Innocence Project Bournemouth

posted by Justice on Aug 12

For nearly three decades, Calvin Wayne Cunningham sought forensic tests to prove his innocence of the 1979 rape for which he was convicted. Even before DNA profiling was ever used to identify individuals, Cunningham saw forensics as his potential salvation

30 Years Later, DNA Tests Prove Virginia Man Innocent
For nearly three decades, Calvin Wayne Cunningham sought forensic tests to prove his innocence of the 1979 rape for which he was convicted. Even before DNA profiling was ever used to identify individuals, Cunningham saw forensics as his potential salvation.

“If I were able to afford to have my semen analyze with the semen that the doctors suppose to have gotten from the victim, I know it would prove my innocents,” Cunningham wrote to a judge in 1982. “The way technology is today it should be able to be done. Don’t you think?”

This year, he finally got his wish — DNA tests on evidence from the rape prove his innocence and implicate another unknown man as the perpetrator, according to the Mid-Atlantic Innocence Project, which represents Cunningham.
DNA tests were conducted in Cunningham’s case as part of Virginia’s ongoing Old Case Testing Project — an initiative launched in 2006 by former Gov. Mark Warner to examine evidence from convictions between 1973 and 1988 for possible signs of innocence.
The Mid-Atlantic Innocence Project and pro bono lawyers at Wilmer Cutler Pickering Hale and Dorr LLP have filed a writ of actual innocence on Cunningham’s behalf. Prosecutors haven’t responded to the writ yet. Cunningham is currently incarcerated on unrelated nonviolent crimes and is scheduled to remain behind bars until 2012 even if he is exonerated of the rape.

Read more at the Mid-Atlantic Innocence Project’s blog.

Tags: legal, Miscarriage of Justice, law

posted by Justice on Jul 2

Fifteen years ago today, Ronald Cotton walked out of a North Carolina prison a free man for the first time in a decade. Since his release, he has turned his injustice into a teaching moment — traveling around the country telling his story and urging policymakers to enact safeguards to prevent wrongful convictions. The lives of Ronald Cotton and Jennifer Thompson were changed forever on the night of July 20, 1984.

An Extraordinary Man and a Common Injustice
Fifteen years ago today, Ronald Cotton walked out of a North Carolina prison a free man for the first time in a decade. Since his release, he has turned his injustice into a teaching moment — traveling around the country telling his story and urging policymakers to enact safeguards to prevent wrongful convictions.

The lives of Ronald Cotton and Jennifer Thompson were changed forever on the night of July 20, 1984. A man broke into Thompson’s home and raped her at knifepoint. During the attack, Thompson said she tried to concentrate on the man’s appearance. During the police investigation, she viewed a photo lineup including Ronald Cotton and identified him as her attacker. Based mainly on Thompson’s identification, Cotton was convicted and sentenced to life in prison. Cotton served 10 years in prison before DNA testing proved that another man had committed the crime. On June 30, 1995, he was finally freed.

Cotton immediately began to rebuild his life, and his life since his exoneration has been an extraordinary one. He got two jobs, married, and had a daughter. He worked hard to move forward, but presented with the opportunity to address his past, he embraced it, meeting face to face with Thompson, the victim in his case who was committed to addressing the issues that led to Cotton’s wrongful conviction for the attack she suffered.
Today, united in their joint opposition to injustice, Cotton and Thompson are close friends, speaking together, advocating for reform and working to expose and remedy the causes of wrongful conviction. The two friends authored a book, “Picking Cotton,” a best-selling memoir about their individual experiences and the issue of eyewitness misidentification.

Since leaving prison, Ronald Cotton has led an exceptional life. The narrative of his friendship with Thompson is an exceptional story. But the facts of Cotton’s case: his age, the length of time he spent in prison, and the reason Cotton was sent to jail for a decade -eyewitness misidentification – are unfortunately all unexceptional. The average length of time served by exonerees is 13 years, and the average age of exonerees at the time of their wrongful convictions is 27 (Cotton was 22). Also, eyewitness misidentification was a factor in 75 percent of DNA exonerations.

