Anthony Capozzi was found guilty and sentenced to 20 years in prison. However, there was no physical evidence linking him to the rapes committed in Buffalo, New York, in the 1980s. The crime involved multiple women and occurred along a bike path in Delaware Park. The attacker approached each of them and threatened them at gunpoint before raping them. After the attack, the women were asked to stay on the ground for another ten minutes before running away (Anthony Capozzi 1). Anthony Capozzi was convicted and sentenced for the bike path rapes, although attacks in the area continued. Careless mistakes can have huge consequences that affect the entire community. Three of the rape victims told investigators that the attacker weighed about 150 pounds (Anthony Capozzi 1). Say no to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on “Why Violent Video Games Should Not Be Banned”? Get an original essay This is a perfect example of the police ignoring information for their own personal goals because Capozzi weighed 220 pounds and had a scar above his left eye. Not all descriptions of the attacker given by the victim matched Anthony Capozzi; however, the police did not provide this information to the court. Police focused on Capozzi because an officer noticed his strange behavior at a coffee shop near Delaware Park. Capozzi suffered from schizophrenia and was known to behave strangely in public (Anthony Capozzi 1). Anthony appeared before a parole board every two years during his incarceration to consider release, but he was denied parole five times because he had not confessed to the crime. He didn't believe he should have to admit his guilt and show remorse. , and completing a mandatory sex offender program for crimes he did not commit. After nearly 25 years of incarceration, a detective reviewing the files discovered that one of the victims had reported seeing her rapist walking away from a shopping area parking lot a few days after being attacked. During this period, she was able to copy the license plate and report it to the police. Investigators found the owner of the car, but he had an alibi which was verified and his allegations were suppressed. It was not until 2006 that he was found again by investigators and re-interviewed (Anthony Capozzi 1). After all this time, he finally admitted that the car was not in his possession: he had given it to his nephew, Altemio Sánchez, to borrow. Sanchez was eventually tried and convicted of the bike path rapes. Capozzi's conviction was dropped and all charges against him were dropped. His lawyer, Thomas D'Agostino, reinstated the search for DNA collected during the preliminary investigation in April 2007 (Anthony Capozzi 1). For 20 years, the victims' rape kits sat in a drawer at the Erie County Medical Center. Keep in mind: this is just a sample. Get a personalized paper now from our expert writers. Get a Custom Trial They were thought to be damaged and not used at trial. Mistakes like this continue to happen today due to lack of federal, state and local funding, creating a testing backlog. Due to Capozzi's wrongful conviction, Congressman Sam Hoyt and Senator Dale M. Volker passed "Anthony's Law" which prioritizes DNA testing requests for convicted individuals, giving them a better chance of being convicted. exonerated (Anthony Capozzi 1).