Jane Dorotik has spent twenty years preventing for her freedom. The California mom and spouse was convicted of murdering her husband Bob in 2001, however all the time maintained her innocence.
From jail, the place she was serving a sentence of 25 years to life, Jane spent years submitting motions pushing for a brand new examination of the proof.
Working with Loyola Venture for the Harmless, new testing of proof was performed, together with of blood discovered within the couple’s bed room. They stated it revealed among the spots had been by no means examined and others weren’t blood in any respect.
“If you just look at all of the pieces of evidence that Loyola was able to absolutely take apart, and yet we know what was told to the jury in the original conviction,” Jane Dorotik tells “48 Hours” correspondent Erin Moriarty, who has has coated the case for twenty-four years.
“Jane, how would you describe what the last 22 years have been like for you?” Moriarty requested.
“It’s been torturous in many ways,” defined Jane. “I suppose many moments once I thought, “How do I hold going?’
WHO KILLED BOB DOROTIK?
When “48 Hours” first met Jane Dorotik in 2000, the life she had as soon as discovered so serene within the foothills exterior of San Diego — a life she had shared together with her husband Bob — had taken an unimaginable flip.
Jane Dorotik: How can this be? How can this occur? Certainly I’ll get up and it’s a dream.
Jane had been develop into the prime suspect in Bob’s homicide. Authorities believed that she viciously attacked him of their house.
Jane Dorotik: I definitely didn’t do that. I cherished my husband.
Jane and Bob Dorotik
Household photograph
Jane, 53 years previous on the time, and Bob, 55, shared greater than half their lives collectively.
Jane Dorotik: I used to be 23 after we had been married … Bob was an exquisite, loving, inventive particular person.
Bob spent most of his profession as an engineer. Jane labored as a nurse, and later, as an govt within the well being care trade. The couple raised three youngsters, Alex, Claire and Nick.
Jane Dorotik: The household has all the time been extremely essential to each of us.
Additionally essential to Jane, had been their horses. Whereas Jane’s ardour was breeding and using, Bob was an avid jogger. And that, says Jane, is the final picture she has of her husband.
Jane Dorotik: Bob was sitting, truly, on this chair, going through the TV.
Though Jane was beneath suspicion, she allowed “48 Hours” into her house.
Jane Dorotik: He stated he was going out for a jog, and he was truly — had his jogging go well with on, was tying his sneakers. … That was the final I talked to him.
It was round 1 p.m. on Feb. 13, 2000, when Jane says Bob left to go for that run. As hours handed with none phrase from him, Jane says she grew involved.
Jane Dorotik: It was starting to get darkish … I — determined to exit and look.
Jane says she looked for Bob, driving up and down the hill the place he generally ran. By 7:45 p.m., Jane’s concern turned to worry.
Jane Dorotik: I stated, “Enough. This is enough. Something is wrong.” … And that’s once I made the decision to the Sheriff’s Division.
Deputy James Blackmon: My first … thought that evening was possibly this man had a coronary heart assault and … fell down the embankment alongside Lake Wohlford Street .
As Deputy James Blackmon, and others from the San Diego County Sheriff’s Division, looked for Bob, involved family and friends gathered on the Dorotik home.
Claire Dorotik: The minute I noticed my mother’s face, I knew immediately one thing horrible had occurred.
The Dorotik’s daughter, Claire, 24 on the time, had spent the weekend visiting her aunt and returned house to a distraught Jane.
Claire Dorotik: She was freaked out, she was scared, she was nervous, she was crying.
Jane Dorotik: It was a horrifying feeling that bought increasingly more horrifying when he wasn’t discovered.
After which, within the predawn hours of Feb. 14, Deputy Blackmon was a driveway, a number of miles from the Dorotik house, and seen a physique off the highway.
The T-shirt Bob Dorotik was sporting when his physique was discovered on the facet of the highway a number of miles from their Valley Heart, California, house. He had been bludgeoned within the head and strangled.
San Diego County Sheriff’s Division
Deputy Blackmon (2001): At this level, I may see the shirt, the … pants … And he was laying on his again.
From Jane’s description, he instantly knew it was Bob Dorotik.
Det. Rick Empson: I bought there somewhat after seven within the morning.