Thompson and Cotton refuse to accept a system where wrongful convictions are too common, and they’re working to change it. Learn more about their stories by reading the first chapter of “Picking Cotton” here.

Watch a special report from CBS News’ “60 Minutes” on Cotton and Thompson.

Read Cotton’s case profile on our site.

Other Exoneree Anniversaries This Week:

Kenneth Adams, Illinois (Served 17.5 Years, Exonerated 7/2/96)

Willie Rainge, Illinois (Served 17.5 Years, Exonerated 7/2/96)

Dennis Williams, Illinois (Served 17.5 Years, Exonerated 7/2/96)

Kirk Bloodsworth, Maryland (Served 8 Years, Exonerated 6/28/93)

Tags: law, Miscarriage of Justice, Innocence Project

posted by Justice on Jul 2

States across the country are facing budget crises – and by cutting back on public defense they are increasing the risk of sending an innocent person to prison.

Injustice and Bad Defense
States across the country are facing budget crises – and by cutting back on public defense they are increasing the risk of sending an innocent person to prison.

Furloughs and layoffs are hindering public defense offices from Georgia to California, and a Minnesota defender recently told a judge he simply did not have the staff to take on additional cases. Even when budget shortfalls don’t lead to layoffs, however, they can hurt the chances of defendants to investigate, call experts and present a rigorous defense.

Both short-staffed public defense offices and incompetent attorneys have played a role in allowing the innocent to go to prison in recent years. A review of the 255 convictions overturned through DNA testing reveals a trail of sleeping, drunk, incompetent and overburdened defense attorneys, at the trial level and on appeal. While these instances represent extreme examples of badly practiced law, even everyday practices like advising a client to plead guilty could be a path to injustice – 19 of the 255 DNA exonerees pled guilty to crimes they didn’t commit.
Attorney General Eric Holder has been calling on states – and individual attorneys – to do what they can to address the problem. “In some parts of the country, the primary institutions for the delivery of defense to the poor – I’m talking about basic public-defender systems – simply do not exist,” he recently told a group of North Carolina lawyers.

And while the economic situation remains dire for many states, some are taking action to address foundering public defense systems. On June 9, the Texas Task Force on Indigent Defense approved over $2.5 million in new funding to Texas counties for the purpose of improving their indigent defense systems. The new programs are scheduled to begin this fall.

Similar attempts in Nevada have been less successful, where a high court commission tasked with identifying and solving problems in the state’s indigent defense system has been prevented from doing so because of discrepancies between the public defender’s and the District Attorney’s recorded number of cases. The squabbling has prevented the commission from making progress on its original mission to reform indigent defense in Nevada.

It’s all too easy to see how bad defense, indigent and otherwise, can lead to wrongful convictions. Read more about bad lawyering and wrongful convictions here, and review examples of DNA exonerations involving lawyers who fell short of providing a thorough defense of an innocent client.

Tags: Barrister, legal, legal aid

posted by Justice on Apr 23

Tomorrow from 9:30 a.m. to 3 p.m., the Texas Forensic Science Commission will convene to discuss forensic developments and the investigations into the cases of Cameron Todd Willingham and Ernest Willis, among other items. The Innocence Project will broadcast the entire meeting live online here .

Texas Commission Set To Discuss Arson Cases Friday
Tomorrow from 9:30 a.m. to 3 p.m., the Texas Forensic Science Commission will convene to discuss forensic developments and the investigations into the cases of Cameron Todd Willingham and Ernest Willis, among other items. The Innocence Project will broadcast the entire meeting live online here.

Willingham was executed in 2004 for allegedly setting a fire that killed his children. Before and after his execution, leading experts found that there was no scientific basis for deeming the fire an act of arson. In another Texas case, Willis was convicted of arson based on the same kind of forensic analysis, but he was fully exonerated. The cases raise important questions about the integrity of forensic analysis in arson investigations statewide.
The Willingham case was not discussed when the commission met in January, but it is on the agenda for Friday’s meeting.

