Death of Michelle O'Keefe

Michelle O'Keefe was an 18-year-old American college student and aspiring actress who was killed in Palmdale, California, while on her way home from appearing in a Kid Rock music video. The case drew significant national media attention, including coverage on America's Most Wanted and Dateline NBC.

In 2005, Iraq-war veteran Sgt. Raymond Lee Jennings was arrested in connection with O'Keefe's murder. After three trials, he was convicted and sentenced to life in prison. Jennings served 11 years of that sentence before being exonerated and released.

The path to Jennings's exoneration began when a law student, Clinton Ehrlich, saw the case on television and, together with his father, attorney Jeffrey Ehrlich, began an independent investigation. Their work raised several points that were later cited in Jennings's favor: his uniform tested negative for gunshot residue; he owned a .38 caliber handgun, whereas O'Keefe was killed with a 9mm weapon, and he was reportedly unarmed at the time; his DNA did not match blood found under O'Keefe's fingernails, evidence that the prosecutor allegedly misrepresented to the jury as random contamination; and detectives had not investigated other individuals present at the Park-and-Ride where the murder occurred.

The judge who ordered Jennings's release stated that the jury had never been informed of crucial information indicating that known gang members were present at the crime scene. In filings supporting Jennings's innocence claim and requesting his release, the Los Angeles District Attorney's office indicated a belief that the killing was gang-related.

According to these filings, a car present in the parking lot at the time of the murder was driven by Victoria Richardson, a 17-year-old identified as a Bloods gang member, along with her 18-year-old boyfriend Andrew Stewart, also identified as a Bloods gang member. In the months following O'Keefe's death, Andrew Stewart committed a series of home invasions and carjackings, including the armed theft of a Ford Mustang, for which he was sentenced to 31 years in prison. At the time of his arrest, Stewart was wearing an earring that matched one missing from O'Keefe's body. Ballistics evidence suggested that the 9mm weapon used to kill O'Keefe may have been the same weapon used by Stewart and/or other members of the Flushing Fifties gang in other shootings.

Jennings was ultimately found factually innocent of the crime — a legal standard described as unusual and considerably higher than a simple presumption or de jure finding of innocence.