San Diego County Sheriff’s Detective Rick Empson was referred to as to the scene.
Det. Rick Empson: There was no proof of any sort of auto accident.
The proof Empson did discover advised one thing else.
Det. Rick Empson: I may see that he had blood on his face … there was blood close to the again of his head, and I may see that there was a rope round his neck.
Bob Dorotik had been bludgeoned and strangled. The one-time lacking particular person case had was a murder investigation.
Erin Moriarty: Is there anyone you might suppose who would need to see your husband lifeless?
Jane Dorotik: No person. No person.
As regulation enforcement requested Jane questions on Bob, she allow them to into her house.
Jane Dorotik: “Come in. Search. Look for anything.”
Detective Empson seen a chunk of rope hanging from the porch that caught his consideration — considering he had simply seen one thing comparable on Bob Dorotik.
Det. Rick Empson: It seemed to be the very same sort of rope that was discovered round his neck.
And when investigators bought to Bob and Jane’s bed room, they discovered one thing extra troubling. They believed they had been taking a look at blood spatter.
Det. Rick Empson: There was no query in our thoughts that this assault occurred in the master suite.
They documented their findings in a diagram, taking photographs alongside the way in which of what they believed to be blood on varied gadgets within the bed room, and of what seemed to be a big blood stain on the underside of the mattress.
Jane Dorotik: I do know when Bob had a nosebleed he made a remark about getting some blood on the mattress.
Jane says there was a logical rationalization for among the different blood, too — they’d canines who had been injured and had bled.
Jane Dorotik: This little canine had an abscess on her cheek that was overtly draining on the time and little drops of blood we’d discover when she sat on the sofa. … The carpet items are what the detectives eliminated, feeling that there was blood on the carpet.
Investigators shortly decided Bob Dorotik wasn’t killed the place his physique was discovered, as a result of there wasn’t sufficient blood there. Once they searched the Dorotiks’ house, they discovered spots of blood all around the bed room.
San Diego County Sheriff’s Division
The spots of blood investigators stated they discovered all around the bed room stunned Jane.
Erin Moriarty: Do you could have some other rationalization of how that blood spatter may have gotten there?
Jane Dorotik: Probably not.
Erin Moriarty: On the ceiling, on the window, on the partitions?
Jane Dorotik: No.
Including to authorities’ suspicions was the bloody syringe discovered within the toilet rubbish. Jane informed “48 Hours” she used it to medicate her horses.
Jane Dorotik: I do know that I give the horses pictures on a regular basis … when you go look in my fridge proper now, you’ll discover horse syringes.
Investigators theorized that Jane hit her husband with an object within the bed room and strangled him. She then dressed him in his jogging go well with, put him of their truck, and dumped him alongside the facet of the highway the place his physique was discovered.
Erin Moriarty: Why do they consider you killed your husband?
Jane Dorotik: You already know, I assume I’ve been by way of that one a billion instances. I don’t know.
However investigators thought they knew, believing the motive was cash, and escaping a troubled marriage. Jane was the principle breadwinner, they usually realized the couple had cut up up for a yr in 1997.
Jane Dorotik: I don’t make any apologies for the truth that we had tough instances. However that doesn’t change the truth that we cherished one another.
And that love, says Jane, is why they reconciled. They’d been again dwelling collectively as a pair for a year-and-a-half earlier than Bob was killed.
Jane Dorotik: I actually suppose the separation induced us to actually regroup and take into consideration what was essential.
Claire Dorotik: They had been getting alongside higher than they ever had prior to now. I used to be dwelling there. I can let you know that.
However regulation enforcement was unmoved, and three days after Bob Dorotik’s physique was discovered, Jane was arrested, and charged with first-degree homicide.
Jane Dorotik: I do know I didn’t do that. I do know there’s a killer on the market … however how am I going to clear myself?
Kerry Steigerwalt: She’s baffled ’trigger I don’t suppose she is aware of what occurred.
Launched on bail, Jane began making ready her protection, hiring legal professional Kerry Steigerwalt.
Kerry Steigerwalt: She is aware of she’s positioned because the killer and she or he’s not the killer.
And at trial, Jane’s legal professional would current a shock suspect, who he felt was chargeable for Bob Dorotik’s homicide.