The Texas Forensic Science Commission was created by the Texas Legislature in 2005 for the purpose of investigating allegations of negligence or misconduct that would significantly affect the results of forensic analysis. The Innocence Project formally asked the commission to investigate the Willingham and Willis cases in 2006. That request specifically asked the commission to determine whether there was negligence or misconduct in the forensic analysis that initially deemed the fire arson and – importantly – to determine whether other arson convictions in Texas may have been based on the same kind of unreliable forensic analysis.

In 2008, the Texas Forensic Science Commission agreed to investigate the case. The commission hired renowned arson expert Craig Beyler to review all of the evidence in the case. In August 2009, Beyler submitted his report to the commission, finding that the forensic analysis used to convict Willingham was wrong – and that experts who testified at Willingham’s trial should have known it was wrong at the time.

For full background on the Willingham case, see the Innocence Project’s Resource Center here.

For the full meeting agenda, click here.

You can view live video from the meeting on the Innocence Project’s website here.

Tags: pro bono, law, Innocence Project

posted by Justice on Jan 2

Happy New Year from all of us at the Innocence Project to our wonderful blog readers and our online community.

Happy New Year

Happy New Year from all of us at the Innocence Project to our wonderful blog readers and our online community. We're looking forward to working with you the bring about more exonerations in 2010 and to pass critical reforms across the country that will prevent injustice from happening.

There are just a few hours left to make a tax-deductible donation to the Innocence Project in 2009, the deadline is midnight tonight. We wouldn't be here without your support. Please make an online donation today.

Thank you for your dedication and generosity, here's to overturning injustice together in the New Year!

Tags: legal, injustice, law

posted by Justice on Dec 28

Donald Eugene Gates was freed from prison and his conviction was vacated last week when a D.C. Superior Court judge acted at the prosecutor’s request and acknowledged Gates was wrongfully imprisoned for 27 years

27 Years Later, Donald Gates is Declared Innocent

Donald Eugene Gates was freed from prison and his conviction was vacated last week when a D.C. Superior Court judge acted at the prosecutor’s request and acknowledged Gates was wrongfully imprisoned for 27 years. DNA testing and other evidence showed that Gates was innocent. The U.S. Attorney’s Office initially said it would block Gates’ exoneration, but backed down late Friday.

The Washington Post writes:

“The court finds by clear and convincing evidence that Mister Gates is actually innocent,” Judge Fred B. Ugast wrote in his opinion issued Friday, clearing Gates of all charges….

Prosecutors also acknowledged in a letter Friday to Ugast that they had found correspondence alerting them in 1997 to 12 discredited FBI crime analysts, including one whose testimony they had relied on heavily during Gates’s trial. Prosecutors previously indicated in court that they had not been told about the analysts, a mistake that Ugast had called “outrageous.” Also, prosecutors had relied on testimony from a paid informant who testified that Gates confessed the killing and rape to him.

Read the full article here.

Gates, who is now 58, was released from an Arizona prison last Tuesday. A hearing in his case that was scheduled for today was canceled once prosecutors agreed to drop the case – and admitted that they have known for 12 years that the forensic expert who testified at his trial has been discredited.

The Public Defender Service for the District of Columbia handled Gates’ post-conviction case. The Innocence Project has called for thorough review and follow-up of other cases involving the discredited FBI analysts who testified in Gates’ case.

Tags: Barrister, legal aid, pro bono

posted by Justice on Dec 28

Two recent Florida exonerees are celebrating their freedom this holiday season after marking too many New Year’s Days behind bars. Jamie Bain was freed December 17 after spending 35 years in Florida prisons for a crime DNA now proves he didn’t commit. He served more time for his wrongful conviction than any other DNA exoneree in U.S

Florida Exonerees Celebrate Freedom

Two recent Florida exonerees are celebrating their freedom this holiday season after marking too many New Year’s Days behind bars.

