Guilty Until Proven Innocent | Full Episode | Forensic Files

on December 7th 1989 in Lake County there's been a series of bump rapes and robs
occurring and what that means is you're a single woman driving alone at night your car gets
bumped and they would grab you rob you and sexually assault you the victim in this case she's been out that night
drinking she's driving home and she's bumped and she gets out of her car and she's assaulted taken into another
vehicle and she says raped by five men but there's a racial component here the five attackers were black the woman was
white it was terrorizing the community and they wanted arrests at all costs perhaps I had the responsibility I was a
detective Lieutenant I had a free hand I received no interference from anybody whoever perpetrated this crime
were monsters my next reaction was can we as prosecutors prove Beyond reasonable out the identity of the
persons who perpetrated this crime we obtained two convictions out of five people that raped this
girl I didn't do it I couldn't do it I wouldn't do it and when you heard the word rape it s
chills to me I couldn't believe that my name was being associated with such a crime when the judge said 75 years I'm
38 years old that's like a death sentence I'mma die in prison for a crime I didn't
do and one night I hit by bom and I U attempted to take my life I dreamed of a professor and law
students coming to my rescue I used to see it on TV all the time then one day I said I got my dream
team do you believe 100% that these two men are innocent yes absolutely 100% % yes the more you read the case you see
all the factors leading to wrongful convictions like jail house niches ineffective assistance of counsel junk
science how confident are you that Daryl Pinkins and Roosevelt Glenn raped that woman 100% no questions no questions we
had DNA evidence that was taken off for clothing what was your first impression when you read the vile I was confused uh
because the DNA was already done done and it excluded both of those men when it's not you in the DNA it's
not you zero nothing to talk about and everybody knew it before trial they had to have known
it every night I pray for my son and the only thing I can do is trust that the Lord will keep him safe so he can come
out [Music] [Music] [Applause] for nearly two decades Sally Glenn went to prison every other weekend to visit
her son Roosevelt it would hurt me and won we leave that would cry Glenn's daughter darnice just seven when
her father went to prison was Often by her grandmother's side on those visits I was nervous for him due to the fact I
knew he was a very Innocent Man Behind Bars with very bad criminals I had suicide all over me for a while
[Music] and what stopped you I believe it was the power of God I was a good man before I went to prison
but I wasn't a man of Faith prison changed my way of thinking and it made me a man of
Faith how do you survive in that environment you have to become colder as far as emotions because I don't trust
people like I used to I don't know if they realize you pretty much taking the most
valuable thing people have time says Daryl Pink's son Damian I feel like I've lost the most important time of my life
where a a son bonds with his father and becomes a man Mildred Pinkins lost her eldest son
I just couldn't imagine him being locked up your child my child he'd never been in trouble before why
now I've got one job as a detective to get to the truth the trouble started nearly three decades ago when retired
detective Lieutenant Mike Solen worked so diligently to solve a brutal rape case in Hammond Indiana I want you
understand something Morin when you do a criminal investigation you watch where the evidence takes you
and you follow it this was tunnel vision police work and they let the real bad guys go Indiana University law professor
Fran Watson runs the University's wrongful conviction Clinic he took he took from where every semester law
students like Max Polly and Brenda eagerly sign up to help Watson investigate cases did it change your
opinion about the law or the system I guess I started my career knowing that the system can fail for the last 15
years Professor Watson has enlisted hundreds of her students to help her battle detective Solen and the entire
judicial system to overturn the convictions of Roosevelt Glenn and Daryl Pinkins you start looking in the case
thinking Fran can not possibly be right about this I mean these people got convicted for a reason their first
assignment study the case File the scientific evidence a victim ID the political pressure to solve the case
quickly and accusations of racism all of a sudden each of us had our own aha moments it was about 1:00 a.m. December
7th 1989 and the first of two bumping robs that would occur that night was about to take place flight attendant
Jill Martin was on her way home on Interstate 65 not far from Hammond when she was bumped from behind a car
occupied by at least three black males she pulls over and the car pulls in front of
her and then a man comes out of the driver's side of that car and calmly walks to her car and the black man says
are you all right ma'am fortunately for her a pickup truck was coming down the highway and started
to pull behind them thinking it was an accident all three blacks walked rapidly to that car got in and
left Jill Martin said the men took off still she was able to get a good look at their car and write down a partial
license plate number about 30 minutes later another bumping robod the victim in this case who we
will call Jane was also on her way home 26-year-old Jane was stopped at this traffic light just one block from
her home and husband when she was bumped from behind so she got out of the car and she walked to the back of her
car and a black man gets out of the car and walks very calmly very leisurely to her and says are you all right ma'am the
exact same words flight attendant Jill Martin reported hearing less than an hour
