Terry Olson

10 YEARS IN PRISON

Terry Olson was convicted in 2007 for the 1979 death Jeff Hammill. Jeff had been found dead by the side of the road just outside of Buffalo, MN. At the time of his death, law enforcement investigated the case as a possible roadside accident or homicide, and ultimately the case was closed with no charges being filed. One of the lead investigators on the case, retired Chief Deputy Sheriff Jim Powers, believes to this day that the case was an accident, and Jeff was likely accidentally hit by a piece of farm equipment being moved in the night when the roads are less crowded. Now retired, Chief Deputy Powers contacted the Great North Innocence Project early on in its representation of Terry, and continues to be one of Terry’s strongest advocates because of his strong belief that no crime ever occurred.

In 2003, police reopened the case by interrogating and ultimately securing a confession from a mentally ill man, Dale Todd. They told him that in 1979 they had taken and kept evidence from his car that contained biological evidence that proved he was involved in a murder. This was not true. The police had no such evidence but Dale was so frightened and unstable that he confessed and implicated Terry and another man, Ron Michaels. Ron was brought to trial first in 2006. At Ron’s trial, Dale admitted that he had been coerced to falsely confess and falsely implicate Ron and Terry. Ron was acquitted. Several months later when Terry was brought to trial, Dale was coerced into reverting to the story he told police in 2003. Terry was convicted and sent to prison for 17 years. Days later, Dale wrote a letter to the trial judge explaining he had lied at Terry’s trial. No hearing was held on Dale’s recantation.

In 2012, Dale contacted the Great North Innocence Project. For the first time in many years, his mental health issues were now stabilized with medication. He wanted to clear his conscience and again tell the truth – as he had at Ron’s trial – that none of them were involved in the death of Jeff and that the police had frightened him into making a false confession. He provided a detailed affidavit explaining the circumstances of his false coerced confession. In addition, at a hearing on Terry’s request for a new trial, Terry’s public defenders admitted that they provided him with poor representation in several key ways. One of the attorneys acknowledged that there were budget cuts and staffing problems in his office, that his caseload was unusually large, and he missed several important issues in Terry’s case.

Although the judge ultimately denied Terry’s request for a new trial, the Wright County Attorney’s Office realized the unfairness of Terry’s situation. Their office agreed that in the interest of justice Terry should be immediately released from prison. Terry is innocent and the Great North Innocence Project and all who have worked on his case know it too. Terry was given a choice no one should ever have to make, yet so many wrongfully convicted people are forced to make: be freed immediately but not exonerated, or stay in wrongful imprisonment and keep fighting from behind bars. We’ll keep working to make sure innocent people like Terry receive the full justice to which they’re entitled.