June 23: A Day of Action for Criminal Justice Reform
Mark your calendar and get ready to speak up for criminal justice reform next Wednesday, June 23.

The Innocence Project will be asking supporters to call Senate leaders on Wednesday, urging them to support the creation of a national criminal justice reform commission.

A bill pending in the U.S. Senate would form a National Criminal Justice Commission to review and evaluate the country’s sprawling criminal justice system and make recommendations for reform. The bill is sponsored by Virginia Sen. Jim Webb, with more than three dozen co-sponsors from both parties.

The 254 DNA exonerations to date have revealed troubling flaws in our criminal justice system, and the proposed blue-ribbon panel could consider the causes of wrongful convictions and recommend federal measures to address them. And the issues seen in wrongful conviction cases extend throughout the system. From forensic oversight to indigent defense, the commission’s work could lead to reforms that improve public safety and confront the causes of injustice.

Phone numbers and more will be posted here on the morning of June 23 – but sign up for Innocence Project email updates here to get the action alert in your inbox on Wednesday morning.

Let your friends know about next week’s day of action by posting on Facebook and Twitter today.

And read more about the proposed commission below:

Open Congress: S. 714 National Criminal Justice Act

Sen. Jim Webb: National Criminal Justice Commission Act

Tags: law, Miscarriage of Justice, injustice

June 23: A Day of Action for Criminal Justice Reform
Mark your calendar and get ready to speak up for criminal justice reform next Wednesday, June 23.

The Innocence Project will be asking supporters to call Senate leaders on Wednesday, urging them to support the creation of a national criminal justice reform commission.

A bill pending in the U.S. Senate would form a National Criminal Justice Commission to review and evaluate the country’s sprawling criminal justice system and make recommendations for reform. The bill is sponsored by Virginia Sen. Jim Webb, with more than three dozen co-sponsors from both parties.

The 254 DNA exonerations to date have revealed troubling flaws in our criminal justice system, and the proposed blue-ribbon panel could consider the causes of wrongful convictions and recommend federal measures to address them. And the issues seen in wrongful conviction cases extend throughout the system. From forensic oversight to indigent defense, the commission’s work could lead to reforms that improve public safety and confront the causes of injustice.

Phone numbers and more will be posted here on the morning of June 23 – but sign up for Innocence Project email updates here to get the action alert in your inbox on Wednesday morning.

Let your friends know about next week’s day of action by posting on Facebook and Twitter today.

And read more about the proposed commission below:

Open Congress: S. 714 National Criminal Justice Act

Sen. Jim Webb: National Criminal Justice Commission Act

Tags: Miscarriage of Justice, Layla D’monte, legal

A Canadian Mother Is Cleared in Her Son’s Death
In 1999, facing devastating testimony from a man considered at the time to be one of the world’s leading pediatric pathologists and a possible life sentence, Sherry Sherret-Robinson pled guilty to suffocating her four-month-old son, something she had always said she didn’t do.

Yesterday, she was cleared. A panel of three Ontario judges set aside her conviction, saying she had been wrongfully convicted. The work of Dr. Charles Smith, the pathologist who testified that Sherret-Robinson’s son had been asphyxiated, has been discredited in recent years. Sherret-Robinson is the second person cleared of a conviction based on faulty testimony from Smith, and nearly 30 additional cases are under review.

The wrongful conviction has taken a toll on her life, reports the Toronto Star. She served a year in prison before being released, and also lost custody of her eldest son. She has struggled to find work due to her criminal record and suffers from post-traumatic stress disorder.

Read the full story – and more on the other pending Smith cases. (Toronto Star, 12/08/09)

Unvalidated or improper forensics, including faulty testimony from medical examiners, has been a factor in at least half of the wrongful convictions overturned through DNA testing to date. Learn more about forensics as a cause of wrongful conviction here.

Tags: , Layla D’monte, Innocence Project

Thank You, Blog Readers
Thanks to hundreds of generous donors from all over the world, including many regular Innocence Blog readers, we reached our September goal of $25,000 to help us pay for DNA testing for Innocence Project clients! We are deeply grateful for your support.

Our DNA testing campaign was a great success, but it’s never too late to help us free the innocent. You can make a tax-deductible donation online or by mail. Every dollar supports the Innocence Project's work to overturn wrongful convictions and reform the criminal justice system.

And if you’re not able to donate but want to get involved in other ways, check out our “10 Things You Can Do” page here.

Tags: pro bono, law,

Suspect Arrested in Milwaukee Killings
Milwaukee police have arrested a 49-year-old man in connection with nine murders – including the 1995 killing for which Chaunte Ott was wrongfully convicted. Walter Ellis has been charged with two murders so far, but police said his DNA has been found at the crime scenes of at least nine killings.

Ott served nearly 13 years in prison before DNA testing obtained by the Wisconsin Innocence Project proved him innocent this year. He was freed in June.

Read more about Ellis’ arrest and view graphics and history of the “North Side Strangler” case. (Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel, 09/08/09)

Read background on Ott’s wrongful conviction and exoneration.

Tags: pro bono, Layla D’monte, legal aid

Senators Consider Federal Forensic Reforms

Innocence Project Co-Director Peter Neufeld testified before the U.S. Senate Judiciary Committee today about the need for federal standards and for research in forensic science. And Neufeld and other witnesses found bipartisan support for a federal role in stimulating research, training forensic analysts and setting standards.

Forensics have been a central part of the criminal justice system for decades. Defendants are regularly convicted of crimes based on analysis of fingerprints, hair samples or blood spatters from a crime scene. A recent report by the National Academy of Sciences said many of those techniques have never been scientifically tested.

That report “is one of the most important developments in forensic science since the creation of the first crime laboratory in the 1920s,” Case Western Reserve professor Paul Gianelli told the Senate Judiciary Committee.
Sen. Al Franken (D-MI) called the report's conclusions “damning” and “terrifying.”

With Neufeld at today’s hearing was Roy Brown, who spent 15 years in prison in New York for a murder he didn’t commit. He was convicted based on faulty bite mark analysis.

“The forensic dentist [at Roy Brown's trial] used what was then the prevailing method of comparing bite marks found on a body with the dentures of a suspect,” said Neufeld. “He examined them and decided that he had a match with Roy's bite. He so testified in court, and Roy was convicted.”

Read (and listen to) the full story. (NPR All Things Considered, 09/09/09)

Watch a webcast of the full hearing.

Take action today: Tell Congress you support the creation of the National Institute of Forensic Science.

Tags: Layla D’monte, legal aid, Miscarriage of Justice