Dennis Maher
Dennis with his family at NEIP’s Celebration of Freedom event.
“I was serving a ‘one day to natural life’ sentence. The system never had to let me go. Without NEIP—and without the supporters who made their work possible—I would still be in prison. My story would have ended there.”
—Dennis Maher, Exoneree
Nearly Two Decades Stolen
In 2003, Dennis Maher walked out of a Massachusetts prison a free man after spending nearly two decades of his life behind prison walls for a crime he did not commit—19 years, two months, and 29 days.
In November 1983, Dennis was charged with, and ultimately convicted of, the assaults of three women and sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole. No biological evidence linked him to the crimes, so the prosecution relied on five eyewitness identifications, all of which were later proven mistaken based on DNA evidence. At the time, he was a sergeant in the U.S. Army. “I was a defender of freedom,” Dennis said. “And when I was wrongfully convicted, they took my freedom away from me, and with it, my dreams for the future.” Between the sentences for the criminal convictions and a subsequent civil proceeding, Dennis faced the very real possibility of dying in prison.
“I couldn’t believe that I was going to prison for something I didn’t do,” Dennis recalls. “It felt like everything was lost in an instant.”
“I was one of the first clients of the New England Innocence Project and one of the first DNA exonerations.”
—Dennis Maher, Exoneree
DNA Evidence & the Dream Team
For years, Dennis fought to prove his innocence. In 2001, he reached out to the New England Innocence Project and asked if we would review his case. He sent everything he had—trial transcripts, appeals, every piece of paperwork he had accumulated during his years behind bars.
Then one day, a prison officer told him he had an attorney visit. “I told him, ‘I don’t have an attorney,’” Dennis said. “And he said, ‘Well, you do now.’”
That visit was from Aliza Kaplan, a New England Innocence Project attorney at the time, and Karin Burns, a law student and legal intern. For Dennis, it was a moment he never thought would come. “As you can imagine, I was pretty much in shock. I truly believed my life was over—that I was going to die in prison as an innocent man.”
In December 2002, after years of persistence and being told that the physical evidence from the case could not be located, Karin found two boxes of evidence in the basement of the Middlesex County Courthouse. DNA test results of the evidence excluded Dennis from being involved in any of the three assaults. On April 3, 2003, after 19 years of proclaiming his innocence, his conviction was overturned, he was freed from prison, and he was officially exonerated all on the same day.
Dennis with his mother on the day of his release.
A New Beginning
“When I first got out, there was no support system,” Dennis said. “No Exoneree Network like there is now. You start from nothing.” He had to learn how to use a cell phone and navigate the internet—things that didn’t exist when he went in. He had been a diesel mechanic in the military, but now trucks talked to computers, and he had to learn how to use complex technology just to find work. “It was a lot to learn.”
In freedom, Dennis met his wife, Melissa. Together, they built the life that had once been taken from him. They now have two children, Josh and Aliza Karin—named in honor of the two women who helped free him, Aliza Kaplan and Karin Burns.
“There was no way I could pay back Aliza and Karin for the work they did to prove my innocence, so I named my daughter after them,” Dennis shared. “It’s what I’ve always hoped for. The world has changed, and I've had to adapt to it. But life is good.”
In a rare admission of error, the prosecutor in Dennis’s case offered him an apology for having participated in his wrongful conviction and the loss of nearly 20 years of freedom. They remain friends to this day.
“Freedom means more to me than life itself, and I’m very grateful to everyone who helped get me here.”
—Dennis Maher, Exoneree
“Freedom Means More Than Life Itself”
Over the years, Dennis has found ways to give back. He testified at State Houses to help pass laws aimed at preventing wrongful convictions and securing compensation for exonerees. He speaks at high schools and universities across New England. He even served on NEIP’s Board of Trustees.
“I was one of the first clients of the New England Innocence Project and one of the first DNA exonerations in Massachusetts. NEIP only took DNA cases at that time, but over the years, I’ve gotten to see them expand to take all cases, even those that don’t have evidence to test for DNA, offering many more innocent people a pathway to freedom,” said Dennis.
“I was serving a ‘one day to natural life’ sentence,” Dennis says. “The system never had to let me go. Without NEIP—and without the supporters who made their work possible—I would still be in prison. My story would have ended there.”
Every April 3, Dennis still calls Aliza Kaplan. More than 20 years after his release, they remain in touch. “It’s a friendship that will never be broken,” he said. “Freedom means more to me than life itself, and I’m very grateful to everyone who helped get me here.”
19 years
Number of Years Wrongfully Incarcerated
Age at Arrest: 23 years old
Age at Exoneration: 42 years old
Sentence: Life Life Life without the possibility of parole
Freedom Dates
- Conviction Overturned: Apr. 3, 2003 Conviction Overturned A legal reversal of the wrongful conviction. Success here is monumental but doesn't automatically grant immediate freedom; it simply returns the individual to the status of "charged," leaving the State to decide whether to drop the case or force a grueling retrial.
- Date of Release: Apr. 3, 2003 Date of Release Leaving prison. Release is not the same thing as “freedom” since many people who are not in prison remain under the control of the carceral state through invasive supervision and monitoring, and may still face criminal charges and the threat of returning to prison.
- Date of Exoneration: Apr. 3, 2003 Date of Exoneration When a person is legally cleared of all charges, whether through a decision by the prosecutor, judge, or jury. Achieving this requires overcoming immense systemic opposition.
Primary Contributing Factors This list is not comprehensive.
- Mistaken Eyewitness ID
NEIP’s Involvement
- Took on the case: 2001
- Worked on case: 2 years
Pro Bono Partner
- Goodwin
Innocence Organization Partner
- Innocence Project
Case Investigators and Experts
- 1 Investigator
- 2 Forensic pathologists
- 1 Pediatrician
- 1 Forensic psychologist