Thread by @MarshallProj

THREAD: George Gage, a former electrician with no prior criminal record, is sitting in San Quentin State Prison in California serving a 70-year sentence for sex abuse crimes, even though his trial judge concluded the evidence against him was unreliable. 1/ themarshallproject.org/2016/08/29/the…

He has no apparent chance of release, even though prosecutors in his case—including one who is now a California judge—have hidden and misrepresented the import of evidence that might help exonerate him. 2/ themarshallproject.org/2016/08/29/the…

We're revisiting this edition of Case in Point in light of a new @nytopinion piece in which @larabazelon cites Gage's case. 3/ nytimes.com/2019/01/17/opi…

In 1990 in Texas, Gage married a woman named Wanda who had two children, including one named Marian who was nine years old at the time. Gage and Wanda split in 1995, a couple years after they had moved to California. 4/ themarshallproject.org/2016/08/29/the…

Three years later, in 1998, Marian told Wanda that Gage had sexually abused her while they had lived together. Marian changed her story several times and was also hospitalized for mental illness around that time. 5/ themarshallproject.org/2016/08/29/the…

Gage was charged with rape, sexual abuse, and lewd acts. There was no physical evidence linking Gage to any crimes and there were no witnesses.

He turned down a six-year plea deal, saying “I am not a sexual offender.” 6/ themarshallproject.org/2016/08/29/the…

The question of the relevance and admissibility of Marian’s medical records was a big part of the pretrial discussions between the judge and the lawyers.

Prosecutors sought to ensure that those medical records were not introduced into the trial. 7/ themarshallproject.org/2016/08/29/the…

Gage’s first jury couldn’t reach a verdict.

He was tried again. This time prosecutors offered him a three-year deal.

Again he turned them down, not wanting to plead guilty to a crime he insisted he did not commit. 8/ themarshallproject.org/2016/08/29/the…

Based on Marian and Wanda’s testimony, Gage was convicted in his second trial.

It was left to the trial judge to determine Gage’s sentence. Judge Carol Koppel read Marian’s medical records—which had not been introduced at either trial. 9/ themarshallproject.org/2016/08/29/the…

Prosecutors initially refused to give the records over.

But when Koppel finally read the records, she vacated Gage’s convictions and granted him a new trial, concluding Marian and Wanda were not credible witnesses. 10/ themarshallproject.org/2016/08/29/the…

Kopel's written order is brief but scathing in its criticism of the testimony of the mother and the daughter.

The judge noted that that Wanda had told a therapist that Marian, her daughter, was “a pathological liar [who] lives her lies.” 11/ themarshallproject.org/2016/08/29/the…

All of it was known to the prosecutor, when he told the court before Gage’s first trial, that there were no “inconsistencies.”

The trial judge found that the records were riddled with inconsistencies undermining the prosecution’s theory of the case. 12/ themarshallproject.org/2016/08/29/the…

Things got worse.

The prosecutor appealed the judge’s ruling and won. Gage’s conviction was reinstated and prosecutors asked that the Koppel be removed from the case because her "independent investigation" amounted to evidence of judicial "animus." 13/ themarshallproject.org/2016/08/29/the…

In other words, the judge who relied on what was arguably the single most important document in the case to protect Gage’s right to a fair trial could not continue to preside over it because she, the judge, was acting unfairly. 14/ themarshallproject.org/2016/08/29/the…

The appeals court removed Koppel even though the panel never claimed that the information she cited was inaccurate.

The court re-assigned the case to another judge and then to a third judge who gave Gage a 70-year sentence. 15/ themarshallproject.org/2016/08/29/the…

Years later, George Gage is still incarcerated at San Quentin State Prison.

Read more about the details in his case in this edition of Case in Point by TMP’s @JustADCohen. 16/16 themarshallproject.org/2016/08/29/the…