On December 9, 2012, Musa Hakim-Abdul called the police in Boston, Massachusetts to report that his apartment in the city’s Dorchester neighborhood had been burglarized.
Hakim-Abdul said he had been out of town since September 7, and when he returned, he saw that his television and a jar containing about $300 in cash and coins were missing,
According to the police report, there was no sign of forced entry. Hakim-Abdul said he had two sets of keys, with the other set belonging to his son. He told officers that he suspected his son’s mother, Deborah Allen, and her husband, Arnold Allen, might have used the son’s keys to gain access and steal the TV and the cash.
During the investigation, according to a police report, officers noticed a cigarette butt on the kitchen table. Hakim-Abdul said he did not smoke, but that Deborah Allen was a smoker and Arnold Allen was a “heavy smoker.”
The cigarette butt was taken into evidence and tested for DNA.
More than a year later, on January 31, 2014, 58-year-old Michael Fortune was arrested and charged with breaking and entering and larceny in excess of $250 after the district attorney’s office said Fortune’s DNA was found on the cigarette butt. Fortune’s DNA was on file because of previous convictions.
Fortune’s trial in Boston Municipal Court occurred on June 15, 2015.
Hakim-Abdul testified about the break-in. He said the cigarette butt was found either on the kitchen floor or in the hallway. He also testified that he did not know Fortune.
Detective Stephen O’Brien testified about the investigation. He said the apartment was “immaculate,” except for a bedroom that appeared to be in disarray. O’Brien said a back window lacked a lock, and he was unable to say if it had been opened or closed by an intruder.
Joseph Ross, a criminalist in the police department’s DNA unit, testified that the profile of the DNA found on the cigarette butt “matched” Fortune’s DNA characteristics.
Fortune did not testify.
The jury convicted Fortune on both counts. He received a sentence of two years in prison on the breaking and entering conviction and a consecutive sentence of two years on probation on the larceny conviction. He ended up serving 551 days in prison.
Fortune appealed, arguing that there was insufficient evidence to sustain his conviction.
On April 2, 2019, the Massachusetts Appeals Court threw out Fortune’s conviction. It said cigarettes were “easily transportable and routinely discarded” after use. “Accordingly, while the defendant's DNA on a cigarette butt suggests that the defendant possessed and smoked the cigarette at one time, it does not exclude the equally reasonable hypothesis that the cigarette was consumed at an earlier time and transported to the scene by someone else—either intentionally or accidentally.”
The ruling noted that the state never introduced the cigarette butt into evidence, and there was no testimony about its shape or condition, “whether it retained its round shape or appeared smashed and stepped on and left a tobacco imprint on the floor where it was discovered.”
As a result of the ruling of the Appeals Court, the trial court entered findings of not guilty to the alleged offenses on November 4, 2020.
On March 12, 2021, Fortune filed a lawsuit against the state of Massachusetts, seeking compensation as a wrongfully convicted individual. The lawsuit said he did not commit the crimes for which he was charged, convicted, or imprisoned.
In its initial response, the state said Fortune wasn’t entitled to compensation because “he cannot show by clear and convincing evidence that he did not ‘commit the crimes or crime charged in the indictment or complaint or any other felony arising out of or reasonably connected to the facts supporting the indictment or complaint, or any lesser included felony,’” as required by state law.
The case went to trial in Suffolk County Superior Court in April 2025. On April 14, 2025, a jury found that Fortune met the statutory requirements to receive state compensation under Massachusetts law, specifically, that he proved by clear and convincing evidence that he did not commit the crimes. The jury entered a verdict in favor of Mr. Fortune in the amount of $750,000.Judge James Budreau later approved $199,633 in attorney and litigation fees to his attorney, John Barter. The court also ordered the state to provide additional relief, including housing assistance and healthcare insurance, for Mr. Fortune, and granted an order expunging these convictions from Fortune’s record.
– Ken Otterbourg
Posting Date: 11-29-2025
