At about noon on April 6, 1995, two men with pistols and wearing ski masks kicked in the door of an apartment in Tulsa, Oklahoma. The men forced 23-year-old Shemita Greer to the floor, pistol-whipped her, and duct-taped her eyes and mouth.
During the robbery, which lasted less than 10 minutes, the men kicked Greer in the head. She played dead. The men left with $397 in cash from her purse, four tires and four wheel rims.
After the robbers left, Greer called police. She said the taller man, who was wearing a black ski mask, was 23-year-old Sedrick Courtney. She said she had known him for about three years and socialized with him in the past. She said that before the men covered her eyes, Courtney lifted up his ski mask high enough so that she recognized him. Greer also said she recognized the man’s skin tone and voice as Courtney’s. The other man, who was not identified, was wearing a green mask, she said.
Police found the ski masks outside the apartment building.
Courtney was arrested on June 12, 1995 and charged with robbery and burglary. The other man was never identified or arrested.
In February 1996, Courtney went to trial in Tulsa County District Court. Greer identified him as her attacker, saying she was “positive” of her identification.
Several hairs recovered from the ski masks had been sent to the Tulsa Police Department’s crime laboratory for analysis. The laboratory had reported that seven of the hairs had roots and were sent for DNA testing, but the results were inconclusive.
A crime laboratory analyst testified that she could not make a comparison with Courtney’s hair because his hair samples were too short. She said the hairs in the black ski mask could not be eliminated as having come from Courtney. The analyst said that a bleached red hair found in the green ski mask was microscopically consistent with a bleached red hair recovered from Courtney.
To explain the inconsistency, the prosecution argued to the jury that Courtney could have owned both masks and worn both of them prior to the robbery.
Three of Courtney’s relatives testified that he had borrowed a car to attend a class at an unemployment center that was being held at the time of the robbery.
On February 8, 1996, the jury convicted Courtney of armed robbery and burglary. He was sentenced to 30 years in prison.
In 2000, after losing his appeals, Courtney sought DNA testing on the hairs. The Tulsa Police Department said the hairs had been destroyed.
In 2001, Courtney contacted the Innocence Project for help. In 2007, an Innocence Project attorney sent a letter requesting a search for the hairs, the masks and the duct tape that was recovered at the crime scene.
In 2008, the police department again reported that the evidence had been destroyed. Courtney was released on parole in June 2011 after serving more than 16 years in prison.
In September 2011, on a whim, a law student working on the case for the Innocence Project telephoned the Tulsa police department to ask again about the evidence. This time, the department reported that it still had the hair slides from the black and green masks.
Mitochondrial DNA testing was performed by Orchid Cellmark in Dallas, Texas. Testing on the 10 hairs from the black mask excluded Courtney and showed that nine of the hairs came from the same person. Testing on the five hairs from the green mask also excluded Courtney and showed that four of them came from the same person.
On March 12, 2012, a petition for a state writ of habeas corpus was filed in Tulsa County District Court. On July 19, 2012, Courtney's conviction was vacated and the charges were dismissed.
In July 2013, Courtney was granted a certificate of actual innocence. He was subsequently awarded $175,000 in state compensation. In June 2014, he filed a federal lawsuit against the city of Tulsa. The lawsuit was settled in October 2015 for $8 million.
– Maurice Possley
Posting Date: 08-30-2012
Last Update Date: 01-22-2026
