IOWA PROSECUTORIAL MISCONDUCT

The Center’s study of criminal appeals from 1970 to the present revealed 110 Iowa cases in which the defendant alleged prosecutorial error or misconduct. In ten, judges ruled a prosecutor’s conduct prejudiced the defendant and reversed or remanded the conviction, sentence or indictment. In five, a dissenting judge or judges thought the prosecutor’s conduct prejudiced the defendant. Out of all the defendants who alleged error or misconduct, one later proved his innocence.

Out of the ten cases in which judges ruled the prosecutor prejudiced the defendant, six involved improper trial arguments and tactics, three involved the prosecution withholding exculpatory evidence from the defense and one involved denial of a speedy trial.

“I just want you to know that no matter what happens, I know I’m innocent, and as long as, you know, I feel that inside, then I’m going to keep on fighting because I know I can’t see myself locked up for the rest of my life for something I didn’t do,” 17-year-old Terry Harrington told a judge and jury in 1978. More than twenty years later, his words would prove prophetic.

Late one July night in 1977, someone shot and killed John Schweer, a car dealership security guard in Council Bluffs. Police found a 12-gauge shotgun shell in the vicinity of the crime and footprints and dog prints near Schweer’s body.

Around this time, a juvenile named Kevin Hughes was in custody on car theft charges. Thinking he might know about the murder, investigators contacted him and offered a $5,000 reward for information.

At trial, Hughes said he, Harrington and another juvenile, Curtis McGhee, went to the dealership intending to steal a car. Hughes said he waited in the car while Harrington, armed with a shotgun, and McGhee walked around the building to find a car to steal. Shortly thereafter, Hughes testified he heard a gun shot and Harrington and McGhee came running back. Hughes testified that Harrington told him he shot a cop.

On defense counsel’s cross examination, the jury learned that Hughes had previously implicated other people in the crime but continued to change his story when investigators discovered that each had solid alibis. The jury also learned that Hughes had changed his story about what type of gun Harrington used. First he said it was a pistol, then a 20-gauge shotgun and finally a 12-gauge shotgun. During his cross-examination, Hughes admitted that he had visited the murder scene with police and prosecutors and told them what he thought they wanted to hear. He said he was tired of being in jail, and his car theft charges were dropped after he agreed to testify against Harrington and McGhee.

Three other witnesses testified at trial that they saw Harrington, Hughes and McGhee together on the night of the murder. All three would later recant their testimony. One of the witnesses was Hughes’ girlfriend, who later said she lied because Hughes asked her to.

The jury convicted Harrington of first-degree murder and sentenced him to life without parole. He unsuccessfully appealed his conviction until 1994, when his family met Ann Danaher, a prison barber, in the penitentiary parking lot. She offered to help them gather information to prove his innocence. Harrington eventually obtained police reports prosecutors and police did not disclose to the defense.

Many of the reports dealt with an early investigation into another suspect in the murder, Charles Gates.

The reports showed that Schweer had requested additional lighting in the car lot days before his murder because he saw a man trying to break into a car. John Burke, who worked near the car dealership, had also told police he saw a man holding a gun running with a dog in the area a few days before the murder.

Another report revealed that a police officer talked with Schweer two days before his murder because he was concerned about a man near the dealership carrying what he said appeared to be a rifle. Schweer told the officer the man had a dog. Reports also revealed that police talked to another individual who worked near the dealership who had seen Gates walking a dog in the area on various occasions. One of the reports showed that Gates took and failed a polygraph test about owning a gun and shooting Schweer.

In February 2003, the state Supreme Court ruled that the failure of prosecutor Joseph Hrvol and the police department to disclose exculpatory evidence denied Harrington a fair trial and reversed his conviction.

“Hughes, the primary witness against Harrington, was by all accounts a liar and a perjurer,” wrote Justice Marsha Ternus in the opinion that reversed Harrington’s conviction.
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