Jamie Bain was freed December 17 after spending 35 years in Florida prisons for a crime DNA now proves he didn’t commit. He served more time for his wrongful conviction than any other DNA exoneree in U.S. history. He spent Christmas at home this year for the first time in 35 years, and said it was a dream come true.

The entire time he was in prison, Bain said he dreamed he could spend a Christmas with his mother.

“Wishing and hoping I was with her throughout the years, just wishing and hoping,” he said. “Hoping one day I could get out and be with her.”

William Dillon spent his second Christmas at home this year, and a new video documentary and interactive web feature on Florida Today digs into the details of his wrongful conviction. Dillon served 26 years in prison for a 1981 murder he didn’t commit before he was freed last November.

Both Bain and Dillon were exonerated through the work of the Innocence Project of Florida, a member of the Innocence Network.

Tags: Layla D’monte, Miscarriage of Justice, Innocence Project

posted by Justice on Dec 10

James Bain was 19 years old when he was convicted of kidnapping and raping a young boy in Florida and sentenced to life in prison. Now, 35 years later, his attorneys say new DNA tests prove he is innocent of the crime. The Innocence Project of Florida, working with local public defenders, requested DNA tests in July and received the results yesterday.

DNA Evidence Points to Florida Man’s Innocence

James Bain was 19 years old when he was convicted of kidnapping and raping a young boy in Florida and sentenced to life in prison. Now, 35 years later, his attorneys say new DNA tests prove he is innocent of the crime.

The Innocence Project of Florida, working with local public defenders, requested DNA tests in July and received the results yesterday. They show that biological evidence from the perpetrator did not come from Bain. The results were sent to the State’s Attorney’s office today, and Bain’s attorneys are requesting that his conviction be overturned immediately, “before he spends his 36th Christmas locked up for a crime he didn't have anything to do with.”

An assistant state’s attorney told the St. Petersburg Times that his office is reviewing the DNA results and considering what steps to take next. Bain was denied DNA tests in 2001, 2003 and 2006 before they were finally granted this year.

The victim identified Bains in a photo lineup before trial. The St. Petersburg Times has more background:

Police said the child described the rapist this way: “Bushy sideburns … 17 or 18 … he said his name was Jim.”

The boy's uncle, who was at the house, said the description pointed to Jimmy Bain.

Jimmy Bain, 18, who had been a student at the high school where the uncle was assistant principal. Jimmy Bain who had bushy sideburns and rode around town on a motorcycle. Jimmy Bain, whom the boy said he had seen before, though it was hard to describe him because he wore a helmet.

Police went to Bain's home and took his picture. They mixed it in with color Polaroids of four other young men. The boy picked Bain.

Later, in a deposition, the boy described how he identified his attacker to a police officer.

“He asked me can I pick out Jimmie Bains,” the boy said. “And I picked him out.”

Read the full story here. (St. Petersburg Times, 12/09/09)

Visit the Innocence Project of Florida website.

Tags: Innocence Project, , injustice

posted by Justice on Oct 6

This week marks the seventh anniversary of Jimmy Ray Bromgard’s exoneration in Montana, after serving more than 14 years for a crime he did not commit. Bromgard was convicted at 18 and released at 32, losing the prime years of his life behind bars. Participating in a prison program for sex offenders could have led to his early release, but he refused to take the classes

Montana Man Marks Seven Years Free

This week marks the seventh anniversary of Jimmy Ray Bromgard’s exoneration in Montana, after serving more than 14 years for a crime he did not commit. Bromgard was convicted at 18 and released at 32, losing the prime years of his life behind bars. Participating in a prison program for sex offenders could have led to his early release, but he refused to take the classes. “I would have had to admit my guilt,” he said after his release. “I'd rather sit there in prison for all my life than admit my guilt.”

