Brothers exonerated after 25 years behind bars

GREEN BAY, Wis. (WFRV) – Two brothers wrongly convicted of a brutal murder are now free men after spending 25 years behind bars.

Robert and David Bintz had been serving lifetime sentences for the 1987 murder of Sandra Lison. Advancements in DNA testing technology and a group of dedicated lawyers for both men ultimately led to their recent exoneration.

“He’s (Robert Bintz) very joyful to be released, he’s very happy,” said Jim Mayer the legal director of Great North Innocence Project. “He wanted some snacks for the car some barbecue chips and a coke.”

In 1987, Lison went missing from the Good Times Bar in Green Bay where she worked as a bartender. Police say her body was found the next day in Machickanee Forest in Oconto County. An autopsy revealed the cause of death was strangulation and police say that there was evidence that she had been sexually assaulted.

According to court documents, there had been a dispute between the two brothers and Lison over how much she had charged them for beer. David called the bar to yell at Lison and threatened her.

According to the court documents, David Bintz had confessed to killing Lison to his cellmate while he was serving time for a separate crime. That cellmate testified against David in court.

There had been no physical evidence that connected the Bintz brothers to Lison’s body, so prosecutors abandoned their theory that a sexual assault had occurred and argued that the brothers were guilty of murder and robbery.

A judge sentenced both men to life in prison.

“There was crime scene evidence that was connected to someone else and there was no physical evidence connecting Bobby or his brother to the crime,” said Mayer.

The lack of evidence was what got Mayer and his team at the Great North Innocence Project involved in the case. The Wisconsin Innocence Project helped out the brothers as well. Mayer told Local 5 News that hundreds of prisoners contact them each year asking for them to take up their cases.

The groups were able to do additional testing that determined that the blood and semen found on Lison’s body and clothes was from the same person. However, this new evidence didn’t lead to a new trial for the brothers.

Further testing in conjunction with the Investigative Genetic Genealogy Center at New Jersey’s Ramapo College, revealed that the blood and semen found on Lison’s body belonged to one of three brothers.

One of those possible matches was William Hendricks. Officials zeroed in on him as the likely perpetrator of the crime because he had previously committed other violent sexual crimes and had a history of breaking into taverns.

He had just completed a sentence for rape a few months before Lison’s murder. He had passed away in 2000 and authorities exhumed his body, collected his DNA, and were able to match it with the DNA found at the crime scene.

According to Wisconsin State Crime Lab officials, the chances that the semen recovered from Sandra Lison’s body came from someone other than William Hendricks is one in 329 trillion.

Police also found his fingerprints at the tavern and witnesses told police they saw his car in the parking lot on the day of the crime.

On Wednesday, a Brown County judge vacated the conviction for the Bintz brothers.

“The best thing that ever happens in this job, we spend a lot of time losing and having setbacks,” said Mayer. “It’s indescribable it’s the best thing that can happen to a lawyer.”

Both of the brothers our in their late sixties and their lawyers say they’re both looking forward to being able to reconnect with their families.

“We could not be happier to welcome David Bintz home,” said Rachel Burg, Wisconsin Innocence Project co-director. “The Wisconsin Innocence Project has been fighting for Mr. Bintz’s freedom for more than 20 years. We are honored to have worked on his behalf and by his side throughout this arduous process. Finally, our hearts go out to the Lison family, and we hope they can now find closure.”

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