THE TRIAL OF JANE DOROTIK
Jane Dorotik: I do know that I’m harmless, however I don’t have any extra religion within the authorized system. I consider I may very well be convicted for one thing that I didn’t do. And that’s very scary.
Whereas Jane apprehensive about her end result at trial, Claire Dorotik was far more assured about her mom’s possibilities.
Claire Dorotik: My mother couldn’t have performed this crime. She didn’t have the motive, and she or he didn’t have the chance.
However when the case went to trial in 2001, a yr after the homicide, prosecutor Bonnie Howard–Regan described the Dorotik’s marriage as critically troubled and informed jurors that Jane didn’t need to pay Bob alimony in a divorce.
Bonnie Howard–Regan (in court docket): Bob Dorotik by no means went jogging. And he by no means left that residence alive.
In line with the state, Bob had truly been killed Saturday evening, practically a day earlier than Jane reported him lacking. The post-mortem carried out, by Dr. Christopher Swalwell, confirmed undigested meals in keeping with what Jane stated they’d for dinner that evening.
Bonnie Howard–Regan (in court docket): Can you give us an estimate of how lengthy after Mr. Dorotik ate, how lengthy after that, he — he was killed?
Dr. Christopher Swalwell: Sure. It was very shortly after he ate. …I’d say it was in all probability inside a few hours.
And he wasn’t killed on the facet of the highway, the prosecutor stated. There wasn’t sufficient blood there. As a substitute, she stated Bob’s blood was all around the bed room. Lead detective Rick Empson testified he had requested Jane to clarify that.
Det. Rick Empson (in court docket): She indicated initially that she had a canine that — had been bleeding, after which indicated that roughly every week prior, Bob had a bloody nostril over within the nook by the range, and that Bob had cleaned it up.
There was proof somebody cleaned the bed room. The carpet subsequent to the potbelly range and tiled ground was moist and had blood stains beneath.
Erin Moriarty: Did any of the blood from his nosebleed get on the carpet?
Jane Dorotik: Uh huh (affirms).
Erin Moriarty: Have you learnt the place?
Jane Dorotik: Uh huh. Proper subsequent to the tile. ‘Trigger I — I’m the one which helped him clear it.
Authorities dismissed Jane’s explanations. Their concept was that Jane hit Bob within the head of their bed room with an object whereas he was mendacity in mattress, though they by no means recognized or discovered any weapon. Charles Merritt, a criminalist and bloodstain sample analyst for the San Diego County Sheriff’s Crime Lab, recounted 20 places the place he noticed blood stains.
Charles Merritt (in court docket): On one of many pillows … on a lamp … this explicit nightstand. … on the potbelly range … on the ceiling itself. … after which on the underside of the mattress.
The jury was additionally proven this proof of tire tracks discovered close to Bob’s physique. The state’s skilled Anthony DeMaria stated he matched the three various kinds of tires on Dorotik’s truck
Bonnie Howard–Regan (in court docket): Are you saying the measurements taken on the scene had been equal to the measurements … taken off the precise automobile?
Anthony DeMaria: Sure.
A bloody syringe present in a rubbish can within the Dorotik’s toilet.
San Diego County Sheriff’s Division
Probably the most telling proof connecting Jane to the homicide, in line with the prosecutor, was that syringe discovered within the toilet. It had traces of a horse tranquilizer inside. And although there was no proof that Bob had been injected with something, it had Bob’s blood and a bloody fingerprint on it.
Bonnie Howard–Regan (in court docket): The proof will present that the fingerprint on this syringe was Jane Dorotik’s.
Erin Moriarty: Are you able to clarify that?
Jane Dorotik: I can’t actually clarify it, apart from – I do know that I helped Bob clear up a nosebleed. And if that’s the identical time once I took the syringes and threw them within the trash … and there was some blood on my hand, that might have — made that occur.
However maybe essentially the most highly effective witnesses had been the Dorotiks’ two sons, Nick and Alex. They each testified in opposition to their mom.
Bonnie Howard–Regan (in court docket): Did you say something particularly in regards to the syringe?
Nick Dorotik: Properly, I requested her — the way it bought there and what it was doing there.
