McKinley Cromedy

The Crime

On Aug. 28, 1992, a Black male entered a woman’s apartment, claiming he was wanted for murder and needed money to get to New York. He stole money and credit cards and raped her.

The Investigation

Immediately after the attacker left her apartment, the woman called the police and described her assailant and his clothing. She was taken to a hospital, where biological samples were taken. The following day, she was shown many slides and photographs, including one of McKinley Cromedy, but could not identify her assailant.

On April 7, 1993, almost eight months later, the woman saw a man on the street whom she believed was her attacker. Within 15 minutes, she viewed the man in a show-up and identified him as her attacker.

The Trial

Saliva and blood samples were taken from Mr. Cromedy for analysis. No forensic evidence linking him to the crime was presented during the trial. Fingerprints did not match him, hair samples recovered from the woman were not hers or Mr. Cromedy’s, and blood samples showed that Mr. Cromedy was a non-secretor. Nevertheless, the defense avoided DNA testing at trial because they felt the case was so strong that it wasn’t worth the risk of testing.

During the trial, the woman provided eyewitness testimony and a description of her attacker and his clothing. A detective who knew Mr. Cromedy corroborated her claim that her attacker had a strange walk.

In August 1994, Mr. Cromedy was found guilty of aggravated sexual assault, second-degree robbery, third-degree burglary, third-degree aggravated criminal sexual contact, and third-degree terroristic threats and sentenced to 60 years with 25 years of parole ineligibility.

The Exoneration

Mr. Cromedy’s appeal addressed cross-racial identification because the judge had refused to instruct the jury on the permissibility of treating cross-racial identifications as less trustworthy than same-race identifications. On these grounds, the New Jersey Supreme Court threw out Mr. Cromedy’s conviction.

After the high court granted a new trial, the prosecution agreed to DNA testing. The tests were conducted by the New Jersey State Police crime laboratory and the results excluded Mr. Cromedy as a possible contributor of the DNA profile found on a vaginal swab on Dec. 8, 1999. After over five years in prison, Mr. Cromedy was released on Dec. 20, 1999.

In 2002, Mr. Cromedy was awarded compensation under New Jersey’s statute.