After nearly 10 years behind bars, Lemanuel Robinson has a second chance to prove he is an innocent man.
Mr. Robinson has been serving a life sentence as he waited for his appeal.
According to a 2007 investigation by The Augusta Chronicle , he was one of more than 300 poor people convicted at jury trials in Richmond County who were unable to get appeals because they had no attorneys or their appellate attorneys did little to further the appeal process.
Since then the Superior Court judges have eliminated the backlog of cases by appointing attorneys and conducting the first hearings needed before appellate courts can consider appeals.
Mr. Robinson was 18 when a Richmond County Superior Court jury convicted him in March 2000 of three counts of armed robbery, two counts of kidnapping, two weapons violations and one count of burglary.
Last month, the Court of Appeals of Georgia reversed his conviction. He is in Hayes State Prison in Trion, Ga., awaiting a retrial.
Although the court's ruling concerned a technical issue, improper jury instruction about eyewitness identification -- the only evidence against Mr. Robinson was eyewitness accounts -- it was a crucial, unconstitutional error that could not be overlooked, the court ruled.
The majority of wrongful convictions in the country are cases in which eyewitnesses identify the wrong people, legal experts say.
Mr. Robinson's legal odyssey began Oct. 14, 1999, when Wayne Fraizer stepped outside his home to retrieve a cell phone from his truck. Two armed men forced him back inside and robbed him, his wife and son. One of the robbers took the victims' phone, which sheriff's officers would find in a neighbor's yard.
Six days later, on Oct. 20, 1999, Norman Brown, 77, arrived home and was about to enter his house when he was accosted by two armed men. They took his wallet containing $286. About 15 minutes later, an officer stopped Mr. Robinson and 17-year-old Mario Hayes. They didn't have any weapons or Mr. Brown's wallet, but they had $286 in cash.
Mr. Fraizer and his wife saw Mr. Robinson's and Mr. Hayes' photographs in news reports about the men's arrests for Mr. Brown's robbery. They both identified Mr. Robinson as one of the men who robbed them.
Mr. Robinson -- who had previous convictions for burglary and robbery -- was set for trial first.
Assistant District Attorney Johnny Markwalter said last week that he told Mr. Robinson's defense attorney he would have agreed to postpone the March 2000 trial.
Fingerprint testing of a print found on the Fraizers' stolen phone hadn't been completed.
The defendant's attorney, Luther McDaniel, who was later disbarred, turned down the offer. The trial jury heard the case and convicted Mr. Robinson of all charges.
When those fingerprint tests came back, Mr. Markwater would testify seven years later in another case, the fingerprint on the stolen phone turned out to belong to another man -- Moses Martinez.
MR. MARTINEZ was also involved in local home invasions in 1999. In the fall of that year, he and Grady L. Attaway went on a crime spree.
In one robbery, they accosted a woman as she arrived home and forced her inside at gunpoint. They threatened to kill her and her daughter.
They were eventually caught and in November 2000.
A Richmond County Superior Court jury convicted Mr. Martinez and Mr. Attaway of two counts armed robbery, two counts kidnapping, and a single count each of hijacking a motor vehicle, making terroristic threats, credit card theft and a firearms violation. Each received a 55-year prison sentence.
Mr. Martinez refused to discuss the Fraizers' robbery until he knew he could no longer be charged in the case.
After the statute of limitation expired, Mr. Martinez testified in July 2007 that Mr. Robinson wasn't involved in the Fraizer robbery.
Mr. Martinez testified his fingerprint must have gotten on the stolen phone when he threw it out the car window as he and his accomplice fled the scene.
An Appeals Court opinion states that the trial judge gave Mr. Robinson's jury an instruction that the Georgia Supreme Court found unconstitutional in 2005 -- five years after his conviction.
The instruction concerned eyewitness identification.
It advised the jury that an eyewitness' certainty of his identification is an indication of reliability.
According to the Supreme Court's ruling in 2005, even eyewitnesses who strongly believe they are right can be wrong.
The only evidence against Mr. Robinson, the appeals court opinion states, is the Fraziers' identification.
Mr. Brown, the other victim, was unable to identify Mr. Robinson or Mr. Hayes. He died before Mr. Robinson was tried and convicted.
EYEWITNESS ERROR is the leading cause of wrongful convictions throughout the country, said Sara Totonchi, the public policy director of the Southern Center for Human Rights.
"Despite good intentions of witnesses who want to help solve a crime, eyewitness evidence, like trace evidence from a crime scene, is susceptible to contamination if not handled properly from the very beginning," Ms. Totonchi said.
"It is important to remember that if and when we convict the wrong people due to eyewitness misidentification, the actual perpetrators remain free to commit more crimes."
The crimes Mr. Robinson was convicted of committing occurred in October 1999.
The crimes Mr. Martinez and Mr. Attaway committed occurred the next month.
Over the past two years, the General Assembly has considered legislation to set standards for how police officers conduct lineups for eyewitnesses.
In response, the Georgia Peace Officer Standards and Training Council developed a new eight-hour course on how to conduct eyewitness identification.
The best identification occurs under controlled conditions, such as a police lineup, according to James Lampinen, who runs the psychology and law lab at the University of Arkansas.
