Arnold v. Dittmann, No. 16-3392 (7th Cir. 2018)
Annotate this CaseArnold was convicted of repeated sexual assault his son, M.A., who testified that in 2004-2005, when M.A. was 13-14 years old, Arnold engaged in mutual masturbation with him. Arnold had five prior convictions, including for two counts of second-degree sexual assault of a child. M.A. (17 at the time of trial) had six prior convictions and/or juvenile adjudications of delinquency. Arnold was sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole. After the Wisconsin Court of Appeals affirmed Arnold’s conviction, M.A. signed a notarized, witnessed affidavit, recanting his testimony. At the time that M.A. reported the assaults, M.A. was under the supervision of a juvenile court and participating in a treatment program, based on adjudications that M.A. himself had sexually assaulted children. M.A. represented that he had falsely accused his father to ensure his successful discharge from the program. Arnold sought a new trial. A federal district court dismissed, as untimely, his habeas corpus petition, filed beyond the one‐year deadline, 28 U.S.C. 2244(d)(1); Arnold alleged that his actual innocence supported an equitable exception. The Seventh Circuit granted relief, rejecting an argument that M.A.’s recantation could not meet the standard for relief on a freestanding claim of actual innocence, however credible a factfinder might determine it to be. The court remanded for a hearing at which the credibility of M.A.’s recantation can be assessed with the probable impact that the recantation would have had on reasonable jurors.
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