Innocence Project Bournemouth

posted by Justice on Aug 6

Ohio Governor Ted Strickland (left) and Attorney General Richard Cordray wrote to prosecutors across the state yesterday urging them to allow DNA testing in seven criminal cases where it has previously been denied.

Ohio Governor Pursues DNA Tests in Seven Cases
Ohio Governor Ted Strickland (left) and Attorney General Richard Cordray wrote to prosecutors across the state yesterday urging them to allow DNA testing in seven criminal cases where it has previously been denied. The cases in question include one man on death row, two prisoners serving long sentences, three who are out of prison and want to clear their names and one who died in 2006.

The testing – which could confirm guilt or prove innocence – has been opposed by prosecutors and denied by judges in the past.

Strickland told the Columbus Dispatch that he doesn’t have the power to force prosecutors or judges to grant DNA testing but said prosecutors should provide evidence “as a matter of public policy.”

“I really think it’s irrational not to take advantage of methods that could establish either guilt or innocence when those technologies are available to us,” Strickland told The Dispatch. “I can think of no good argument why anyone would be denied DNA testing if, in fact, there is a reasonable or relevant opportunity to bring clarity to whether or not someone is guilty of a crime.”

Five of the seven cases highlighted by Strickland and Cordray were part of an investigation the Columbus Dispatch conducted in 2008. In collaboration with the Ohio Innocence Project, the paper reviewed more than 300 cases for DNA testing. Attorneys agreed that testing was necessary in 30 cases and was ultimately approved for 18.

If prosecution grants DNA testing, Cincinnati-based lab DDC Diagnostics would conduct the tests for free.

Read the full story here.

Read the Columbus Dispatch investigation here.

Tags: Layla D’monte, law, pro bono

posted by Justice on Aug 6

Jerry Hobbs was freed yesterday in Illinois after spending five years in jail awaiting trial for the murder of his daughter and another young girl, a crime for which DNA tests implicate another man. His case is an example of the vast damage that can be caused even when injustice is uncovered before trial

After Five Years in Jail, Illinois Man Is Freed
Jerry Hobbs was freed yesterday in Illinois after spending five years in jail awaiting trial for the murder of his daughter and another young girl, a crime for which DNA tests implicate another man. His case is an example of the vast damage that can be caused even when injustice is uncovered before trial.

Shortly after alerting police that he had discovered his daughter and a friend murdered in 2005, Hobbs was charged with the crime. He signed a written confession after a daylong police interrogation, but he soon recanted the statement, saying it had been coerced.

One year after the crime, investigators learned that DNA testing on semen from one victim’s body pointed to another unknown man. They pressed forward with charges against Hobbs, however, saying they intended to seek the death penalty. In June, the DNA profile from the crime scene implicated a man in custody in Virginia, police say, and charges were dropped yesterday against Hobbs.

Prosecutors didn’t offer an apology to Hobbs, saying they were dropping the charges because they couldn’t prove his guilt beyond a reasonable doubt.
While 258 people have been exonerated through post-conviction DNA testing, countless others have spent months or years in prison while facing charges before they are freed. In a 1995 study of 10,000 criminal cases by the by the U.S. National Institute of Justice, suspects were excluded 25 percent of the time after DNA tests came back. While wrongful convictions are avoided in these cases, the contact with the criminal justice system and time spent behind bars is incredibly damaging to the life of an innocent individual.

The Chicago Tribune recently examined the cases of Hobbs and another Illinois man, Kevin Fox, who spent eight months in jail awaiting trial for the murder of his daughter before DNA tests pointed to his innocence. Unlike Fox’s case, however, Hobbs remained in prison for four years after the results came back.

False confessions play a role in more than 25 percent of wrongful convictions overturned through DNA testing. Read more about the Innocence Project recommendations to record all custodial interrogations.

Tags: injustice, pro bono, legal

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, Innocence Project, Miscarriage of Justice

posted by Justice on Jun 21

Seven years ago this week, Kenneth Wyniemko walked out of a Michigan courthouse a free man for the first time in more than eight years. Last night, he marked the anniversary of his freedom by throwing out the first pitch at a home game of the minor league Lansing Lugnuts baseball team. Wyniemko was convicted in 1994 of breaking into the home of a 28-year-old woman in Clinton Township, Michigan, and raping the victim.