"Victims of violent crime can and do make accurate identification," Dr. Lampinen wrote in an e-mail response to questions.
The accuracy of eyewitness identification is affected by variables such as the length of time the witness had to observe the suspect and the physical surroundings, Dr. Lampinen wrote.
Experiments have shown that high levels of stress impair eyewitness identification.
But that doesn't mean the level of stress a violent crime victim can experience always renders his identification unreliable, he wrote.
Mr. Markwalter, who prosecuted Mr. Robinson, said last week that a decision on retrying Mr. Robinson hasn't been made. He would not discuss the details of the case because it is now a pending matter.
Mr. Robinson's appellate attorney, William Fleming, did not return a phone call seeking comment. Attempts to arrange an interview with Mr. Robinson have not been successful.
His alleged accomplice, Mr. Hayes, pleaded guilty to the reduced charge of theft by receiving. He was sentenced to six years probation under the First Offender Act. He is now in prison for subsequent drug and theft related convictions.
Reach Sandy Hodson at (706) 823-3226 or sandy.hodson@augustachronicle.com.
The Augusta Chronicle ©2010 Morris Communications, LLC. All Rights Reserved.
Back 
A complete and utter atrocity and demostrates why the so-called "greatness" of the country is a subjective observation. This case demonstrate how for profit agencies that operate prisons benefit on the backs of people like Robinson. A disgrace and then, after proven innocent, the state will repay him nothing for those lost years. Nothing can be believed coming from our judical system and this case proves the many flaws of it.
Those that choose the life of crime as their path to follow often put themselves in a position to be convicted of crimes they may not have committed. When you prepare yourself to receive, you almost always do. It's up to the individual as to what they are prepared to receive.
knew it was you before I looked!
PT, again your broad strkes cover many that should be left out. A hungry man steals to feed his family and he is forever a thief and no longer a father trying to provide for his family. What if a crime is committed and the guilty person is truly reformed (happens all the time, I work with offenders) are they forever guilty just because someone thinks they should be? ---- Now I know not every person ever convicted will be reformed, but I do know that a second trial in this case is warrented as the justice system did not work. ---- I also put this up for consideration how about all the men that have had thier convictions overturned in the past few years because DNA evidence has proved them innocent? At what point do we stop, at what point do we truly have a blind justice system?
momofthree, I didn't name a specific name. I made a broad comment about all subjects. If you quack, waddle and have feathers, people are going to treat you like a duck. If, on the other hand, you decide to act human, people will treat you human. I agree that people CAN reform and should be given a chance if they're willing to make the appropriate effort. (molesters are the exception). The retrial of this case seems to have merit. Eyewitnesses aren't the best evidence. As I stated before, Lemanuel, with a LONG record of theft and strong arm activities and general skankism, put himself into a position to be arrested and convicted of a crime that was within his m.o. and area of operation. If his conviction was unjustified, his lifestyle made him susceptible.
I'm second PT's 7:29.
I agree PT, if you play with fire, then you should expect to get burned.
Maybe the $286 just fell into his car from a tree, or a bird dropped it, or "the real criminals" through it into the window??? Or he could have made it at work. In the end, he will get a new trial, be re-convicted, and continue to enjoy his current view. I think Justus' hate blanket must be real warm and cozy.
I guess Justus' opinion of "greatness" would be to allow criminals to roam free; for people to be terrorized and burglarized. I don't know if you've ever been robbed or assaulted, but that wound doesn't heal. If this F stick is wrongfully accused, well that's his karma for the fear he had put others through. I don't feel sorry for him. Fortunately, and you may not believe it, but not all of us go through a period of committing crimes in our lives.
At least society has been protected from these friends of justus4. They are and have been in jail thank God for that. Attaway, Hayes, Martinez and Lemanuel Robinson are socially unfit for societal co-mingling. Their ilk have always and always will rob & steal to get their needs met. So what if he didn't participate in this particular crime, ... I'd love to have a dollar for every crime he committed where he didn't get caught. Keep'em in jail so people like justus4 can see that the #1Justice, (the one that counts) is in place and trumps his distorted racial view of what justice is supposed to be. Suck-it-up jus' you ain't like us.
He "looks" innocent, yeah right!!!
justus=idiot
Whoa! Moses Martinez looks familiar! He have any brothers? He reminds me of a fella named Martinez that went to Augusta Prep on scholarship.
Which reminds me this ran in our paper in 2003: "In an unrelated case, Mario Martinez, 14, said he was riding on Golden Camp Road on Saturday when a man ordered him to "give up the bike," a sheriff's report states. The boy refused, and the man choked him until he got off the bike.
Mario's father found the bike and the accused robber Monday at Henry H. Brigham Community Center basketball court. He notified police, and a deputy allowed him to take the bike. An arrest was pending." That's the Martinez family I'm talking about. Glad they were able to move out of that neighborhood; it was a nightmare. Smart move.
even if he is/was innocent of these crimes, i don't consider the 10 years he spent as a wrongful conviction, it just payback for the robberies and assualts he committed and got caught for, but more importantly i consider it time served for the robberies this sorry individual committed BUT DID NOT GET CAUGHT.