A Denver man who spent two months in jail on a rape charge is now suing crime lab investigators for erroneously putting his name on DNA samples found at the scene of the crime.
Shawnnon Hale, 26, claims in a federal civil lawsuit that Denver Police Department crime lab analysts Eric Duvall and Brian Pirot falsely claimed vaginal DNA samples taken from the victim’s rape kit matched Hale “when in fact it did not.” The suit, filed Monday, seeks compensatory and punitive damages, as well as a written apology.
Charges against Hale were ultimately dismissed in February 2015, according to the lawsuit, after it was revealed during his preliminary hearing that one or both of the crime lab analysts “had mislabeled Hale’s DNA evidence with reckless disregard or gross negligence” of Hale’s constitutional rights protecting him from false arrest or unlawful seizure. Hale had spent 61 days in jail.
“It was revealed that Plaintiff was, in fact, innocent as he had claimed all along,” the 10-page lawsuit reads. “In fact, Mr. Hale’s DNA matched DNA found on a cigarette at the scene by DPD investigators but did not match the DNA found inside the victim.”
Hale was arrested following a five-month investigation into a rape and burglary reported by a woman who met a stranger while walking her dog in July 2014. The man invited the woman to have drinks with him at a nearby bar. They had a few drinks there before she invited him and some of his friends, including Hale, to the rooftop deck of her apartment, where they drank more alcohol and smoked cigarettes, according to the lawsuit.
The victim woke up the next morning without underwear and with vaginal pain – and no recollection of what happened on the rooftop. She reported the incident to police and investigators found forensic evidence on vaginal swabs taken during a rape examination.
Police also tested cigarette butts, a drinking glass, the victim’s underwear, her dress, bedding and a pair of shorts, according to the lawsuit. Surveillance footage was also gathered from the victim’s apartment complex, including footage showing six men and women — including Hale — at the party throughout the evening.
And despite footage showing the victim leaving her apartment at 3 a.m. with a white male, investigators from the Denver Police Department “chose to focus” on a stranger, who was black, whom the victim had met earlier that evening.
Police arrested and took DNA samples from that man. While being questioned, the man told detectives that the victim left the party with a “Caucasian-looking male named Nate,” but police did not ultimately have enough evidence to make an arrest. His name is being withheld by The Post because he was not charged with a crime.
Then, after nearly five months of investigation, Duvall and Pirot “falsely claimed” that the FBI’s DNA database had a “returned a hit” on the sample and claimed that the DNA found inside the victim belonged to Hale.
Hale was arrested in December 2014. He repeatedly told investigators that he was at the party but did not have any sexual contact with the victim.
“When informed by DPD investigators that his DNA had allegedly been found inside the victim, [Hale] unequivocally denied this possibility by responding, ‘No, I’m sorry, that’s not possible,’” the lawsuit reads.
Hale told detectives the victim took a white male into a room while on the rooftop and performed oral sex on him before inviting him back downstairs to her apartment — which the man accepted.
Hale never entered the woman’s apartment because he was not invited and was seen leaving the apartment complex with four other people at 3:41 a.m., hours before a sixth person left alone at 5:19 a.m., according to the lawsuit.
“Upon information and belief, [Hale’s] DNA was indeed found at the scene of the alleged crime on a cigarette butt, however none of his DNA was found inside the victim,” the lawsuit reads. “The reckless and/or grossly negligent statements of the defendants resulted in plaintiff being charged for a crime carrying with it a potential sentence of life imprisonment.”
One of Hale’s attorneys told the Denver Post that the lab technicians have not apologized for the mistake that had Hale facing up to life in prison. But even if they did apologize, there’s no excuse for their actions, he said.
“When you are in that position and someone’s fate is in your hands, honest mistakes are not tolerated,” David Lane told the newspaper. “You are held to a higher standard.”
Meanwhile, in nearby New Mexico, the state’s backlog of untested rape kits was identified as the worst in the nation, according to the Albuquerque Journal. A report by the Office of the State Auditor found that there are 254 untested kits for every 100,000 New Mexico residents, far outpacing Michigan in second place with 153 untested kits per 100,000 residents.
“It’s not that easy to talk about,” auditor Tim Keller said. “These kits represent an hour if not longer of someone’s life when they had the courage to go in … and give these samples during one of the hardest times of their life.”