CAÑON CITY, Colo. (KDVR)– The team representing 43-year-old Jason Hogan anxiously awaited his release Tuesday from the Colorado State Penitentiary in Cañon City.
“Jason was almost exclusively convicted on the eye-witness identification of the victim,” Anne-Marie Moyes, director of Korey Wise Innocence Project, said.
According to Denver District Attorney Beth McCann, Hogan will be released from prison in Cañon City after being found guilty in 2000 of kidnapping and robbing a woman at the Cherry Creek Shopping Center, for which he received a 77-year prison sentence.
“He’s ready to start his life and so excited for this rebirth he’s about to experience,” Moyes said.
Moyes said her team learned about Hogan’s case back in 2019, and they knew it would be a challenge because the case was 20 years old.
“We did a full re-investigation of his case and came up with new evidence of his innocence, and that was evidence police knew about at the time of his trial,” Moyes said.
‘She said the perpetrator was not in the lineup’
Moyes said the Korey Wise Innocence Project soon learned that an identical robbery and kidnapping took place at the Cherry Creek Shopping Center five days after the crime for which Hogan was convicted. Because the two crimes and the suspect descriptions were strikingly similar, Moyes said police concluded that the same man committed both crimes.
However, Moyes said police later developed evidence that Hogan did not commit the second robbery because the victim in the second case failed to pick Hogan’s picture from a photo lineup.
“They showed the second victim, and she didn’t pick Jason’s picture. She said the perpetrator was not in the lineup,” Moyes said.
Also, a fingerprint was lifted from where the robber touched the second victim’s car, and it did not match Hogan, according to Moyes.
According to the DA’s office, they agreed on a new plea agreement. Hogan pleaded guilty to second-degree kidnapping and was resentenced to time served. As the DA stated in a release Tuesday, “Under the plea agreement, known as an Alford plea, Mr. Hogan maintains his innocence, but admits that there is evidence that, if believed by a jury, could lead to his conviction.”
McCann added, “We appreciate the Korey Wise Innocence Project bringing this case to our attention. We were not able to conclude that Mr. Hogan did not commit this crime, but given the fact that there was a subsequent very similar robbery and that information was not provided to us at that time so it could be disclosed to the defense counsel, we agreed that it was fair and in the interest of justice to resolve the case in this manner.”
Moyes said Hogan’s family was waiting for him along with the Korey Wise Innocence Project team Tuesday.