Case Study: Ludrate Burton

A jailhouse "snitch" fingered Burton for murder

A A A Comments By Bernice Yeung Wednesday, Oct 29 2003

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For two years, a changing cast of Golden Gate University law school students has logged up to 180 hours a semester on the Burton case. In May 2003, under the guidance of professor Susan Rutberg, third-year law student Ed Sidawi filed a motion asking that the Northern California Innocence Project be allowed to represent Burton during his requests for DNA testing. When it came time for the hearing, Sidawi -- now a teaching assistant in the Innocence Project class -- helped argue their case before a judge as Rutberg stood next to him at the podium. The motion was granted.

Though the box of hairbrushes has since been destroyed, Sidawi and others at the Innocence Project hope that blood samples, hairs, and a beer bottle -- thought destroyed, then later found -- taken from the scene of the crime will prove that Burton wasn't the killer. They are also asking to have the fingerprints lifted from the scene run through a criminal database, to see if another perpetrator can be identified.

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"I think this is a good case for us," says Sidawi. "I think it's really hard for 12 people [in a jury] to agree on the completely wrong outcome of a case. You always have to be skeptical [of claims of wrongful conviction]. But reading through the transcript, I still don't see how [Burton] was convicted."

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