August 11th, 2009

Bruce Lisker had his murder conviction overturned on Friday after spending 24 years in prison for a crime he did not commit. He is currently free on bail while the prosecution decides whether they wish to appeal. Lisker was 17 years old when his mother was murdered. Lisker saw his mother on the floor, broke into his parents’ home to help her, and called paramedics. At the time, he was living elsewhere and was battling a drug addiction. He was arrested the same afternoon. Lisker was convicted primarily on four pieces of evidence, including blood spatter on his clothes, a bloody foot print in his parents’ home, and a confession to a jailhouse informant. Evidentiary rulings later cast considerable doubt on the evidence that had been used against Lisker at trial, and the original prosecutor admitted that he now had “reasonable doubt”. At the time of the murder, the police failed to follow a lead on another suspect, who had been to Lisker’s mother’s home the day before and who had lied about his whereabouts at the time of the crime. That suspect later committed suicide.

Congratulation to Bruce Lisker and the California Innocence Project!

The Los Angeles Times: Judge overturns Bruce Lisker’s conviction in 1983 killing of his mother