Bonnie Howard-Regan: And what was your mom’s response?
Nick Dorotik: She stated that — her largest worry in all this was that the — that us members of the family would begin questioning her.
Kerry Steigerwalt (in court docket): Your mom all the time settled issues logically, tried to?
Alex Dorotik: No.
Kerry Steigerwalt: — you wouldn’t agree with that assertion?
Alex Dorotik: Nope. …It will be my mother mainly saying, “This is what you have to accept.” After which my dad would both settle for it or there could be threats of divorce or one thing. That’s what I keep in mind from rising up.
Jane’s attorneys Kerry Steigerwalt and Cole Casey admitted it was a giant blow. Erin Moriarty: Would you say that’s been essentially the most damaging testimony?
Kerry Steigerwalt: Yeah.
Cole Casey: It’s not what they stated. It’s the truth that they had been there testifying for the prosecution.
When it got here time for the protection to current its case, Steigerwalt truly agreed with the prosecution on a serious level — that the homicide passed off within the bed room. However he had a jaw-dropping various suspect: Claire Dorotik.
Kerry Steigerwalt (in court docket): Girls and gents, Claire hated her father.
He claimed Claire, an avid horsewoman, hated her father as a result of he threatened to promote the animals she cherished – and advised that she was able to homicide.
Kerry Steigerwalt (in court docket): That’s what Claire is. A hot-tempered, explosive particular person.
It was a dangerous technique that Jane reluctantly agreed to.
Jane Dorotik: All I can do is belief what Kerry says is one of the simplest ways to go.
Erin Moriarty: Are you in any respect involved that the jury will marvel a couple of girl who would enable herself to be defended by pointing the finger at her daughter? May that work in opposition to the 2 of you?
Kerry Steigerwalt: It might. I don’t know. … I feel it’s the most viable protection. And I feel it’s supported by the most effective proof.
Steigerwalt insisted Jane wasn’t bodily capable of commit the homicide, however Claire was.
Kerry Steigerwalt (in court docket): She runs marathons. And he or she’s a private coach. She is as match a girl as you will note on the age of 24.
However keep in mind, Claire and her aunt stated they had been collectively, two hours away.
Kerry Steigerwalt (in court docket): They referred to as the aunt …That’s the extent of the investigation on the alibi of Claire Dorotik. … That alibi is nonsense.
The jurors by no means heard from Claire, who took the fifth, or Jane, who selected to not testify. However they did hear from a girl who stated she thought she noticed Bob the day he disappeared – sitting between two males in a black pickup truck not removed from the place his physique was discovered.
Kerry Steigerwalt (in court docket): Who killed Robert Dorotik? … Was it Claire Dorotik? … Or women and gents, was it another person?
In his closing argument, Steigerwalt accused investigators of dismissing witnesses like that girl and focusing solely on Jane.
Kerry Steigerwalt (in court docket): The prosecution had targeted on one particular person and that’s not the way in which to conduct an investigation. That’s not the way in which to run a case.
Bonnie Howard-Regan (in court docket): Jane Dorotik and Bob Dorotik had been the one two individuals in that house that weekend.
Bonnie Howard-Regan stated there isn’t any want to analyze additional when you could have adequate proof.
Bonnie Howard-Regan (in court docket): They searched that bed room they usually noticed all of the blood they usually knew that was the crime scene … What extra investigation do they should do?
It took the jury 4 days to return a verdict.
Jane Dorotik reacts because the responsible verdict was learn in court docket.
CBS Information
COURT CLERK: We the jury within the above titled trigger discover the defendant Jane Marguerite Dorotik responsible of the crime of homicide within the first diploma in violation of penal code …”
Erin Moriarty: Did Jane Dorotik get a good trial?
Matthew Troiano: No. No. … As a result of equity signifies that you’re presenting issues precisely, and it — it seems prefer it was not performed precisely.
JANE DOROTIK ADVOCATES FOR HER INNOCENCE
Jane Dorotik (jail interview with Erin Moriarty): It virtually didn’t register for a minute. It’s like “No, this can’t be.” … I used to be so sure that I used to be strolling out … I believed they’d see the reality.
Jane Dorotik by no means imagined she’d be discovered responsible.
