IndianaLocalNews

Appeals court rules against Elkhart woman’s civil suit in wrongful conviction case

A former police detective in Elkhart County has been cleared of wrongdoing in a civil suit.

Now-retired detective Dennis Chapman was cleared of wrongdoing Friday after a lawsuit was filed against him, according to the Elkhart Truth.

The suit claimed he withheld a lack of qualification to perform specific fingerprint analysis when he testified during a murder trial that ultimately led to the conviction of an Elkhart woman.

Lana Canen was convicted in 2005 of killing 94-year-old Helen Sailor at her Waterfall Highrise apartment in 2002, and sentenced to serve 55 years in the Indiana Department of Correction. She was exonerated in 2014 after hiring her own fingerprint expert who determined Canen’s fingerprint wasn’t a match.

The court ruled that since Chapman was working in an official capacity, he had qualified immunity.

Canen can still appeal to the U.S. Supreme Court.

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