“You’ve got the wrong John Smith,” “You’ve got the wrong Jane Doe—“ they’re clichéd alibis against a criminal accusation that we’ve all seen at the movies. However, sometimes this complaint is levied and real life—and sometimes, it’s the truth! In a humiliating series of events, Clay County sheriffs twice traveled all the way to Louisiana and arrested the wrong Ashley Chiasson this year, and it took a while for the justice system to rectify the error.
Ashley Nicolse Chiasson is a twenty-eight year-old law-abiding Louisiana single mother. However, her world was turned on its end when Florida police came to her home, arrested her, and brought her to a Florida jail in January. The crimes of which she was accused—grand theft and attempting to defraud a financial institution—were in fact committed by one Ashley Odessa Chiasson, age thirty-one.
It took Ashley O. Chiasson a full twenty-eight days to convince authorities that she was not the suspect they were seeking. From the mugshots of the two Ashley Chiassons, it is easy to see how they could have been mistaken—they both have the same skin, hair, and eye colors, and bear some other superficial similarities. Matters only got worse for the innocent Ashley N. Chiasson, though. Adding insult to injury, she was again arrested while appearing in a Florida court, where she had sought to clear herself of the charges. She spent a further week behind bars after the second arrest.
When Ashley O. Chiasson was later brought in for questioning, she promptly confessed to her alleged crimes. Matters may be far from finished for the Ashley N. Chiasson, however—she plans to sue the police department.
For his part, Clay County Sheriff Rick Beseler says he is sorry, but it might not be enough—in August, Clay County police arrested the wrong Cody Williams for sexual battery, sending an innocent teenager to jail for thirty-five days. “I extend to Ashley Nicole Chiasson my sincerely apology for this error,” Beseler said. “We will seek to make things right for her. In these cases it appears that short-cuts were taken by the detectives during the suspect identification process.”
Some criminal defenses, such as innocent defendants proving their identity has been mistaken, ought to be clear-cut (though they often aren’t). But most trials will require a tenacious criminal defense attorney in order for the defendant to have a chance at a fair verdict. For any criminal defense needs, contact Gilbert and Smallman to get in touch with an experienced Broward County or Miami-Dade County criminal defense attorney today.
