Leonard Mack, a man erroneously judged guilty of sexually violating a teen female, lived the subsequent 47 years with the label of a convicted criminal. In a bid for justice, Mack currently files a lawsuit against the Westchester County District of New York, the Greenburgh township, and a handful of individuals he claims were instrumental in his incorrect arrest and ensuing imprisonment. The Innocence Project cites Leonard Mack’s case as an unprecedented instance in the US judicial history where a wrong conviction was overturned after the longest time period, all due to the revelation of DNA evidence. His name was cleared in September, at the age of 72.
Being a father to two and a former Vietnam War veteran, Mack faced an unjust punishment for a rape he never perpetrated. He had spent close to an eight-year stretch in jail. The year was 1975, and an innocent 23-year-old Mack found himself handcuffed by the Greenburgh police amidst accusations of abducting two teenagers and inflicting sexual assault on one. The events that unfolded after his arrest led to his conviction on charges of rape in the first degree and possession of a weapon in the second.
In 1976, the verdict was delivered, sending Mack behind bars for a stretch that could extend up to 15 years. Seven and a half years later, he was finally granted his freedom. The turning point in Mack’s case occurred when the Innocence Project urged the Westchester County District Attorney’s Office to re-examine his case in 2022.
Upon revisiting the case, the office identified that the eyewitness accounts had been compromised and influenced by the problematic procedures followed by the police. Significantly, when the evidence procured from the rape incident in 1975 was tested, it revealed a glaring discrepancy. The DNA traces did not align in the slightest with Mack’s DNA.
Contrary to all allegations against Mack, the DNA found on the evidence pointed at another man, who ironically was proven guilty in a different rape case a couple of weeks post Mack’s arrest. Mack, who has since been ordained a deacon, now lives not far from Columbia, S.C. Taking a stand against the gross oversight leading to his erroneous conviction, he initiates lawsuits against several parties.
In his words, the wheels of justice had taken an awfully long amount of time to move in the right direction, but he believed that this legal action could bridge the gap between him and the justice he deserved. Mack unveils his lawsuit against not just Westchester County and the town of Greenburgh, but a county investigator and a Greenburgh police lieutenant are also in his line of suits.
In addition to these, the estates of three erstwhile officers from the Greenburgh Police Department as well as two county employees, despite their demises, are enlisted in his list of defendants. Advocates from NSBHF, supporting Mack in his pursuit of justice, bring to light the painful existence of a wrongful conviction dangling upon a person’s life for almost fifty years.
They advocated for Mack, stating that corrective actions may not be able to erase such profound damage, yet they remain hopeful that that day marked a significant step towards seeking justice and ensuring accountability for Leonard Mack. Expressing deep-seated consternation at the racist motivations and fraudulent forensic practices that framed Mr. Mack, legal partners from NSBHF unanimously called out the police and the county’s crime lab analyst who deliberately obscured the truth.
In their united voice, they demanded that those who wronged Mack as well as the associations they represented should be accountable for their actions. Further developments in the case were noted in a statement released by Greenburgh Town Supervisor Paul Feiner. He stated that the lawsuit was undergoing a review in conjunction with their legal team and that they are in the process of gathering more information.