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: law, Miscarriage of Justice, legal

posted by Justice on Apr 13

Writing on The Hill’s Congress Blog today, Innocence Project Policy Director Stephen Saloom calls for the U.S.

Enforce Existing Federal Forensic Science Oversight Program

Writing on The Hill’s Congress Blog today, Innocence Project Policy Director Stephen Saloom calls for the U.S. Department of Justice to make sure crime lab problems are properly addressed by enforcing the regulations under the Paul Coverdell Forensic Science Improvement Grant Program. Saloom writes:

In order for the Coverdell grant program to operate as Congress intended, the Obama Administration must manage the program properly and give grant applicants the tools they need to properly investigate forensic problems. Specifically, the Department of Justice, which administers the program, should:

- give grant applicants clear guidance on what constitutes an appropriate oversight entity and process for investigating forensic problems;
- encourage applicants to provide supporting documentation with their applications;
- make it easier for members of the public to file allegations under the Coverdell program;
- make sure funded labs are referring problems to their investigative entities;
- monitor thoroughness and independence of investigations; and, once all of these steps have been taken,
- withhold funding when the requirements are not met.

Read his full post here. (The Hill, 4/13/09)

Download the Innocence Project’s new report finding that only 13% of designated forensic oversight agencies meet requirements of federal law.

Tags: legal, Innocence Project, pro bono

posted by Justice on Apr 13

Today in Virginia, Innocence Project Co-Directors Peter Neufeld and Barry Scheck will be awarded the prestigious Thomas Jefferson Medal from the University of Virginia for their decades of service to public interest law and the impact of their work on the criminal justice system. They will discuss “innocence, science and due process” at the law school in Charlottesville, Virginia, at 4:15 p.m. ET

Events This Week in New York and Virginia
Today in Virginia, Innocence Project Co-Directors Peter Neufeld and Barry Scheck will be awarded the prestigious Thomas Jefferson Medal from the University of Virginia for their decades of service to public interest law and the impact of their work on the criminal justice system. They will discuss “innocence, science and due process” at the law school in Charlottesville, Virginia, at 4:15 p.m. ET. The event is free and open to the public. Get directions here.

And at noon this Thursday, April 16, Innocence Project Staff Attorney Vanessa Potkin and exoneree Alan Newton will speak at New York University in New York City. They will discuss Newton’s case, proposed reforms to prevent wrongful convictions and Newton’s new organization to support the exonerated after release.

Alan Newton was imprisoned for 21 years in New York. His repeated requests over many years for DNA testing on biological evidence from his case were denied because the evidence was not located and believed to have been destroyed. When Newton became a client of the Innocence Project, the involvement and the persistence of the chief prosecutor of sex crimes in the Bronx, Elisa Koenderman, resulted in a successful search for the rape kit. DNA testing in 2006 showed that Alan Newton was not the rapist. He was released and exonerated of the rape, assault and robbery charges against him.

Since his release, Alan completed his bachelor’s degree and is now planning to attend law school. He is a co-founder of A.F.T.E.R. , Advocates for Freedom, Transformation, and Exoneree Rights, Inc., which provides services and a support network for exonerees.

Join them this Thursday, April 16th, from 12-2 p.m. in Kimmel 905 at New York University. To RSVP for the event, please email Bindi Patel at bindi.patel@nyu.edu today.

Tags: legal, Miscarriage of Justice, Innocence Project