Jane Dorotik (jail interview): It’s exhausting to maintain going (crying).
“I just, I can’t see my way clear to a life in prison. I just can’t see it,” Jane Dorotik informed “48 Hours” correspondent Erin Moriarty in an interview in jail.
CBS Information
On the time of her conviction for the homicide of her husband, she was 54 years previous and sentenced to 25 years-to-life.
Jane Dorotik (jail interview): I imply, I simply, I can’t see my method clear to a life in jail. I simply can’t see it.
Decided to show the jury bought it unsuitable, Jane grew to become her personal advocate, engaged on her case for a few years. “48 Hours” spoke with Jane once more twenty years later about her efforts.
Jane Dorotik: All by way of the jail — my jail journey, I continued to jot down to … all innocence tasks I may consider, asking for assist. … On the identical time, realized … that I needed to struggle for myself.
Jane filed motions from jail citing such points as inadequate proof and ineffective help of counsel.
Jane Dorotik: I’d describe my protection as restricted and insufficient.
In her filings, Jane indicated that she wished to testify at her trial however had left that call as much as her legal professional. And that had she testified, she may have defined Bob’s abdomen contents — stating that he generally ate leftovers from the earlier evening. She additionally described her legal professional’s alternate suspect concept, pointing to her daughter Claire because the killer, as absurd.
Erin Moriarty: Do you consider that your daughter Claire had something to do with the demise of her dad?
Jane Dorotik: Completely unequivocally not. And my protection legal professional, everyone knew she was away for that weekend.
In regard to that protection technique, Claire, later wrote in a guide, “how could I be angry at my mother, when all I did was worry about her.” Jane’s lawyer, whom “48 Hours” interviewed on the time of her trial, didn’t converse with us once more.
Jane Dorotik: That was the worst technique of my life ever… I stated to my legal professional, “If anything happens to Claire, I’m gonna stand up and say I did it.”
In her filings, Jane additionally questioned why her protection legal professional accepted the “dangerous forensics “pointing to the bed room because the homicide scene, moderately than presenting different situations as to the place and the way Bob Dorotik may have been murdered.
Erin Moriarty: Did the protection too simply settle for the bed room as a criminal offense scene?
Matthew Troiano: That may be a very professional argument.
CBS Information advisor Matthew Troiano, a former prosecutor and present protection legal professional, was not concerned within the Dorotik case, however he reviewed among the court docket paperwork at “48 Hours”‘ request.
Matthew Troiano: The protection made a strategic determination. … Are we going to dispute {that a} crime occurred on this location or … are we basically gonna concede that it occurred there after which provide you with a distinct narrative of the way it occurred there? They usually selected the latter.
And that call, Troiano says, probably led the protection to level the finger at Claire for the homicide.
Matthew Troiano: They needed to blame anyone else for one thing that occurred in a selected location. … They usually, a minimum of, because it pertains to the daughter, you recognize, went again to her, having some disagreement together with her father about one thing. … And it was – it was a threat.
Erin Moriarty: Have you ever ever seen that sort of protection?
Matthew Troiano: You don’t — you don’t see it. I imply, it may occur when there are clear info and proof to help it, however when there are none … that’s, you recognize, that’s a showstopper.
And, in actual fact, Claire was by no means charged with any wrongdoing in connection to her father’s homicide. The protection accepting the bed room because the homicide scene is particularly puzzling to Troiano, as there have been stories from a number of eyewitnesses who stated they noticed a person jogging that day — accounts in keeping with Jane’s depiction of occasions, not the prosecution’s.
Matthew Troiano: That’s essential, essential proof.
Jane Dorotik: And all of that was actually not pursued. … And … I didn’t know of all of the witnesses. … Had there been a radical investigation initially, all of that may have come out.
By way of the years, in filings, Jane raised issues with the whole case in opposition to her, arguing that authorities targeted on her from the very starting of the investigation and did not observe different investigative leads. However movement after movement was denied. And concerning Jane’s ineffective counsel claims, the choose rejected all of them, ruling that her legal professional’s efficiency was not poor, and that his actions had not affected the result of the case.
Jane Dorotik: There have been many moments the place I doubted when is that this ever going to show round. Many, many moments.
