(Newswire.net — October 11, 2014) — Susan Mellen was found guilty in 1998 of killing her ex-boyfriend the year before, and was imprisoned for life on the basis of testimony by a woman known to be a habitual liar, the Los Angeles Times reported on Friday. After an investigation by local attorney Deirdre O’Connor, who runs a local innocence project based in Torrance, California, the case against Mellen was thrown out at the request of Los Angeles Superior Court Judge Mark Arnold, because of a major credibility issues with the trial’s prosecution witness. “I believe that not only is Ms. Mellen not guilty, I believe, based on what I’ve read, she’s innocent, and for that reason, I believe the criminal justice system has failed.” Judge Arnold said to the Los Angeles Times.
The paper reported that the decision was greeted in the courtroom by cheers from some three dozen supporters of Mellen. Asking that the case be thrown out, Los Angeles prosecutors said in a letter to the court that the case was largely based on testimony of a woman named June Patti, who swore that Mellen had made incriminating statements to her about the murder.
The Los Angeles County District Attorney’s Office declined to comment on the case, other than providing the letter. “Patti’s testimony is doubtful,” a special unit of the district attorney’s office prosecutors said in the letter. Prosecutors revealed that, Patti had been labeled an “unreliable informant” by the Torrance, California, police department after giving them a series of false tips five years before the trial, the Los Angeles Times reported.
“The idea that she [Patti] was a credible witness was laughable.” director of the Skagit County Public Defender’s office said, Mellen’s attorney had failed to properly investigate Patti’s credibility at the 1998 trial, the Los Angeles Times reported. Patti, who died in 2006, was also was involved in some 2,000 calls or cases in Washington state.