earlier but this time there was no Escape before she has a chance to respond he grabs her by the arm Jane
says it all happened so fast two other men appeared grabbed her from behind and forced her into their car then both cars
sped off Jane would later report that she was strip naked and all five men took turns brutally assaulting her in
the back seat of their car she gave a very detailed statement to Lieutenant s lot former Lake County
prosecutor Joe Kash it's her testimony that all five men ejaculated mhm Solen had the rapist Seaman giving him their
DNA but the national DNA database did not exist yet so he still had to find the attackers but Solen did have these
workman's coveralls also called greens Jane's attackers had used them to cover her eyes she was still clutching them
when she was forced back into her own car and released westtech Lot number 311 was stamped into the greens there was a
tag there saying size medium Solen tracked every pair of medium coverall stamped West Tech slot number
311 until he got to a Scrap Metal Management company called Lura brothers and I took the greens out of the bag and
I held them up okay Kevin bar who takes care of green says if those are greens I
know who we gave them to Roosevelt Glenn was an employee at Lura brothers who wore medium-sized greens 4 days after
the attack Glenn reported his coveralls had been stolen on the night in question
two more employees had also submitted and signed reports stating that their cover Ralls were stolen that night as
well darl Pinkins and a named Bill Duran because they signed those sheets they attached to each other that the night of
the rape they were together when they left luer brothers that's not all Solen track to
luria Brothers based on descriptions given by both women Solen determined that the car the attackers were driving
that night was a 1970s green Pontiac Catalina so he tracked down every single registered car in the area that fit the
description fortunately there were only nine in Lake and Porter Count's registered cars of that nature seven
belonging to white people two belonging to black people one of those two cars belonged to Gary Daniels a janitor at
Lua Brothers Solen now believed he had a fourth rape suspect there was just one problem remember Jill Martin had given
police a partial license plate number did the plate match on Gary Daniel's car no but the plates did match a car that
had been stolen the night before the attack Solen contends the men stole that car sold it for scrap metal and put the
stolen plates on Daniel's car why not just use the stolen vehicle I can't answer that question other than the fact
that they stole the car but the fact is these men were never charged with stealing any car and no DNA was ever
found in Daniel's car linking it to the crime Solen still needed one more suspect Jane said five men attacked her
so Solen went back to lria brothers and found a fifth suspect Barry Jackson what
did you have on Jackson Jackson everybody said he's out with them all hours of the night and that was enough
for the judges to say okay Solen easily got an arrest warrant for all five men I remember him coming to my house
knocking on my door and asking me why don't you tell your son to plead guilty I said oh no D is not guilty of
nothing and I slammed the door in his face and I told him don't come to my house anymore
[Music] [Music] Roosevelt Glenn who like Daryl Pinkins had never been in trouble with the law
it's okay take your time we'll never forget the day he was arrested and charged with a monstrous
crime it was it was a little hard because I know the picture they was painting of me was
fur furthest from the truth I mean it was like a night and day situation well I'm a rape Advocate and I
knew that he didn't fit all those characteristics like that me and my sister are probably as close as two
siblings could possibly be Glenn's Sister Rita Stout says because of her work with rape victims she knew the
Hammond Police Department she knew Detective stolen and she knew her brother was no rapist so it was that
night that we started fighting for him and you're still fighting to clear his name yes and I won't
stop Roosevelt doesn't deny that those were likely his coveralls I I don't think he can deny those are likely his
coveralls Glenn says there is an explanation nearly 2 hours before the brutal gang rape he he was at laua
Brothers with co-workers Daryl Pinkins and Bill Duran it was 11:00 p.m. and their shifts had just ended the men say
that they all got into Bill Duran's car with the plan to stop at the local liquor store to cash their checks grab a
beer and go home but before we can get there his car start having problems he said it's my oil I don't
have any oil in the car it was running hot so we left there the three of us walking they exit Duran's car and they
walk away and there's a state police Trooper he sees them walking away from that disabled vehicle so it's Undisputed
the car broke down and they walked away from it on a frigid night the men say they took only what they needed and
walked to a pay phone Roosevelt called a friend who picked them up and then let Roosevelt use her car after we dropped
her off we went to cash our paychecks and the lady there she was very nice she you know she SE us all the time and so
she said you guys are late I said yeah the car broke down from there they bought two quarts
of oil and headed back to Bill Duran's car and that's when we found out that the windows had been broken out the car
had been broken into the passenger side window was shattered two shopping bags and a duffel bag which had been in plain
sight were now gone inside those bags three Workman coveralls he does not dispute that those
are his greens he said those are my greens they were stolen from the car that's a story he gavee Solen was so
sure he had the right guys that he urged the men to confess he told Daryl Pinkins
DNA was better than a fingerprint then if we didn't do the crime DNA would surely exonerate us so we told them well
