My name is Michael Anderson Peek Sr. 

I am reaching out to anyone who can offer me help in correcting the injustice that I have endured since 1996. In 1996 I was wrongly convicted in Chattanooga, TN by a jury on three counts of Aggravated Burglary, and Aggravated Rape. I received a ninety-nine-year sentence for those heinous
crimes in which I absolutely DID NOT COMMIT and have vigorously maintained my innocence from the very beginning of this nightmare. I intend to continue fighting to prove that I AM INNOCENT.

I pray that someone, somewhere will receive and read my TRUE STORY and will be compelled to help me. The Chattanooga Police Department’s theory, in which they relied upon to acquire the warrant for my arrest, trial and conviction, was that I am a black man known to date only white women and I lived one mile from the victims.

The court appointed Attorney William Dobson, to represent me the first thirty days of this process. In my effort to remove Mr. Dobson from my defense, the court denied my request and appointed Attorney Rich Heinsman to assist Mr. Dobson with my case. My initial concern was Mr. Dobson was legally blind. Although authorized to practice law, it was disheartening and quite stressful, facing these grievous charges that warranted such severe penalties, with an attorney who could not physically view the authenticity of signatures of the witnesses nor could he view the results of any DNA analysis conducted by the TBI or the FBI. Being that Mr. Dobson was the lead attorney heading up the identification part of my case, I did not feel that with his visual disability, he would be able to defend my innocence with the vigor expected of an attorney.

In the police report, each alleged victim gave a statement describing their attacker as a man approximately five-foot (5’) tall with hairy arms and hands, with short stubby fingers, and a pot belly. On the contrary, I am six foot and five inches (6’ 5”) tall with very little, if any, hair on my arms and large hands. I did not have a “pot belly” as I was very physically fit and muscular at the time of these false allegations. None of these facts were argued before the jury during my trial, in spite of my asking Mr. Dobson repeatedly, to not abandon my defense, as evident in the conviction standing without correction.

I also stressed to Mr. Dobson that I had several character witnesses, both men and women, including police officers who were willing to testify in my defense. Mr. Dobson refused to speak to or call any of my witnesses, other than my father, stating he did not want to “take the chance of any one of them saying something bad” about me. He made the irrational and unprofessional decision to exclude all other defense witnesses from the jurors in my trial.

This lack of action, is a denial of my Constitutional Right to Effective Assistance of Counsel to have compulsory process for obtaining witnesses in my favor or to have the assistance of counsel in my defense. See Strickland v. Washington, 466 U.S. 668, 104 S.Ct. 2052, 80 L.Ed.2d 674 (1984), Baxter v. Rose, 523 S.W.2d 930 (Tenn. 1975) as well as U.S. v. Gonzalez-Lopez, 548 U.S. 140, 126 S.Ct. 2557, 165, L.Ed.2D 661 (2006) where the Court said, it was not necessary for the respondent to show that his counsel was ineffective where he had been erroneously denied his choice of counsel.

The Court also said that the Sixth Amendment commanded that the accused be defended by the counsel he believed to be best and no additional showing of prejudice was required to make the violation “complete”. Furthermore, a defendant has a constitutional right to present witnesses to establish a defense. Washington v. Texas, 388, U.S. 14, 87 S.Ct. 1920, 18 L.Ed.2d 1019 (1967). In all instances a defense attorney has an obligation to investigate to determine what matters of defense can be developed. The failure to present certain defense proof may constitute ineffective assistance of counsel. State v. Buford, 666 S.W. 2d 473 (Tenn.Cr.App.) (1983) [Failure to call witnesses].

To worsen the denial of effective assistance of counsel, during my appointment with RichHeinsman, the attorney assigned to assist Mr. Dobson, was the lead attorney for the DNA aspect of my case. Mr. Heinsman informed me that he was unfamiliar with all aspects of a defense regarding DNA evidence and that he had only taken a few weeks to prepare for this case and did so by reading two books on DNA. Not only was Mr. Heinsman unfamiliar with the intricacies of DNA testing and their results, he was not prepared to defend against the states DNA testing or the results thereof. Evidence of this is that during my Post Conviction hearing Mr. Heinsman was as and answered the following questions. 

(Post-Conviction Hearing Page 60, Line 22 – 23)
Question: Okay. Before this, how many trials had you been involved in with DNA?
Answer: Before this, none.

The state provided me a DNA expert by the name of Dr. William Shields. Dr.Shields admittedthat he did not conduct his own independent test of the DNA collected in these crimes. He also statedthat he looked at the state’s DNA expert, Joe Minor’s, testing and analysis and concluded that “It was valid” and “Did not have any irregularities or errors.”

There is no professional in the field of Science or Advocacy, (Tennessee Bar) who is representing their client, would rely on the DNA test analysis or results of their accusers, without conducting their own independent DNA test, regardless of the expense, time, or conclusions. Therefore, with Dr. Shield’s admittance that the states analysis was valid without any irregularities or errors, is ludicrous. This fact provides the basis that while Dr. Shields was appointed to protect my constitutional rights to due process and a proper defense, he actually worked as “an agent of the State”
with his allegiance to the prosecuting attorney and/or the State, blatantly denying all my Due Process Rights guaranteed under both the Tennessee and The United States Constitutions.

Following the conviction in Tennessee, I then went through a federal trial in the state of Georgia, wherein the State of Georgia used two of the Tennessee convictions as well as the testimony of the TBI DNA Analyst, Joe Minor. The federal prosecutors used their own DNA expert, Mr. John Wegel. Mr. Wegel testified, having had experience with DNA, described very clear details and in an understandable manner, the process in which he uses in all his DNA analysis’, in order to prevent, to the best of his ability, convicting an innocent defendant.

