My name is Jeffrey Scott Hornoff. I am a detective with the Warwick, Rhode Island police department, and I used to be in favor of the death penalty; that is until I was charged, tried and convicted of first degree murder. If Rhode Island had the death penalty I'd have been on it. Instead I was sentenced to life in prison.
On November 6, 2002, Scott Hornoff walked out of the Rhode Island Adult Correctional Institution a free man. After six years, four months, and 18 days in a maximum security prison, he was free to drive a car, play with his three sons, and kiss his girlfriend.
He left as a man who had been exonerated for a crime for which he'd been wrongfully convicted. In 1996, Warwick police detective Scott Hornoff was convicted of murdering a woman with whom he'd had a brief affair. The case, as many Rhode Islanders will remember, was a news media blockbuster.
The complaint charges, “As a result of his wrongful conviction, Hornoff lost everything: his home, his profession, his family, and his freedom.” It also states not only is Hornoff looking for a monetary award, but that he wants to see others’ constitutional rights are not violated as he asserts his were.
CranstonHornoff now lives in Cranston with Dauphinais, whom he plans on marrying in September. He has no money, no job and recently discovered the City of Warwick has denied him his back pay, benefits and pension.
Scott Hornoff and wife Tina have put their plans on hold indefinitely. In a nutshell, Hornoff and his ex-wife, Rhonda Goula, are at odds over how much of his $600,000 settlement from the city of Warwick should go to her.
On September 18, 2003, Calvin Willis was released from prison after serving more than 21 years for a crime he did not commit. Post-conviction DNA testing excluded Willis as the perpetrator of a 1981 rape for which he had been sentenced to life without the possibility of parole.
Because he admitted to knowing her, Hornoff was questioned by fellow Warwick detectives. At first, he denied any romantic ties to Cushman, but eventually admitted to the brief affair — which made him a potential suspect. A letter she had written to him was also found in her apartment.
But everything changed in 1989 when Victoria Cushman, a woman he had just ended a brief affair with, was murdered at her home in Warwick. Though Hornoff was guilty of being unfaithful to his wife, he was not guilty of murder.
Guilty Until Proven Innocent: The Jeffrey Scott Hornoff Story. It takes a lot to share the most difficult parts of your life to a room full of strangers — but last week Jeffrey Scott Hornoff stood on stage in front of a packed audience at JWU’s Providence Campus and told the story of how he was wrongfully convicted of first-degree murder.
To set the record straight, Scott Hornoff would like people to know: Vicky Cushman was not my mistress. The 'affair' lasted about 2 weeks.
Jeffrey Scott Hornoff walked out of the Providence County Courthouse a free man on November 6th, five days after Todd Barry confessed to Victory Cushman's murder. His release on bail pending further proceedings was ordered by the same judge that had presided over his trial and assuming his guilt, had sentenced him to spend the rest of his life in prison for a crime he didn't commit. Hornoff's claim of innocence had fallen on the deaf ears and to the blind eyes of everyone, including the judge, who chose to substitute the appearance of his guilt for any proof that he actually was.
There were no fingerprints, no blood evidence, no DNA matches, no witnesses, and no evidence.". Rhode Island Attorney General Sheldon Whitehouse tried to deflect attention away from the failure of the police to adequately investigate Victoria Cushman's murder and the failure of the prosecutors to demand evidence Jeffrey Scott Hornoff was guilty ...
Evidence was lost or misplaced. Police also gave him a polygraph and said he passed; investigators later said the test violated every rule for conducting such procedures. The state police eventually took over the case and, in 1994, more than five years after the slaying, Hornoff was charged with murder.
Lacking any blood, fingerprints or other forensic evidence linking Hornoff to the crime, prosecutors seized on the letter. There was also Hornoff's behavior. In the hours after Cushman's body was discovered, he gave conflicting accounts of his relationship with Cushman, even once denying that he knew her.
In 1996, Warwick police detective Scott Hornoff was convicted of murdering a woman with whom he'd had a brief affair. The case, as many Rhode Islanders will remember, was a news media blockbuster.
On November 6, 2002, Scott Hornoff walked out of the Rhode Island Adult Correctional Institution a free man. After six years, four months, and 18 days in a maximum security prison, he was free to drive a car, play with his three sons, and kiss his girlfriend.
And each day that the City of Warwick continues to deny Scott Hornoff his badge, his honor and his lost policeman's wages is another day that the principles of equity, fairness and justice fail in the state of Rhode Island.
Hornoff says there was no physical evidence linking Hornoff to the murder, nor could any witnesses testify that they had seen him in the victim's apartment or beating her that night. Hornoff asserts he was convicted on a flimsy foundation of "ambiguous inferences.".
Rhode Island Supreme Court Justice Maureen McKenna Goldberg said regarding the Hornoff appeal that, "the defense witnesses had been wholly incongruous and self-serving and had led the jury - properly - to convict.". After serving 6 years, Mr. Hornoff was released in the fall of 2002 after the real killer confessed to the murder.
While in prison together, Rossier told Hornoff the act was consensual and he feels the transcripts will prove lies and inconsistencies made by East Providence Police. As a result of Hornoff’s efforts, Rossier has been granted a hearing. The first two were postponed, but a third is set for tomorrow.