bring the test on but long before the test results were in there was a stunning turn of events
for nearly 5 months the victim Jane had insisted she could not would not ID the suspects she had even refused to
participate in any physical or photo lineups then she showed up here at the courthouse for a hearing the place was
jammed Morin even people standing against the wall Solen says Daryl Pinkins out on bail and wearing street
clothes walked into the packed courtroom through the front door the moment Jane saw him she reportedly recognized Daryl
as the rapist who first approached her car Solen now had Jane's ID of Daryl Pinkins the coveralls that belonged to
Roosevelt Glenn and a hair found on Jane's clothing an expert was prepared to testify that it matched the hair on
Glenn's head when they said they had my hair I was like run every test you got it's not my hair the hair had no root so
at the time there was no way to test it for DNA but the state could test several
seamen stains found on Jane's sweater and jacket for DNA 3 months after Jane identified Daryl Pinkins the results
were in and it's those stains that deran Pinkins Glenn Jackson Daniels are all excluded
from those men did not contribute to those stains the test results showed three clear DNA profiles in the mixtures the
victim and two men neither of which were a match to any of the five men arrested
there was additional male DNA in the mixture but it was missing unique DNA markers from each of the five men which
means according to DNA expert Greg kekian there is no way any of the five men arrested contributed to the stains
it's like the phone number begins with the number eight and your phone number does not begin with a number eight
you're excluded the DNA did that in great detail and everybody knew it before trial but the state disregarded
those results arguing that DNA was so new the tests were inconclusive prosecutors did concede
there was not enough evidence against Barry Jackson and Gary Daniels and dropped the charges against those two
men and they wipe their names out and then they refile showing that Daniels and Jackson have been dismissed far more
confident in the case against the remaining three suspects the state set its sights on convicting Pinkins Glenn
and Duran how do you take somebody's life away and act like it was nothing [Music]
it was January 28th 1991 and the first to go on trial was Bill Duran the most damning evidence against him his ties to
Pinkins and Glenn on the night of the crime the result was a hungery we never retried him and why wasn't he retried
the weakest case at a three the next to go to trial Was Daryl Pinkins Pinkins was convicted on three
counts rape criminal deviate conduct and robbery my knees kind of like buckled a
little I moved a little swer a little and I couldn't believe it I was like this don't make
sense Roosevelt Glenn was tried twice the first trial ended in a hung jury a second jury convicted Glenn of
rape I was in such shock that I couldn't even think and then I heard my mother and sister
scream it was a bad day for everybody hope dwindled in this case for about a decade then Along Came
Professor Watson's wrongful conviction clinic and her law students it doesn't make any sense did you walk been
thinking well they convicted him they must have had something that's what we've been taught having gone through
all the evidence there's nothing to me that outside of the coveralls that really indicates that they're guilty but
the real problem for the defense has always been the victim's ID of darl Pinkins that ID is deeply flawed I would
say that ID should have been problematic from day one problematic they say because it contradicts the victim's
initial statement given to the police I thought she said they were young punk sounding she said young black males in
their 20s Punk talk right not one of the five men arrested fit the description of
a young punk especially Daryl Pinkins who was 37 years old and married with young children at the time but even more
disturbing to the young investigators the crime spree continued even after the men were arrested Ed in the next 7
months there were 18 bumping robs and one bumping rape so then how could it be you guys if
it was still happening well the word they used was copycat crimes ultimately it was the way the
prosecution handled the DNA evidence that deeply troubled Professor Watson and caused her to reach out to DNA
expert Greg hpan he believes the pro prosecution intentionally downplayed the results of the DNA test by using a
significantly less reliable test called corology basically the state argued that
the men could not be excluded from the seen because their blood types could be found in the stains everybody in the
room would have been in that stain because everybody in the room's a b or O blood to even use blood typing when you
have DNA uh is is so ethical as to you know make my blood boil and this is where it
gets even more complicated after arguing that the men probably did contribute to
the seamen stains the prosecution then contradicted Itself by saying that Pinkins and Glenn may not have
ejaculated at all this according to several jailhouse informants who allegedly reached out to detective
Solen Pinkins he confided in his cellmate and he asked the cellmate these questions is it rape if you didn't
ejaculate he also tells him I'm not worried about the DNA evidence because I didn't
ejaculate that informant got a plea deal in return for his testimony and so did a
snitch who testified that roselt Glenn told him he had only kissed the victim but remember the victim told police she
had been raped by each of the five men and that all five men ejaculated you're raped you're being
hurt if you think you're going to be accurate on did everyone ejaculate well you're fooling yourself you're wrong how
do you as an investigator decide which parts of her eyewitness testimony to use and which parts to
