Richard L. Samuels (August 13, 1926 – April 14, 2001, in
Flossmoor
Flossmoor () is a village in Cook County, Illinois, United States. The population was 9,704 at the 2020 census. Flossmoor is approximately south of the Chicago Loop. It is closely tied to neighboring Homewood, sharing a high school and park dis ...
) was a
Cook County
Cook County is the most populous county in the U.S. state of Illinois and the second-most-populous county in the United States, after Los Angeles County, California. More than 40 percent of all residents of Illinois live within Cook County. ...
Circuit judge at the
Sixth Municipal District Courthouse in
Markham Markham may refer to:
Biology
* Markham's storm-petrel (''Oceanodroma markhami''), a seabird species found in Chile and Colombia
* Markham's grass mouse (''Abrothrix olivaceus markhami''), a rodent subspecies found on Wellington Island and the ne ...
,
Illinois
Illinois ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Midwestern United States, Midwestern United States. It borders on Lake Michigan to its northeast, the Mississippi River to its west, and the Wabash River, Wabash and Ohio River, Ohio rivers to its ...
, for nearly 30 years. His most (in)famous Case was the high profiled rape case against
Gary Dotson
Gary E. DotsonLitke, JamesGary Dotson trying to adjust to life outside prison May 9, 1986 Associated Press report. ''The Ledger of Lakeland'', Florida. Accessed October 23, 2009. (born March 8, 1957) is an American man who was the first person t ...
during the 1970s and 1980s. Dotson is the first American man who was
to be exonerated of a criminal conviction by
DNA evidence
Deoxyribonucleic acid (; DNA) is a polymer composed of two polynucleotide chains that coil around each other to form a double helix. The polymer carries genetic instructions for the development, functioning, growth and reproduction of al ...
.
Samuels ordered Dotson back to prison, after the putative victim,
Cathleen Mae Webb, of the alleged 1977 rape, recanted. Later Samuels upheld Dotson's conviction, because he thought her original testimony was more credible than her recantation.
''Richard L. Samuels'' retired in December 2000. Due to cancer, he died 4 months later, at the Age of 74, on April 14, 2001,
in the
Advocate South Suburban Hospital in
Hazel Crest. He is buried at the
Ridgewood Cemetery in
Des Plaines
Des Plaines () is a city in Cook County, Illinois, United States. Per the 2020 census, the population was 60,675. The city is a suburb of Chicago and is located just north of O'Hare International Airport. It is situated on and is named after t ...
.
References
External links
Cathleen Crowell Webb, Gary Dotson and the Rape That Never Wasat ''
Crime Library
Crime Library is a website documenting major crimes, criminals, trials, forensics, and criminal profiling from books. It was founded in 1998 and was most recently owned by truTV, a cable TV network that is part of Time Warner's Turner Broadcast ...
''
{{DEFAULTSORT:Samuels, Richard L.
2001 deaths
Illinois state court judges
Overturned convictions in the United States
1926 births
20th-century Illinois state court judges