A First Pitch on the Anniversary of Freedom
Seven years ago this week, Kenneth Wyniemko walked out of a Michigan courthouse a free man for the first time in more than eight years. Last night, he marked the anniversary of his freedom by throwing out the first pitch at a home game of the minor league Lansing Lugnuts baseball team.

Wyniemko was convicted in 1994 of breaking into the home of a 28-year-old woman in Clinton Township, Michigan, and raping the victim. His conviction rested on two common causes of wrongful conviction – eyewitness misidentification and snitch testimony.

The attacker wore a nylon stocking over his head – concealing his face – but the victim described what he looked like based on a few glimpses she had gotten of him during the attack. A composite sketch was constructed from her description (the victim later said that she believed it to be 60 percent accurate). Around the time the victim produced her description, Wyniemko was arrested for a misdemeanor charge, and the police made the visual connection between him and the composite sketch, and he was charged with the rape.

In addition to the eyewitness evidence, a jailhouse snitch testified — in exchange for a dismissal of the case pending against him — that Wyniemko had confessed to him that he committed the crime. Wyniemko was convicted and sentenced to 40-60 years in prison.
After the Michigan Legislature passed a law in 2001 permitting DNA testing in rape cases, Wyniemko’s case was among the many investigated by Thomas M. Cooley Law School Innocence Project. A DNA test was conducted and Wyniemko was exonerated on June 17, 2003.

Several years later, prosecutors announced that the DNA testing that exonerated Wyniemko had implicated another man in the crime, but that the statute of limitations prevented them from charging him.

Watch a video interview with Wyniemko below, where he discusses the snitch testimony in his case and more.

Other Exoneree Anniversaries This Week:

Calvin Johnson, Georgia (Served 15.5 Years, Exonerated 6/15/99)

Jerry Townsend, Florida (Served: 21.5 Years, Exonerated: 6/15/01)

Tags: Miscarriage of Justice, pro bono, legal

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 Jun 23

Florida exonerees William Dillon and Wilton Dedge were both convicted based, in part, on the testimony of John Preston, a now-discredited dog handler. The Innocence Project of Florida is now working on another case involving Preston, and calls are increasing for officials to reexamine any possible wrongful convictions from the early 1980s – especially those involving Preston. An editorial on Saturday in Florida Today listed some of the evidence of prosecutorial misconduct in Brevard County in the 1980s and called on Governor Charlie Crist to launch an official investigation into questionable convictions from the county.

Growing Calls to Reopen Florida Cases

Florida exonerees William Dillon and Wilton Dedge were both convicted based, in part, on the testimony of John Preston, a now-discredited dog handler. The Innocence Project of Florida is now working on another case involving Preston, and calls are increasing for officials to reexamine any possible wrongful convictions from the early 1980s – especially those involving Preston.

An editorial on Saturday in Florida Today listed some of the evidence of prosecutorial misconduct in Brevard County in the 1980s and called on Governor Charlie Crist to launch an official investigation into questionable convictions from the county.

– Titusville attorney and former Brevard prosecutor Sam Bardwell, who encountered Preston in a 1981 rape case, says then-State Attorney Doug Cheshire … as well as the Brevard Sheriff’s Office and most law enforcement officers at the time knew Preston was a charlatan.

“I left the State Attorney’s Office because I could not abide by the fabrication of evidence,” Bardwell says.

– Retired 18th Circuit and appellate Judge Gil Goshorn confirmed Cheshire relied heavily on Preston in a number of cases, along with questionable jailhouse snitches.

“Cheshire’s office often relied on such evidence of dubious reliability,” Goshorn said in a sworn affadavit in 2008.

Dedge, an Innocence Project client, was exonerated in 2004. Dillon, represented by the Innocence Project of Florida, was cleared last year. The Innocence Project of Florida is now working on the case of Gary Bennett, who was convicted of murder based in part on Preston’s testimony. Preston, who testified in 60 cases in Brevard County and many more elsewhere in the U.S., is now deceased.

Read more about Bennett’s case on the Innocence Project of Florida website. And set your DVR for a special report on Dillon’s case from CNN’s Anderson Cooper 360 – scheduled to air tomorrow (Wednesday) night at 10 p.m. ET.

Read the Florida Today investigative article and editorial.

Tags: injustice, Barrister, Miscarriage of Justice

posted by Justice on May 16

Three years ago tomorrow, Doug Warney was freed from a New York prison after serving nine years for a murder he didn’t commit. Warney, who has a history of mental health issues, was convicted based in part on a false confession he allegedly made after 12 hours of questioning. About 25% of wrongful convictions overturned by DNA testing nationwide have involved false confessions or admissions.

