On the evening of January 21, 1988, at about 11 p.m., a 26-year-old woman finished her work at an insurance company in Hartford, Connecticut, and moved her car from the company’s garage to an outside parking lot on Columbus Boulevard so that it would be easier to retrieve later. She then went to a bar with her supervisor and coworkers, returning to the car with her supervisor at about 12:45 a.m. Her supervisor left after seeing her start her car and put her lights on.
In the process of backing the car up, the woman noticed that she did not have her seat belt on and that the driver’s side door was unlocked. As she stopped to fix this situation, a Black man opened the driver’s side door and attempted to enter her car. When she asked what he was doing, the man punched her in the face, reached in, and turned off the ignition.
He then hit her again and pushed her over to the passenger side of the car. When she screamed and tried to get out on the passenger side, he reached over, locked the door and punched her several more times.
The man started the car, but could not keep it from stalling because he was unfamiliar with a standard transmission. Finally, after 15 to 20 minutes, he drove out of the parking lot and, a few minutes later, parked in another small outside parking lot. He took the victim’s purse and jewelry, and then sexually assaulted her. After rifling through her briefcase, he drove the car out of the lot. He then stopped the car and ran off with her purse.
The woman called the police and was taken to a hospital, where a rape kit was taken. She required seven stitches to close a cut near her left eye.
The police subsequently brought the victim, who was white, to the police station to view mugshots. She identified a photograph of 26-year-old James Calvin Tillman, who lived in a homeless shelter near the parking lot where the abduction occurred. Tillman also worked in a car wash near the parking lot.
Because the photograph was of Tillman when he was younger, he was brought in for a photograph. The victim then viewed a photographic lineup and identified Tillman as her attacker.
Tillman was arrested on January 27, 1988. He was charged with first-degree assault, first-degree assault, first-degree kidnapping, first-degree robbery and third-degree larceny.
Tillman went to trial in Hartford County Superior Court in September 1989.
After six jurors had been selected, none were Black, and only one from Hartford. As the court prepared to select two alternates, Tillman’s trial lawyer, Christopher Cosgrove, requested that the court clerk send in a new panel that would be more representative of Tillman’s race and residence.
Judge Thomas Corrigan ruled that the motion was untimely unless Cosgrove could present evidence that the clerk was choosing people improperly. Later, after speaking to the jury clerk, Cosgrove reported that jurors were being routinely dismissed for economic hardship if they could provide documentation that their employers would not pay the difference between their daily jury pay of $10 and their normal wages. The clerk was doing this in the belief that forcing such individuals to serve on a jury would cause them economic disadvantage. The clerk felt that such economically disadvantaged persons would not make good jurors. The clerk also conceded that a disproportionate number of minorities would be excused on this basis.
Judge Corrigan overruled the defendant’s objection to the makeup of the panel.
The trial began and the victim identified Tillman as her attacker and described how, during the 50-minute duration of the attack, the car was in a well-lit area and she focused on memorizing his facial features.
A forensic analyst testified that semen was found on the victim’s pantyhose and dress. The analyst testified that serological testing showed that the semen could have come from Tillman and about 20 percent of the male population. The analyst did not note the possibility of degradation, however, which would have changed the results. A rape kit had been collected at the hospital after the crime, but the samples in the kit were not tested.
On September 19, 1989, the jury convicted Tillman of all the charges. Judge Corrigan sentenced him to 45 years in prison.
Tillman challenged his conviction based on a claim of unfair jury selection. In December 1991, the Connecticut Supreme Court rejected that argument and affirmed his convictions and sentence.
By that time, Tillman had succeeded in obtaining DNA testing on the victim’s clothing. However, the results were inconclusive because DNA testing methods at that time were too primitive.
In 2005, the Connecticut Innocence Project, with attorneys Karen Goodrow and Brian Carlow, took on Tillman’s case. More advanced DNA testing was performed. Tillman was excluded from all of the semen samples. The victim’s husband also was excluded. The DNA profile that was obtained was that of an unidentified male.
On June 6, 2006, Tillman’s conviction was vacated based on the DNA evidence. Tillman was released without bail.
Subsequently, further DNA testing was performed on one more stain on the dress, which revealed the DNA profile of the same unidentified male.
On July 11, 2006, the prosecution dismissed the charges against Tillman.
In 2007, Tillman was awarded $5 million in compensation from the state of Connecticut.
– Maurice Possley
Posting Date: 08-29-2011
Last Update Date: 03-07-2026
