages.

After spending 13 years and seven months in prison, Lynn DeJac was formally cleared of charges a month ago following a startling reversal by prosecutors over how 13-year-old Crystallynn Girard died in 1993.

DeJac, 44, was awaiting retrial on charges she strangled the girl when Erie County District Attorney Frank Clark announced that a forensics review showed Crystallynn actually died of a cocaine overdose.

In a lawsuit filed Friday, DeJac sought $13.6 million for wrongful imprisonment plus $873,792 for economic losses.

http://www.wcax.com/Global/story.asp?S=8085589&nav=4QcS