Mr. Wegel explained that he conducts a six-probe match which is the maximum at the GBI lab. Mr. Wegel’s testimony went as follows in my federal trial in Georgia when asked to explain the process he relies on in analyzing DNA test:

(Federal Trial Transcript, Page 354 Lines 12 – 27)
Answer: If I have a match in all of them, then I can issue a report saying that the sperm found in this sexual assault kit matches this individual and it’s him or his identical twin for the six probes.
Question: What happens if you get five matches and on the sixth probe there is no match?
Answer: It’s not him, the report would be excluded.

Question: So anytime you don’t get a match at whatever stage then you exclude the individual as the donor of the sperm that you’re questioning that’s been examined as the fluid or sperm?
Answer: Yes, sir. If I did five and they matched and on the sixth one it doesn’t match, then it’s not that mans’ sperm and he’s excluded.
(Page 355)
Question: The procedure that you just described, is that procedure generally accepted in the scientific community?
Answer: Yes
Question: Has it been determined to be reliable in typing individuals or typing DNA doing DNA profiles?
Answer: Yes, sir.
Joe Minor of the TBI labs testified as an expert witness in DNA analysis at my trial in Tennessee as well as my federal trial in Georgia. His testimony is as follows:
(Page 468 Lines 4 – 9)
Answer: At our lab, we are currently doing five DNA probes.
Question: And did you do five in this case?
(Page 469 Lines 14 – 16)
Answer: Yes, I did.
(Page 472 Lines 14 – 17)
Answer: If they didn’t match in any way, even on one DNA probe, then he would be excluded as the source of DNA.

As the record shows, both the Tennessee DNA expert and the Georgia DNA expert basically testified to the same process. Mr. Wegel says that he has to have six matches before he can issue a report. Mr. Minor says he has to have only five matches before he can issue his report on the DNA. Mr. Minor only matched four of five probes on Victim 1, three of five probes on Victim 2, four of five probes on Victim 3, one of five probes on victim 4, and three of five probes on Victim 5. At no point in Mr. Minor’s DNA analysis did he get the required five complete matches on any of the alleged victims he testified to in Georgia that he had to have before issuing his report. 

His testimony in Tennessee does not match his testimony in Georgia where he fraudulently claimed that my DNA matched the DNA taken from any of the alleged victims. The significance of Mr. Minor’s trial testimony above, in both the Tennessee and Georgia trials, clearly reflects that there was insufficient evidence and DNA evidence to convict me of any of these crimes.

If Mr. Rich Heinsman had sufficient or in the least, any knowledge concerning DNA or what it took to “Prove Beyond a Reasonable Doubt” the process of establishing the minimum probes necessary to connect me to the DNA taken from these alleged victims, I would have never been found
guilty of these crimes. As competent counsel, Mr. Heinsman should have in the very least had Dr. Shields conduct his own DNA tests and compare those results to those provided by Mr. Minor and presented those
discrepancies to my jury. If he had, the outcome of my trial would have been NOT GUILTY.

Mr. Lee Davis, State Prosecutor, stated in open court, if it wasn’t for the DNA evidence, he would have never been able to prosecute me.” As you can see by Mr. Minor’s own testimony, the DNA evidence excludes me from being the source of the DNA. Not comparing the state’s test with an independent test by my own defense team, their incompetence in requesting a continuance in order to conduct their own test, their lack of experience, and their complete ignorance of DNA testing all together, the state, with the aid of my own defense team seemingly working as an agent of the state, is the reason why I, an innocent man, have spent over twenty-five years in prison for crimes I did NOT commit. I am continuing to fight to prove my innocence.

There was nothing in this trial pointing to me as being the one who committed these terrible crimes, nor did any of the alleged victims point a finger at me as being the one who committed these terrible crimes against them.
I have worked on my case by myself, trying to get back into court and solicit the aid of anyone who can help me to prove my innocence and correct the injustice that I have and continue to suffer from these wrongful convictions.
I, knew nothing about the laws, the legal system, or the workings of this system. What I do know, is I AM NOT GUILTY and that would have been proven in court. Had I been given competent counsel to protect my constitutional rights to a fair trial with a jury of my peers, executed my rights to the bounds of the law and stood on the principles that our nation was built upon, I would not be living this life of hell.

Mr. Dobson and Mr. Heinsman called me back to court the next day following my trial to sign papers stating I would not sue the Public Defender’s Office. I understood this to mean that both Mr. Dobson and Mr. Heinsman were well aware of the fact they had not provided me with inadequate representation, making them guilty of Ineffective Assistance of Counsel and were protecting themselves from me stating otherwise.

Thank you for taking the time to hear me. I pray you will consider my plea and find it in your heart to assist me, any way you can, in proving my innocence. All these facts I have stated can be found on official court document such as: State Trial and Federal Trial Transcripts, State Post-Conviction Transcripts, TBI Crime Lab documents, and DNA and
Serology Reports. For further information about my case or how you can help, please contact one of the 

Ms. Tonya R. Gillespie    Ms. Ariele Smith           Mr. David Wooten
(423) 704-7404               (423) 314-8364            (423) 280-4961
(423) 602-9494        arielesmith14@gmail.com  dwooten0418@gmail.com
trg03map@gmail.com

Thank you for your time. God Bless you.
Best Regards,
Michael Anderson Peek