Discount I take it all I don't discount unless the evidence discounts it there was part of me that just could not
believe that they were pursuing this case and more Karen Freeman Wilson was a prosecutor turned public defender when
she was assigned to represent Roosevelt Glenn in his second trial I talk about this case is a case that has haunted me
throughout my career because I knew he wasn't guilty today Freeman Wilson is the mayor of Gary Indiana I really
didn't know detective Solon but I was willing to give him the benefit of the doubt but as the case continued on I
just thought that he orchestrated a [Music] railroad in the 24 years that you've
been in prison you've lost your dad both brothers right and you lost a sister my
oldest sister Yeah by 2005 Daryl Pinkins had exhausted his appeals even though new and improved DNA tests continue to
exclude him and Roosevelt Glenn from The seamen stains the only hope left was Roosevelt Glenn's appeal filed in 2003
by Fran Watson who had officially begun working as the pro bono attorney for both Pinkins and Glenn did it ever cross
your mind to maybe cut a deal no have you ever once given a confession no I would never confess that I'm I didn't
do knowing that the science of DNA had worked against the men so far Watson turned to a different
science one that actually had caught up with the case hair analysis the FBI came out in the last
couple years and said we're sorry we've convicted people with bad hair comparison test testimony we now know
that you can't put two hairs under a microscope and figure out if they came from the same person to a reliable
degree of scientific certainty but that's not all remember the hair used against Roosevelt Glenn did not have a
root and it could not be tested for DNA at the time but by 2003 it could be tested for mitochondrial DNA the genes
you get from your mother that test would show whether or not the hair actually came from Roosevelt Glenn in a Twist of
Faith though when Fran Watson got the court order to test that hair she was given a second hair as well and that
second hair it did have a root they never tested that hair it had a root always so we test that hair Professor
wson tested both hairs as it turns out neither belonged to Roosevelt Glenn Daryl Pinkins or Bill deran but more
importantly says DNA expert Greg hin the hair with the root provided a new previously unknown third DNA profile we
thought that was enough because hair evidence just like that has overturned cases all over the country where the FBI
is you know apologizing for the way they've taught people to interpret hair and DNA everyone recognizes corrects
those mistakes in 2008 a judge ruled that the new hair evidence was not enough to Grant Roosevelt Glenn a new
trial citing the testimony of the snitch and the witness ID of darl penins as proof of Roosevelt's
guilt but a year and a half later after serving nearly 17 years as a model prisoner Roosevelt Glenn was released
from prison anyway paroled under Indiana law for good behavior they also forced you to
register as a sex offender right you see me FL yeah that's that's it hurts it also hurts his daughters who
lost their father for nearly 17 years I mean I wish he could have been there to help me pick out a prime dress
or say no not to that boyfriend even now you know I struggle you know trying to build a relationship dad supposed to be
the one that teaches you you know this is what you deserve this is how you should be treated and I've never I
haven't had a chance experienced that my children now are 31 30 and 25 and we don't even know each other and
we're we're very respectful and we love each other but deep down theide we don't
we don't really know each other every man needs a father in their life Damon Pinkins was just 15 years old
when he lost his father I told him he's the strongest man that I know and I told
him before that I needed him just as much as he need me because he was actually helping
me I'm sorry the love I wanted to express to my children has not been able to come forth yet
yeah yes Daryl you are not forgotten that's right 84-year-old Mildred Pinkins has spent a quarter Century getting
desperate letters from prison hey moms wrote Daryl it's another lonely night she'd leave messages sometimes and
they were haunting and would just say just checking to see if you're working on Daryl's case and a lot of times there
was nothing I could do on Daryl's case but I look I'd look at it and I'd think about it and I'd go to meetings and I'd
ask people you know how they would approach this and eventually that's how we got the answer it was at one of those
scientific meetings where Greg hampikian met met Dr Mark perlin maybe 1.5 plin had recently developed a new DNA
technology he calls true alil it's a computer program specifically designed to analyze DNA mixtures this software
allows pearlin to see profiles belonging to minor contributors to the DNA in a way that lab technicians just can't true
alil for example was used in 911 because there were so many human remains mingled
truel was being used by crime labs for prosecution well presumably for justice plin agreed to run the test in this case
for free a process that began back in October 2013 the last 25 years has been very
exhausting but we haven't give enough hope not we're not going to give hope nope
[Music] in early August 2014 Fran Watson got a call from Mark plin the results of the
trulle DNA tests were in and the News was big along with the original two DNA profiles tril was able to identify two
additional DNA profiles and neither of them matched Daryl Pinkins or Roosevelt Glenn how confident are you that the
true alal test results are accurate and show that these two men Roosevelt and Daryl were not there they did not rape
this woman incredibly confident the match statistics here were very strong and they were
exclusionary and remember the DNA profile from the hair with the root it didn't match any of the four four
profiles in the seen either that meant there were now five known rapists here are five separate genotypes five bad
