My Uncle, Michael Duhs, was wrongfully convicted for the first degree assault of a child he loved and cared for and was sentenced to 20 years in prison.
 He was accused of intentionally dipping his girlfriend’s three year old son in scalding hot water in a bathtub. Nothing could be further from the truth however, using the hospital doctor’s testimony to “prove” intent, he was taken away from my siblings and I along with his daughter who was only four years old at the time. He was robbed of the pleasure of raising his daughter, who is now 19. He was robbed of witnessing all the precious first moments as his daughter graduated high school and started college.

   Although he was neglectful by leaving the boy unattended. He did not and would not have intentionally held this boy in scalding water. He stepped out for a smoke as the boy went to take his bath. The apartment had a bathtub that was installed backwards, leaving the overflow and spout on opposing sides. The boy liked to stick his toys in the hole of the overflow. The landlord had the hot water heater turned to it’s highest setting at the time and sadly as he reached in to get his toys, his hand got stuck as he stood in that water.  He called for my uncle to help him and Michael struggled to remove his hand from the overflow hole, stepped in the water and realized that was not what the boy was crying about (Articles and pictures of the tub will be attached). 
   It’s been 15 years since he was arrested and 13 since he was convicted. A couple of years ago a judge overturned his conviction because without the boy’s direction testimony, there is no proof of intent. We finally thought, my uncle would be able to come home. Sadly, that was not the case. My Uncle’s freedom has been riding on two things: a response from Governor Cuomo about his clemency application that he was interviewed for a few months ago as well as a SET DATE for his hearing. My uncle holds the evidence excluded from his trial that proves his innocence. We, as his family, are trying to make sure my uncle’s plea for release is heard so he can finally be a true part of his daughters life and I hope that whoever sees this will help us get there.

article about the overturned conviction and bathtub pictures attached: https://www.silive.com/news/2015/02/federal_judge_overturns_convic.html