Nonetheless, Jane didn’t quit. She continued searching for new proof to clear her, particularly as DNA testing grew to become extra superior. In 2012, she filed a petition for DNA testing of that rope discovered round Bob’s neck, and different gadgets, like Bob’s fingernail clippings, which had been saved, however by no means examined. And in 2015, the movement was granted.
Erin Moriarty: Is that uncommon that she lastly even bought testing primarily based on her submitting motions on her personal?
Matthew Troiano: Sure, it’s — it’s very atypical.
It was presently that Jane lastly bought the eye of a wrongful conviction group, Loyola Regulation Faculty’s Venture for the Harmless.
Jane Dorotik: I get this excellent letter from Loyola saying, “You’ve contacted us and we’re concerned with your case. … And after that, Loyola took over. Obtained the testing performed.
And what that testing revealed, in addition to a contemporary examination of different proof, would change the course of the case.
Matt Troiano: That’s actually what flips the script to say that there’s extra right here. That is extra than simply an insufficient investigation. There’s a completely different narrative that’s operating by way of these check outcomes. … there may be proof that one other particular person may very well be concerned.
A NEW LOOK AT THE EVIDENCE
Matthew Troiano: If you discuss in regards to the proof on this case … the next testing reveals that you just might need a distinct rationalization for issues … that basically make clear what could have occurred right here.
Jane Dorotik spent years behind bars asking for a brand new examination of the proof used to convict her of her husband Bob’s homicide. Now, working with a crew from Loyola Venture for the Harmless, the court docket allowed them to have new DNA testing on gadgets such because the rope discovered round Bob Dorotik’s neck, his fingernails, and clothes. Attraction filings state that international male DNA was discovered on a number of gadgets.
Bob Dorotik
Household photograph
Jane Dorotik: The outcomes of that — none of my DNA anyplace.
Matthew Troiano: There may be bodily proof … from fingernail clippings … from a rope … from his clothes, that’s international to Jane.
The crew from Loyola Venture for the Harmless declined to be interviewed. We requested Nathan Lents, a Professor of Biology and Forensic Science at John Jay Faculty of Prison Justice, who was not concerned within the case, to overview court docket paperwork about new proof, such because the DNA on the rope.
Nathan Lents: Whereas they didn’t get a profile that may be adequate to go looking a database and even match to a suspect, they did get sufficient DNA that isn’t attributable to Bob or to Jane.
However whereas Jane and her crew believed the outcomes pointed to her innocence, the state got here to a distinct conclusion, stating in filings: “… the DNA obtained was too low level to make any reliable interpretation.”
Lents agrees the DNA ranges had been low, however he believes it was sufficient to exclude Jane, and that the absence of Jane’s DNA on the rope, in addition to beneath Bob’s fingernails or on his clothes, is critical.
Nathan Lents: With the idea of crime that they introduced, you’ll count on numerous Jane’s DNA on Bob … and if — if she had moved his physique, there’s numerous DNA switch which may have taken place there — that wasn’t discovered.
The appellate crew additionally reviewed the bed room blood proof the prosecutor informed the jury was totally examined and was Bob’s.
Prosecutor Bonnie Howard-Regan (in court docket): Now, the proof will present that every one this blood that has been described to you, the observations made on this bed room, that it was all despatched out for DNA evaluation, and all of it got here again Bob Dorotik’s blood.
However in line with the attraction, not each single spot within the bed room believed to be blood was examined. As a substitute, consultant samples had been examined.
Nathan Lents: There have been circumstances the place simply merely one swab with a management was taken and it was consultant, uh, of quite a lot of spots. That’s not good apply … it simply invitations misinterpretation.
Matthew Troiano: If you’re speaking about blood spatter and also you’re making an attempt to research the way it bought there … that you must do a reasonably complete check to have the ability to draw the conclusion that you just’re drawing.
Erin Moriarty: However I feel the prosecution may argue … You’ll be able to’t afford to check, are you able to, each single drop that appears like blood?
Matthew Troiano: Proper. … However whenever you say we did all the pieces … and that’s not correct, that’s the place the issue lies.
In truth, the appellate crew says that a number of blood-like stains on gadgets together with a pillow sham, the nightstand, a lampshade, turned out to not be blood.