guys none of them are dir and Pinkins and glass seven months later a hearing was set for Monday April 25th
2016 but on the Thursday before the hearing Professor Watson was informed there would be no hearing after two
decades of defending the convictions in this case the prosecutor's office conceeded and agreed to overturn Daryl
Pink's conviction the very next day Daryl was set to be released an innocent man with no
record are you serious girl's getting out tomorrow are you serious after working on this case
for 3 years we called Daryl's family and Roosevelt Glenn with lifechanging news all
we were also there the next day when Daryl still handcuffed finally heard the news he'd been waiting for for nearly 25
years 50 ft across from this building is your mom some of your kids sisters mhm nephews right and they
are so anxious to see you I feel like I'm about to explode but I'm so thankful we all waited that
entire day for Daryl to be released all on the edge but it never happened we don't have good news
apparently the paperwork had not been signed in time so a man now innocent in the eyes of the law would remain locked
up for the weekend this is not what you do to people who have put up with 25 years of absolute Injustice and they
have a court order in their hands to say free this man the process has to start back up at 8:00 a.m. here which is 9:00
a.m. there Monday morning he'll be start business that Monday there were even more people there to see Daryl Pinkins
released and thanks to jail administrator Mark pervic 48 Hours got an extraordinary look at Daryl's
re-entry into his world mhm I'm good hey can I take your stuff because you're not going to have any
arms to hold anything had you seen him dressed in civilian clothes before no never yeah never and he had a different
stance yeah you already saw the different person got to see Daryl be a man again you know be a proud man and
leave uh feeling exonerated knowing that the world would know he didn't do it here we go
[Applause] your moment [Applause] Daryl oh my God for the first time in more than two
decades Daryl Pinkins now 64 years old was actually able to hold his mother and his children
but Daryl wasn't alone for him it was also about his partner in [Applause] innocence is this the first wrongfully
convicted case the true Le has been responsible for overturning the conviction yes precedent setting clearly
[Applause] and hopefully open up the eyes of other lawyers that in these mixture cases it's
now time to go back and try again feels like this day was it was meant to be I feel like this
is a new beginning you know it is shortly after these men were convicted Lake County prosecutor Bernard
Carter took office and has vehemently fought every appeal in this case one month after Daryl's release Carter
finally agreed to an interview has this office have you gone back and looked at the case all the way through to say did
we miss something here yeah we have done that and not really only thing we feel that we got conclusive evidence once
that last DNA um uh profile was we felt absolutely that something has to the way
up all the way up until that it was an arguable arguable case yes it was with one pretty significant exception well
when you look at that identification identification was in my opinion very flawed after personally taking the time
to review the entire case File Carter who shook Daryl's hand the day he was released says he is now very bothered by
the victim identification which kept Daryl behind bars for nearly a quarter Century if that hadn't happened that ID
would Daryl Pinkins have spent 24 and half years I don't think he would have I don't think he would have absolutely not
and if Daryl Pinkins who was tried before Glenn had not been convicted would Roosevelt Glenn had gone no it'll
fail too probably Detective Mike Solen strongly disagrees and remains convinced that
Daryl Pinkins is guilty the prosecutor said the words he didn't do it yeah right he didn't do it does that make him
right does it make you right to say that he did no but we got people on the other
side to say he's wrong not the mayor of Gary Indiana Karen Freeman Wilson who gave Roosevelt Glenn a job when he was
paroled is it a fair question to ask you if you think race played a role in this
case I certainly think it did in the investigation and the way that uh detective Solon viewed these men the
fact that there were black men charged with raping a white woman ask them to produce any evidence that shows that I
was racist on this I never used the word to them I never insulted them using that
word have I ever used it in my life earlier in life I have I haven't used that word in 20 years you know how much
you all mean to me you know and that and that we did this together we did this together that's the how that works thank
God for FR she's an angel sent from above to me she's a lifesaver she is this case overall could have been
prevented from day one and it's sad to say that those that are in charge in power need to get back to
ethics good [Music] ethics in early 2017 Roosevelt Glenn's conviction was finally
overturned and now I can shout I can scream I can dance if I want to and I want to
thank all y'all Glen's name has now been expunged from the federal sex offenders registry
congratulations on April 25th 2017 exactly one year after being freed from prison we checked in on Daryl who
is living on his own and still trying to adjust to life in the 21st century being
like eye opener and you know it's like coming into a new realm uh new world really and experiences from cell phone
technology to dealing with people after months of hunting for a job it was mayor
Karen Freeman Wilson who once again came to the rescue hiring darl as a maintenance worker for the city of Gary
makes me feel like a man and you know it's nice to take got somebody to dinner and you pay not her I'm old school
ironically Roosevelt and Daryl now work together again [Music]