Bromgard was convicted based in part on forensic science misconduct. The prosecution tied Bromgard to the crime by using the testimony of a state forensic hair examiner, Arnold Melnikoff, who claimed hairs found on the victim's bed were similar to Bromgard's, and further argued there was less than a one-in-10,000 chance that the hairs did not come from Bromgard. Melnikoff’s testimony was fraudulent; there has never been a standard by which to statistically match hairs through microscopic inspection.

Unvalidated or improper forensic science has played a role in more than 50% of the 244 wrongful convictions overturned by DNA testing to date. Forensic problems include the kind of fraudulent testimony that led to Bromgard’s conviction, but they also include testimony in fields — such as bite mark comparisons or firearm analysis — that simply have not been subjected to rigorous scientific research.

To learn more about recommended federal forensic reforms and to sign a petition supporting improved support and oversight for forensics, visit the Just Science Coalition website.

Read more about Bromgard’s case here.

Other Exoneration Anniversaries This Week:

George Rodriguez, Texas (Served 17 years, Exonerated 9/29/05)

Steven Phillips, Texas (Served 24 Years, Exonerated 10/1/08)

Arthur Johnson, Mississippi (Served 15.5 Years , Exonerated 10/1/08)

Earl Washington, Virginia (Served 17 years, Exonerated 10/2/00)

Albert Johnson, California (Served 10 years, Exonerated 10/3/02)

Tags: Layla D’monte, , Miscarriage of Justice

posted by Justice on Jul 22

Last week, Lafonso Rollins marked the anniversary of the day he walked out of an Illinois prison after serving 11 years for a rape he did not commit. Rollins was a 17-year-old special education student in the ninth grade when he was arrested, and he was convicted based largely on a false confession he had signed, but did not write

Five Years After Exoneration, Lafonso Rollins is Giving Back

Last week, Lafonso Rollins marked the anniversary of the day he walked out of an Illinois prison after serving 11 years for a rape he did not commit. Rollins was a 17-year-old special education student in the ninth grade when he was arrested, and he was convicted based largely on a false confession he had signed, but did not write. In 2004, DNA testing was finally obtained and conclusively proved Rollins’s innocence and he was released.

Rollins spoke to ABC7 Chicago about how his false confession was coerced by police. He said: “They came on hitting on me. They kept told me they were going to wring me out to dry if I didn't tell the truth… I was scared to death.” In addition to this alleged improper treatment by police, Rollins’ case was also plagued by improper forensic analysis and reporting.

In early 2006, Rollins filed a lawsuit against the City of Chicago for violating his civil rights. He eventually settled for $9 million, and the city pledged to investigate whether the police officers and crime lab who handled his case had engaged in wrongdoing. Rollins said his mission now is to use his freedom to help others.

“This is not my lottery ticket or anything,” he said. “Keep in mind, the most important thing right now is for everybody to focus on that, OK, I made it, I'm free, you know what I'm saying? It's over with. Make sure the next guy doesn't go through this heat.”

Since then, Rollins has used portions of his settlement money to help free the innocent and prevent wrongful convictions. He started a foundation called Right the Wrong Complications. In one of his first donations, Rollins gave $10,000 to benefit Northern Illinois University Law School’s Innocence Project, which had provided him pro bono legal services during his incarceration.

More recently, Rollins donated another $10,000 to the rebuilding fund of a Chicago church after he saw it burn down on television. He cited his late father, a pastor who had died during his incarnation. “My father passed, and here is a church that I can help out and here this one is,” said Rollins. “I thought this would be my chance to help out.”

Other Exoneration Anniversaries:

Steven Linscott, Illinois (Served 3 Years, Exonerated 7/16/92)
Steven Toney, Missouri (Served 13 Years, Exonerated 7/16/96
Joe Jones, Kansas (Served 6.5 Years, Exonerated 7/17/92)
Perry Mitchell, South Carolina (Served 14.5 Years, Exonerated 7/20/98)

Tags: Barrister, injustice, Miscarriage of Justice