Leonard Callace

The Crime

On Jan. 30, 1985, an 18-year-old nursing home aide was accosted at knifepoint in the parking lot of a shopping center in Selden, New York. Two men forced her into the back seat of a car. One man raped her while the other watched from the front seat.

The Investigation

The victim described the rapist as 5’10” or taller, with reddish-blond afro hair, a full beard, and a cross tattoo on his left hand.

The crime went unsolved until July 1986, when an informant told the police that 32-year-old Leonard Callace had been bragging in a tavern about committing the crime. After the victim identified Mr. Callace in a photographic lineup, he was arrested on July 31, 1986. Mr. Callace, a cab driver and construction worker, then was placed in a live lineup. The victim picked Mr. Callace as the rapist, although he was 5’8”, had straight blonde hair, a tightly trimmed goatee, and a tiny cross on his right hand.

Mr. Callace was charged with first-degree sexual abuse, first-degree sodomy, wrongful imprisonment, and criminal possession of a weapon.

The Trial

Prior to going to trial, Suffolk County prosecutors told Mr. Callace that if he pleaded guilty, he would spend no more than four months in custody. Mr. Callace refused and went to trial in Suffolk County Supreme Court in February 1987.

The prosecution presented a police sketch that resembled Mr. Callace, and the victim identified him in court as the rapist. There was also evidence to suggest that the blood group of the semen collected from the victim’s clothing matched that of Mr. Callace.

Mr. Callace presented an alibi, but it was uncorroborated.

On Feb. 11, 1987, the jury took one hour to convict Mr. Callace on all charges. On March 24, 1987, he was sentenced to 25 to 50 years in prison.

On Oct. 31, 1988, the Second Appellate Division upheld his convictions and sentence. The appeals court rejected Mr. Callace’s argument that the photographic lineup was suggestive. “Despite the fact that the defendant was the only bearded man represented, his beard was a small goatee and the other photographs depicted men of very similar appearance and hairstyle, who, with one exception, all wore moustaches,” the appeals court said.

The Exoneration

While in prison, Mr. Callace learned of the exoneration of Charles Dabbs in 1991. Mr. Dabbs had been convicted of a 1982 rape in Westchester County, New York, and was exonerated by DNA testing. Mr. Callace then asked his attorney about the original trial evidence. The attorney remembered that the victim had picked up her jeans from the cleaners just prior to the attack and that she had spit out semen onto the jeans after the assault. 

The jeans were secured from the prosecution for DNA testing. On June 27, 1991, a judge granted Mr. Callace’s motion to consider DNA test results as new evidence. The judge also ruled that if the samples did not match, he would hold a hearing to consider post-conviction relief for Mr. Callace.

In September 1992, DNA analysis on the victim’s jeans revealed that the DNA in the semen stains did not come from Mr. Callace.

On Oct. 5, 1992, Mr. Callace was released from prison. The prosecution dismissed all of the charges. By that time, Mr. Callace had served almost six years of his sentence. 

Mr. Callace subsequently received $450,000 in compensation from the New York Court of Claims. 

Mr. Callace died in April 1996. He was 42 years old.