When we first met Allen Finke, some four years ago, it seemed like all hope had been lost. Allen had been in prison more than 40 years for a crime he did not commit. His health was failing. He had tried almost every kind of legal remedy, and nothing had worked.
Brown Law agreed to take his case, even though the chances of winning seemed like one in a million.
The case was just too shocking to walk away from. In 1979, Allen’s aunt, Leonette Shilling, had been stabbed to death inside her home. The police had no real suspects and were desperate to crack the high-profile case. As pressure mounted, the police did something that today would be unthinkable: they consulted a psychic to lead the investigation. After presenting her with a series of family headshots, the psychic honed in on one photograph in particular: Allen Finke, who was then 26 years old. Allen became the primary suspect, despite the fact that he had an alibi and a loving relationship with his aunt.
Once Allen had been identified, the police worked backwards, bending the evidence to fit the suspect. They held him for 17 hours of interrogation and employed the most discredited forms of questioning imaginable: they lied to him about the evidence; they threatened him; they even tried to hypnotize him to get him to say what they wanted. The police later claimed – without any recordings to prove it – that Allen had vaguely confessed.
At trial, Allen steadfastly maintained his innocence and vehemently denied that he had confessed to anything. The case against him was embarrassingly thin, and most of the evidence pointed to another suspect. The State claimed it had found a drop of blood on a pair of dirty cut-off jeans lying in Allen’s room more than a month after the murder. This was unremarkable because Allen worked as a carpenter – and besides, if he had committed the murder wearing those jeans, would he really have left them on the floor of his bedroom for a month? Yet, to the prosecutors, the drop of blood was the smoking gun they so desperately needed. (DNA testing was unavailable at this time). Shockingly, the jury believed the prosecutors, and Allen was convicted of murder. He was sentenced to life in prison.
When Brown Law took the case, some 40 years later, there was no procedural path to winning Allen’s freedom. He’d had an appeal, a post-conviction, and even a hearing in front of the parole board seeking an early release. Despite his extraordinary, infraction- free prison record, his efforts were all denied. Meanwhile, the police claimed they had lost or destroyed the cut-off jeans – the so-called smoking gun – foreclosing the possibility of DNA testing that could exonerate him.
Through some technical legal maneuvering, however, Brown Law convinced a prosecutor that Allen should at least have the chance to get back into court and have his sentenced reviewed (although the prosecutor’s office ultimately opposed a sentence reduction). It was a slight crack in the edifice, but it was enough. On sunny day in April of 2024, Allen appeared before Judge Robert Thompson in the Circuit Court for Anne Arundel County. The gallery was packed with Allen’s supporters: family, friends, people from all walks of life who were drawn to Allen’s boundless optimism. The Judge heard testimony from supporters – as well as from the State, which tried to keep him in prison. Some of the spectators were openly weeping, others buried their faces in their hands, too nervous to look. In the end, justice prevailed. Allen’s sentence was reduced and he was given back his freedom. A few days later, he walked free from the prison, greeted by his friends and family, who cheered from the parking lot.
Postscript: Today, Allen is doing well, enjoying his time with family and friends. If he holds any bitterness toward those who took away so many years of his life, we have yet to see it. He’s too busy living his life.
