Former Green Bay, WI
police detective John Maloney seeks pardon for murder, arson
convictions based on actual innocence
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PRESS RELEASE
July 10, 2006
John Maloney, a 19-year Green Bay police veteran, has applied for a
rule waiver that will allow him to present evidence that his wife’s
death and the fire at her home were accidental. Maloney is barred
from presenting this evidence in court because his trial lawyer could
have discovered it, but did not.
John Maloney is asking Governor Doyle’s Pardon Advisory Board to allow
him to present evidence proving he is innocent of murder and arson in
the 1998 death of his estranged wife, Sandy. Maloney’s trial
lawyer could have discovered this evidence before trial. Instead,
he stipulated to murder and arson and claimed someone else did
it. The jury never heard the evidence that proves no crime was
committed. The evidence cannot be presented in court because it
is not “new.”
In February of 2006, the state supreme court told Maloney to come back
with evidence that the special prosecutor, Joe Paulus, tampered with
video recordings to make it appear he had confessed. But the
videotapes shown to the jury have disappeared, so even if Maloney’s
family could afford to pay the fees of a forensic tape examiner, there
is nothing left to examine.
After Maloney was convicted, a review team of fire origin and cause
experts, which informally became known as the “Tetra Committee,”
carefully reviewed all the investigative information (reports and
photographs) from investigators. The review was conducted in
accordance with the recognized procedures of the scientific method as
set forth in NFPA 921. As a result of the committee’s review, Dr.
James Munger prepared a consensus report detailing all of the opinions
formulated in the matter. The review committee found no
scientific basis for the opinions offered by the prosecution’s experts
that the fire was incendiary or that Sandy’s death was other than
accidental. Forensic pathologist Dr. James Dibdin concurred,
concluding that Sandy died of lethal blood alcohol, and that she was
brain dead when the fire (which quickly self-extinguished) began.
Maloney’s case has also been the subject of a CBS 48 Hours program
entitled “A Question of
Murder,” which is scheduled to rebroadcast on July 29, 2006.
Dr. Munger worked with the production staff on this program and
conducted a full scale sofa burn and a small scale test burn with vodka
to scientifically and visually document that there is no scientific
basis for the prosecution’s expert opinions regarding the origin and
cause of the fire.
Maloney is not seeking to have his convictions overturned on a
technicality. Rather, he is seeking the opportunity to prove his
innocence, an opportunity that has been denied him on the technicality
of his lawyers’ mistakes.
Contact Info:
Virginia Maloney
2548 Trojan Drive
Green Bay, WI 54304
(920) 497-9575
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