GREEN BAY (NBC 26) — A decades-old murder case in Green Bay has finally found justice—two brothers, imprisoned for nearly 25 years, are now free.
The case dates back to the murder of a woman back in 1987 ... But this week, investigative genetic genealogy changed everything, clearing the brothers of any wrongdoing.
This groundbreaking DNA technology has only been used a handful of times to exonerate prisoners in the U.S.
Now, after decades of uncertainty, two brothers, David and Robert Bintz are finally heading home.
Back on August 3, 1987, Sandra Lison, a mother of two, disappeared from her job at the Good Times Bar in Green Bay.
Lison's body was found the next day in the Machickanee Forest 30 miles away.
According to reports she had been beaten, strangled, and sexually assaulted.
Despite the search for a man she was last seen with at the bar, her murder went unsolved for over a decade.
In 1998, a prisoner in the Oshkosh Correctional Institution told guards his cellmate, David Bintz confessed to the crime.
Bintz and his brother, Robert were at the Good Times Bar the night Lison disappeared and were interviewed as witnesses by police.
Based solely on the prisoner's hearsay, both David and his brother, Robert were arrested in 2000, despite no physical evidence linking them to the murder, according to court records. Both were sentenced to life in prison.
Rachel Burg, Co-Director of the Wisconsin Innocence Project, represented David Bintz in the Brown County courtroom,
“We ended 25 years on a wrongful conviction for these events. We have been fighting this fight for the last 20 years. And finally, he's got his day in court."
In 2023 the Great North Innocence Project used investigative genetic genealogy, by taking a sample of DNA preserved from the victim’s body.
Former FBI attorney, Steve Kramer was the first person to use investigative genetic genealogy in a criminal case to identify the Golden State Killer in 2018. He describes what the process entails.
“In this case, it looks like a genealogist built a family tree and came across three brothers that apparently had Green Bay connections, and one of them looked very interesting, given a criminal history on him,” he said.
“The police go follow that suspect around, pick up DNA if the suspect's deceased, either get a relative or exhume the body and see if the actual DNA from that individual matches the crime scene DNA.”
On Wednesday, in an emergency court hearing in the Brown County courtroom, Judge Donald Zuidmulder quickly granted a motion to set the two brothers free.
“Today, Sandra Lison will rest in peace, because her true murder is now known,” he said.
“It is therefore my bounded duty to exercise and follow the law, well satisfied that I will sign judgments vacating the convictions in both of these for both of these defendants and save them free.”
NBC 26 spoke with District Attorney David Lasee about how two men could be sentenced to life for a crime that had no physical evidence tying them to the scene.
“The prosecutors and the law enforcement officers were handling this case at the outset, followed the evidence that they had at that time, and that conviction was sound,” said District Attorney Lasee.
This case marks a significant milestone in the use of cutting-edge forensic techniques and the start of a new life for these two brothers who lost so much.
“He's had faith in his in his innocence. He's had faith in his lawyers and he's taking one day at a time,” said David Bintz's attorney, Rachel Burg with the Wisconsin Innocence Project.
“He’s ecstatic,” she adds.
“Robert wants very dearly to go to a Green Bay Packers game,” says Robert Bintz’s attorney, Chris Renz. “And I think Robert would like some kind of justice out of the state for the better part of, you know, or a large part of his life being taken.”
According to Attorney Burg, she will file a compensation claim for her client.
“Wisconsin has a pretty low Wisconsin compensation statute. It's up to $5,000 per year for five years, a maximum of $25,000. Of course, we can then request the legislature,” she says. “We will certainly continue to fight every day for Mr. David Bintz and the compensation he deserves. And of course, he can never give back these 25 years.”
