Lana Canen freed over bad fingerprint evidence after 8 years in prison for Indiana murder

Lana Canen of Elkhart, Indiana, is seen in a police photo. / Elkhart Co. Sheriff/WSBT

ELKHART, Indiana A woman who spent eight years behind bars for the killing of a blind 94-year-old woman has been freed after a fingerprint that was prosecutors' crucial piece of evidence against her was found not to be hers.

Lana Canen, 53, was released Friday from jail after a judge who overturned her 2005 murder conviction in the Thanksgiving Day 2002 slaying of Helen Sailor ordered her freed, CBS News affiliate WSBT-TV reported.

Canen maintains that she had nothing to do with killing Sailor. At her trial, prosecutors said she conspired with her co-defendant, Andrew Royer, to rob Sailor, and that Royer strangled the woman. Both were convicted and given 55-year prison sentences.

Canen appealed her conviction and earlier this year an Arizona fingerprint expert discovered that a sheriff's detective, Dennis Chapman, had misidentified a fingerprint found on a pill bottle in Sailor's apartment as Canen's.

Prosecutor Curtis Hill said the fingerprint was a central part of the case against Canen and that without it, he couldn't prove she was involved.

"There's just not an ability for me in good conscience to go forward and suggest that we have a sufficient amount to support a prosecution," Hill said.

Hill said the only way Canen could be charged in Sailor's death again is if investigators find other evidence against her. When asked whether he thought Canen was innocent, Hill responded: "That's not what I'm saying. I'm saying I can't prove it."

Canen said after her release Friday that since her 2004 arrest, she hadn't seen her now 10-year-old grandson, her daughter and other relatives. Now free, she said even car exhaust smelled "good."

"I didn't never think this day was going to come, it's been a long time coming," a tired Canen, still wearing prison clothes, told WSBT-TV.

She told the station she had nothing to do with Sailor's killing.

"That's what's hard to think (is) that people would think I'm that kind of a monster that would do that to a 94-year-old blind woman," Canen said.

Chapman, who admitted that his fingerprint test results were wrong, was disciplined and still works at the sheriff's department.

[tomanyt]

Frontline on PBS has a very interesting document on the fraud that is fingerprint examination.

[lillyhorton]

Did the sherrif know the prints were wrong and continued to maintain her guilt or did he just understand his error? If he knowingly used bad evidence he owes her a lot of money for her time. I think minimum wage is 8 and a quarter times 24 hours a day times how many days she spent in prison. The state can compensate for the stress caused by providing a lawyer who didn't question the finger print.

[MickProPer]

Actually, wrongful imprisonment is normally compensated at an average rate of $1,000/day; that's about $3,000,000, and that's not even bringing in the possibility of punitive damages, if she can show that the sheriff or any of his employees were actually aware of the fingerprint "error".

[Jeepster44]

Some investigative news show did a story on the errors in using fingerprints as identification. It is difficult for humans to read/identify fingerprints correctly.

[1pheasant1]

I'm surprised the zealots didn't immediately put her to death.

[rwsmith29456]

It's kinda late now but she could have spent her life in there with everybody believing she was guilty.

[MegaProcrastination]

"""Now free, she said even car exhaust smelled "good.""""

Haha! One time I was confined to my home for months. One of the fondest memories I have of finally getting back out was the smell of car exhaust. Strange, isn't it?

[boiler_tech]

I think even the opening of a septic tank would smell good if you were originally told you were going to be in prison (much worse than homebound)for 55 years.

Guess it's your perspective.