Print all of theseA brutal crime (and a convenient suspect?)
A little girl is taken from her home one early morning in Hurricane, West Virginia. She's brutally raped and then later tells her parents that it was her "daddy" that did it to her.'She says it was me'
The State of West Virginia built a case against Mr. Jones' with only the words of the victim--words that never materialized at trial.Prosecutor: We have 'nothing'
The prosecutor admitted to the jury that the only evidence he had was the victim's initial accusation, but when put on the stand, she wouldn't implicate her father.Witnesses fill holes in victim's testimony
Witnesses in court are generally limited to testifying about events that they personally observed and aren't often allowed to speculate or add their own interpretations of the evidence. But one witness in Mr. Lavigne's trial, realizing that she was...Risk outweighs reasonable doubt
Despite the inconsistencies in the victim's story and her failure to implicate her father on the stand, the jury still convicted Mr. Lavigne.It’s not unusal, according to Carol Tavris, for juries to convict suspected child abusers on razor-thin evidence. A...Police ignore nearby sex offender
A convicted child abuser lived just down the road from the Lavigne's when their daughter was raped--but police never interviewed him during the investigation.Basic police work goes undone
Mr. Lavigne and his new public defender point out some of the things police failed to do--like fingerprint the doors on the Lavigne's home or seal the crime scene.Did the Hurricane police shut out the FBI?
Several government agencies connected to the investigation of Joe Lavigne have refused repeated requests to view public documents about the case in their possession.Could DNA evidence exist?
New tests might lead to the discovery of DNA evidence that could either confirm Mr. Lavigne's guilt, or his innocence.'We believe in Joe's innocence'
Though DNA tests might uncover new evidence, there's no guarantees. Still, Mr. Lavigne's public defender is hopeful. "We believe in Joe's innocence," he said.ADVERTISEMENT
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