THE TILLMAN CASE

After 18 years behind bars, James Calvin Tillman awaits a final decision Tuesday on whether the state of Connecticut will erase his rape conviction. Recent DNA tests proved that evidence on the victim's clothing from the 1988 crime did not match Tillman's genetic profile, contradicting sizable circumstantial evidence on which he was convicted in 1989. Final procedural tests in Tillman's case are now finished and Tillman, who was released on his own recognizance on June 6, is expected by all sides of the case to be exonerated.

After that, however, Tillman, 44, and state officials will face another question: how to compensate someone wrongly labeled a rapist and imprisoned for much of his adult life. It's a dilemma unfolding nationwide as states consider ways to help exonerated defendants. They do not fit neatly into the category of "crime victims," a group defined and compensated in Connecticut state law. And experts say winning a court case could be difficult without proving misconduct by police or prosecutors, bad representation by defense attorneys, sloppy science or intentional misrepresentation of the facts. Connecticut officials are watching the Tillman case, hoping to learn how similar errors can be prevented and how to help people like Tillman whose lives are irrevocably changed.

The policies vary greatly nationwide. Some states have laws that provide set dollar amounts for every day or year of incarceration. Others also add free college tuition, counseling and other services. But Connecticut has no set procedures. The General Assembly can grant people permission to sue for wrongful conviction or, as some states have done, pass a special act to pay an exonerated person directly. "I think every fair-minded person in the state would acknowledge that the state has some responsibility for compensation in this case," said state Rep. Michael Lawlor, co-chairman of the legislature's Judiciary Committee and a member of a state commission that reviews wrongful convictions.

On advice from his lawyers, Tillman has refrained from discussing his case while it is pending, including whether he plans to seek compensation for his 18 years behind bars. But in his arrest and trial, court records show, almost anything that could have worked against him apparently did so. He lived near the crime scene in Hartford and the perpetrator, who fit Tillman's general description, ran in the direction of Tillman's neighborhood after kidnapping, beating and raping the victim. When questioned by police, Tillman -- then 26 and working at a car wash -- gave an alibi that later fell apart as his friends changed their stories. After a few days, when the victim's swollen eyes had healed enough that she could finally see again, she picked out Tillman's picture among police mug shots, according to court testimony. On the stand, the victim again identified Tillman as her attacker.

No information has been released about the victim, including whether she still lives in the area and her reaction to the new information about Tillman's case. Prosecutors showed evidence during the trial that Tillman's DNA and that of the perpetrator shared a particular characteristic: both were "non-secretors," or people whose blood type does not show up in other bodily fluids. But forensic experts now know that one of every five people is a non-secretor, hardly the small percentage of the population once believed to share that trait.

The DNA sample taken from the victim's clothing and recently retested in that case did not match Tillman's, nor any of the thousands of other DNA profiles currently in Connecticut's database or the millions in the federal database. Tillman maintained his innocence throughout his trial, his appeals and 18 years in prison.

His younger brother died of a heart condition while Tillman was incarcerated and Tillman, bolstered by weekly visits from his mother, became a religious man who led inmate prayer groups and Bible discussions.

A judge has already granted Tillman the right to a new trial. Given the new evidence in the criminal case, Hartford State's Attorney James E. Thomas has said his office will likely drop the charges. Brian Carlow, Tillman's attorney through the Connecticut Innocence Project, said Tillman has spent the past month of freedom attending church with his mother, exercising and relearning the routines of independent decision-making. "He's taking small steps and from everything I've heard and read, that's the best approach to take right now," Carlow said.

Tillman does not qualify under state law for services intended to help crime victims. The laws provide up to $25,000 to the family of a homicide victim and, depending on the case, up to $15,000 for victims of certain other crimes. Some state officials, including State Victim Advocate James Papillo, believe other measures should be taken to compensate Tillman. "He certainly is a victim, a victim of a system that didn't get it right in his case," Papillo said. "The harm he has suffered is real and he ought to be compensated. He suffered this injury through no fault of his own."

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