True crime. Real justice. . "48 Hours" investigates the most intriguing crime and justice cases that touch on all areas of the human experience including greed and passion. "48 Hours," which premiered in 1988, has developed a rich history of original reporting and impact journalism that has helped exonerate wrongly convicted people, caused cold cases to be reopened and solved, and along the way changed lives.

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Brief Summary

Daryl Pinkins and Roosevelt Glenn were wrongfully convicted in a 1989 rape case, later exonerated by DNA evidence and legal advocacy.

Key points

The Bump Rapes Begin. A series of terrifying bump rapes and robberies in Lake County start, creating panic.
The Arrest of Innocent Men. Detective Solen pursues suspects leading to the wrongful conviction of innocent men.
DNA Evidence Excludes Suspects. DNA evidence later excludes the arrested men from the crime, raising questions about the trial.
Daryl Pinkins Released After 25 Years. Daryl Pinkins, wrongfully convicted, was finally released after nearly 25 years in prison.
Roosevelt Glenn's Conviction Overturned. After years of fighting, Roosevelt Glenn's conviction was finally overturned, allowing him to reclaim his life.

Episode highlights

Episode quotes

I couldn't believe that my name was being associated with such a crime.

Reflecting on wrongful conviction and its emotional toll.

1:44WatchMar 11, 2025

Tension

85/ 100High tension

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