Please join us in celebrating Dennis’ 20 years of freedom
by leaving a comment for Dennis below this blog post!
It’s been 20 years since Dennis Maher walked out of prison a free man after spending almost as many years behind prison walls for a crime he did not commit (19 years, two months, and 29 days to be exact).
In November of 1983, Dennis, then a sergeant in the US Army, was charged with, and ultimately convicted of, the assaults of three women based primarily on eyewitness (mis)identifications. Between the sentences for the criminal convictions and a subsequent civil proceeding, Dennis was subject to life in prison, death by incarceration.
“I couldn't believe that I was going to prison for something I didn't do," says Dennis. "It felt like everything was lost in an instant."
In 2001, Dennis contacted the New England Innocence Project and asked if we could review his case.
“I sent NEIP all of my court papers from my trials, my appeals, anything I’d ever done. And one day, Aliza Kaplan, a NEIP lawyer at the time, and Karin Burns, a legal intern, showed up at the prison. The officer told me that I have an attorney visit and I said ‘I don’t have an attorney’ and he said ‘Well, you do now.’
As you can imagine, I was pretty much in shock because I had thought my life was over and I was going to die in prison as an innocent man.”
In December 2002, thanks to the persistence of Dennis and his legal team, Aliza and Karin, DNA test results of the evidence excluded Dennis from being involved in any of the three attacks. Dennis was exonerated on April 3, 2003 after spending more than 19 years in prison. He was one of the first people to ever be exonerated in Massachusetts.
“When I first got out of prison, there was no support system, no Exoneree Network like there is now,” adds Dennis. “I had to adjust to cell phones and the internet. None of that was around when I went in. I was a diesel mechanic in the military, so I had to figure out how the computers talk to the trucks in order to get a job. It was a lot to learn.
I was one of the first clients of the New England Innocence Project and one of the first DNA exonerations. Over the years, I’ve testified at State Houses to help pass laws to prevent wrongful convictions and provide compensation for exonerees, and I’ve spoken at high schools and universities all around New England. I even served on NEIP’s Board of Trustees for several years. It makes me feel good that I was able to give back and to help someone else find freedom who may not have had any other chance of getting help.
In freedom, I met my wife Melissa and we got married, and now we have two kids, Josh and Aliza Karin (see the poem she wrote for her dad below). It’s what I’ve always hoped for. Of course, Aliza is named after the two women who got me out of prison, Aliza Kaplan and Karin Burns. Now, Josh is graduating from high school this year and Aliza will be graduating next year. The world has changed and I've had to adapt to it. But, life is good.
Me and Aliza still call each other on April 3rd, every year. I've been out 20 years now and we're still in touch. It's a friendship that will never be broken. Freedom means more to me than life itself and I’m very grateful to everyone who helped get me here.”
– Dennis Maher, exonerated April 3, 2003
Photo caption: Aliza Karin Maher (age 17), Dennis’s daughter,
wrote this poem about her dad in March 2023.