And there have been these stains on the bedspread, which criminalist Charles Merritt pointed to at trial and described as Bob’s blood. Jane’s attorneys realized these explicit spots had been by no means examined in any respect, and because of improper storage, the bedspread couldn’t be examined once more.
The dealing with of the proof, over the course of the whole investigation, was additionally raised on attraction.
Nathan Lents (taking a look at photograph with Moriarty): This one is difficult to even take a look at. Um, you could have an investigator who undoubtedly ought to know higher, um, dealing with homicide proof together with his naked palms. … Along with clearly depositing his personal DNA throughout this crime scene, he’s additionally risking transferring proof from among the many varied spots that he’s gathering.
The contents of the Dorotik’s toilet rubbish can.
San Diego County Sheriff’s Division
And there’s that syringe, with Bob’s blood and Jane’s fingerprint, discovered within the toilet rubbish — one thing the appellate crew, and Lents, thought may very well be defined.
Nathan Lents: And when you throw that syringe within the rubbish can … Bob throws a — a bloody Kleenex in that rubbish can, they might switch. Switch of DNA from one object to a different in a trash can isn’t surprising.
Lents feels the truth that syringe was even discovered within the rubbish, factors fingers away from Jane.
Nathan Lents: In the event you’re cleansing up after a homicide, you received’t depart the bloody syringe within the waste bucket — basket.
However the state stood by its authentic investigation, sustaining the bed room was the homicide scene, stating that the proof nonetheless factors to Jane Dorotik because the killer, and that the protection “arguments are largely derived from speculation and misstatements of fact.”
Jane’s appellate crew, although, maintains the bed room didn’t even appear like a criminal offense scene, one thing Lents additionally believes.
Nathan Lents: There may be not a constant sample to the proof that signifies a violent bludgeoning that passed off in that bed room. … if Bob had been alive right this moment and investigators had walked in his room, nobody would say, oh, this appears like somebody was murdered right here.
Jane Dorotik: In the event you simply take a look at all the items of proof that Loyola was capable of completely take aside … and but we all know what was informed to the jury within the authentic conviction … So — how can that occur?
As her attorneys reviewed proof, Jane Dorotik, in 2020, was briefly and conditionally set free of jail because of COVID well being considerations. The query now grew to become, was the brand new proof her attorneys had been discovering sufficient to make her launch everlasting?
JANE DOROTIK’S FINAL PUSH FOR FREEDOM
In the summertime of 2020, Jane Dorotik and her crew hoped a court docket would overturn the jury’s verdict, turning her short-term launch from jail into lasting freedom.
Erin Moriarty: What had been their main factors?
Matthew Troiano: The testing that was performed initially was inadequate. The way in which that that testing was introduced to the jury was inaccurate. There have been plenty of completely different arguments that they made.
A listening to was scheduled, however then immediately the state requested an unplanned digital listening to.
PROSECUTOR KARL HUSOE (distant listening to): The individuals are prepared to concede petitioner’s new proof declare…
The prosecution admitted what Jane’s attorneys had argued all alongside.
PROSECUTOR KARL HUSOE (distant listening to): The DNA proof because it exists now, in 2020, is way completely different in high quality and amount than introduced at trial in 2001.
That the brand new DNA check outcomes – in addition to points with how the Sheriff’s Crime Lab dealt with proof — forged doubt on the decision. However what got here subsequent was much more surprising. The state requested that Jane’s homicide conviction be overturned … and the choose agreed.
Jane Dorotik: I all the time believed that sooner or later … the reality would come out.
However Jane’s ordeal wasn’t over. Three months later, in one other surprising transfer, the DA’s workplace determined to retry her.
Jane Dorotik: I don’t suppose any of us thought … that San Diego County would try to retry me. However they did.
Matthew Troiano: The state believes that she did this, they usually need to pursue it. … Then you could have this battle … in court docket. … In the event you’re conceding that there have been issues … how are you going to do it once more, basically with the identical proof?
Jane Dorotik: It was astounding to sit down in that courtroom and see what they attempt to put ahead as precise proof. After which additionally thrilling to see my crew take it aside.
Tire tracks close to the positioning the place Bob Dorotik’s physique was found.