Three Years of Freedom
Three years ago tomorrow, Doug Warney was freed from a New York prison after serving nine years for a murder he didn’t commit. Warney, who has a history of mental health issues, was convicted based in part on a false confession he allegedly made after 12 hours of questioning. About 25% of wrongful convictions overturned by DNA testing nationwide have involved false confessions or admissions.

At the time of Warney’s exoneration in 2006, Innocence Project Co-Director Peter Neufeld said it should lead law enforcement agencies across the state to begin recording interrogations. Three years later, although many individual agencies in the state have begun to record interrogations, New York is still one of 36 states with no law requiring recordings.

“These DNA results don’t just show that Doug Warney is innocent – they reveal criminal conduct on the part of at least two Rochester police officers, and they demonstrate tunnel vision on the part of police and prosecutors who ignored compelling evidence that the confession was bogus,” said Peter Neufeld, Co-Director of the Innocence Project. “This case should be a clarion call for every law enforcement agency in the state to begin recording police interrogations for serious crimes.”

Earlier this month, the chief judge of New York’s highest court said he would create a new permanent task force to examine causes of wrongful convictions – like false confessions – and recommend reforms to prevent wrongful convictions like Warney’s.

Neufeld said this task force could be a driving force to finally bring about changes like recorded interrogations in New York, but that it is also critical that the state legislature take action.

“While this is a major step forward, it is one piece of the whole. There are major systemic weaknesses demanding immediate action, and we will continue working with the Governor, Attorney General and Legislature to advance critical reforms in this legislative session that can prevent wrongful convictions. The task force Judge Lippman is creating does not supplant other efforts – it complements them and makes them even more critical.”

Other Exoneration Anniversaries This Week:

Sunday: Neil Miller, Massachusetts (Served 9.5 Years, Exonerated 5/1/0/2000)

Monday: Curtis McCarty, Oklahoma (Served 21 Years, Exonerated 5/11/2007)

Thursday: Josiah Sutton, Texas (Served 4.5 Years, Exonerated 5/14/04)

Tags: Miscarriage of Justice, legal aid, Barrister

posted by Justice on Mar 19

Eight years ago today, Kenneth Waters walked out of a Massachusetts prison a free man after serving 18 years for a crime he didn’t commit.

Eight Years Later, an Exoneration Case Approaches the Spotlight
Eight years ago today, Kenneth Waters walked out of a Massachusetts prison a free man after serving 18 years for a crime he didn’t commit. He was wrongfully convicted in 1983 based in part on false testimony from informants. Although fingerprints collected from the victim’s house did not match Waters, police did not share this information with prosecutors or defense attorneys. Waters was sentenced to life in prison and would serve nearly two decades before DNA proved his innocence. Sadly, he died in an accident just six months after his release.

It has been eight years since Waters was freed, but his case is about to get a new wave of attention. A film about his wrongful conviction and his sister Betty Anne Waters’ fight to free him is currently in production. Starring two-time Academy Award winner Hilary Swank as Betty Anne, the film will tell the incredible story of her struggle and dedication to free her wrongfully imprisoned brother.

After Kenneth lost all of his appeals, Betty Anne, a single mother of two, decided to take action. Convinced of her brother’s innocence and desperate to challenge the conviction, she began what would be a 12-year process of putting herself through college and law school. In 1998, she graduated from the Roger Williams University School of Law and began to work tirelessly on her brother’s case. By the time she contacted the Innocence Project, she had already located the biological evidence and was trying to have it subjected to DNA testing. Finally, the Innocence Project helped secure DNA testing that conclusively excluded Waters as the perpetrator and he was freed in 2001.

The movie, which has just begun shooting in Ann Arbor, Michigan, will be directed by Tony Goldwyn. Other cast members include Sam Rockwell, who will play Kenneth Waters, Minnie Driver, Juliette Lewis, Melissa Leo and Peter Gallagher.

Other anniversaries this week:

Tuesday: Arthur Mumphrey, Texas (Served 17 years, exonerated 3/17/06)

Wednesday: Wiley Fountain, Texas (Served 16 years, Exonerated 3/18/03)

Thursday: Edward Green, District of Columbia (Served 1 year, Exonerated 3/19/90)

Julius Ruffin, Virginia (Served 20 years, Exonerated 3/19/03)

Tags: injustice, Innocence Project, legal