The Innocence Project - Warner Case
We've been looking into this case as part of the course and have been left to analyse the evidence we've been given and come to a decision as to whether we believe the verdict to deny Mr Warner an appeal was safe.
Mr Warner was accused and convicted of the double murder of an elderly couple, Mr and Mrs Pool, stabbed to death upstairs in their home. Mr Warner admitted to breaking into the house, but claimed it was "on a spur of the moment intention to steal".
After much investigating, this case was rejected grounds to appeal. This means Mr Warner will remain in prison, while some doubts still remain over his guilt, due to a few issues with evidence.
For Warner to have had a case strong enough to successfully appeal, there would have had to be new evidence that either had the potential to implicate another, or could disprove Warner's involvement. The original case was described as 'formidable', and as such for the conviction to be overturned any new evidence would have had to be of great significance, to compromise this 'formidable' case against him.
The main outstanding evidence that the defence had hoped may enable his conviction to be overturned were multiple sets of unidentified fingerprints around The Pools home, the fingerprint of Mr Smith on the front porch, and an unidentified bloody man seen by a taxi driver on the night of the murders.
Mr Smith was a neighbour of the Pool's and a known 'peeping-tom', however the only fingerprint belonging to him was found on the outside porch, and so it seems unlikely he had any involvement in the murder, as there is no evidence linking him to the inside of the house.
The unidentified prints and the bloodied man are certainly suspicious, and ideally would have been investigated and their relevance to the incident established. The evidence against Mr Warner, however, is so substantial that these unresolved pieces of potential evidence were unlikely to have the power to free Mr Warner, had they been resolved.
The evidence used to convict Mr Warner included multiple sets of his fingerprints within the Pool's home, including at the window, the suspected point of entry, and the kitchen drawer, where the murder weapon was believed to be kept. A jumper of Mr Warners was discovered in the house, while a shirt belonging to Mr Pool was found with Warner, who had also disposed of his trainers at his wife's house and was seen washing his jeans the following day. This combined evidence proves that Mr Warner entered the house, something he initially denied, and shows multiple incidents of suspicious behaviour.
Later, it was discovered that fibres from Mr Warner's jumper were found to have been in contact with five items upstairs in the Pool's house, near where the bodies were found. The forensic scientist investigating claimed it was unlikely that the fibres appeared on these items by chance. This further compounds the evidence against Warner, and is the first piece of evidence to suggest that Mr Warner did in fact go upstairs, contrary to his story.
With this further evidence providing an even greater link between Mr Warner and the murders, and no evidence to the contrary, the decision to deny Warner a further appeal is certainly safe. There is no evidence of any substance to prove his innocence, and a great deal against him. Therefore, the denial of the appeal is the correct decision.