San Diego County Sheriff’s Division
Jane’s attorneys questioned the credibility of a number of of the State’s consultants, together with Charles Merritt of the Sheriff’s Crime Lab. The choose finally dominated that the brand new trial may go forward, however that some key proof introduced in her authentic trial wouldn’t be admissible — together with these tire tracks close to the place Bob’s physique was discovered that had been linked to Jane’s truck.
Matthew Troiano: You’ve plenty of completely different vans that may very well be in keeping with these tire tracks … It’s in essence sort of junk science-y.
In Could 2022, simply as jury choice was about to start, the prosecution stunned everybody but once more.
Jane Dorotik: We go into court docket because the jury is assembled and able to come into the … courtroom Monday morning. And all the pieces’s modified.
Deputy DA Christopher Campbell (in court docket): We now not really feel that the proof is adequate to indicate proof past an affordable doubt and persuade 12 members of the jury. So we’re requesting that the court docket … dismiss the fees presently. Thanks. Choose: Ms. Dorotik, you might be free to go. Good luck to you ma’am.
Jane Dorotik handle reporters after her conviction was overturned.
Aleida Wahn
JANE DOROTIK (to reporters): It simply is overwhelming to comprehend that now I can decide my very own future. It’s one thing I’ve prayed for and hoped for.
After the listening to, Jane’s attorneys spoke about her decades-long struggle.
MICHAEL CAVALUZZI ( to reporters) Jane’s dignity in standing up and stoically preventing for her innocence in opposition to each threat and each risk. That’s why this case bought dismissed right this moment and … so far as we’re involved, we’re transferring on.
The District Legal professional’s Workplace and Sheriff’s Division declined to talk with “48 Hours.” The case in opposition to Jane Dorotik was dismissed with out prejudice, which suggests, if new proof surfaces, prices may very well be introduced once more sometime. Erin Moriarty: However then, doesn’t that depart nonetheless a shadow over Jane Dorotik?
Matthew Troiano: Oh, positive, it does. I imply, there’s no query about it. … From a sensible perspective, do I feel it’s over? Yeah, I feel it’s over. However from a authorized perspective, no.
Jane Dorotik is working to rebuild her life after spending practically twenty years in jail.
Jane Dorotik: My total household has been blown aside by this hurricane of occasions. … It’s been heartbreaking on so many ranges.
Claire Dorotik didn’t reply to”48 Hours”‘ request for remark, however Jane says they’re nonetheless shut. Her son Nick died in 2023. Alex Dorotik didn’t present a remark to “48 Hours,” however in line with filings by the state, he stays satisfied his mom killed his father.
Erin Moriarty: Do you could have hope that your loved ones will come collectively sooner or later?
Jane Dorotik: After all I do. After all I’ve hope.
Jane additionally has hope that she will be able to make a distinction in different individuals’s lives, as she works with advocacy teams that assist incarcerated ladies.
Jane Dorotik: To me, it’s not nearly my story. And sure, we will all sit right here and say, “This is so horrendous.” And “How did this happen to this woman?” … However except we glance systemically, what number of others are we gonna discover? And to me, that’s critically essential.
Many unanswered questions on this case stay, together with, maybe, crucial one.
Matthew Troiano: What occurred right here? … We don’t know what occurred to Bob Dorotik. … The place’s justice for Bob? The place’s justice for Robert Dorotik?
Jane Dorotik has filed a civil go well with in opposition to the County of San Diego. The go well with additionally names a number of members of the San Diego County Sheriff’s Division and its Crime Laboratory.
“48 HOURS” POST MORTEM PODCAST
Dive deeper into “The Troubled Case Against Jane Dorotik” with the “Post Mortem” podcast. Correspondent Erin Moriarty and producer Ruth Chenetz focus on the ugly crime scene and Jane’s 21-year struggle for freedom from behind bars. Take heed to “Post Mortem” within the “48 Hours” feed, wherever you get your podcasts.
Produced by Ruth Chenetz and Dena Goldstein. Atticus Brady, George Baluzy and Joan Adelman are the editors. Greg Fisher and Cindy Cesare are the event producers. Lourdes Aguiar is the senior producer. Nancy Kramer is the chief story editor. Judy Tygard is the chief producer.
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