Florida Exoneree Welcomes his First Child

April 25th, 2012

Exoneree James Bain’s life took on a new role last month when his first child was born. Bain spent 35 years in prison for the kidnapping and rape of a 9-year-old boy. After being denied four times on technicalities for DNA testing that he insisted would prove his innocence, with help from the Florida Innocence Project and Public Defender’s Office in Bartow, he was finally granted testing that showed another man’s DNA on the victim’s underwear. Bain was released from prison on December 17, 2009; at the time of his release, the 35 years he spent in prison was the longest amount of time any DNA exoneree had spent in prison.

Since his release in 2009, Bain has adjusted to life as a family man. He is married to Mallelin Duran, has a 5-year old stepdaughter, and now a one-month old son. Bain is receiving $1.75 million- $50,000 for each year he spent in prison- which he has used to buy a four-bedroom home in a quiet neighborhood for his family. Reflecting on first time fatherhood, Bain says, “His little eyes remind me of me.” Bain says that as his children get older, he plans to be fully open with them about his experiences as an innocent man spending 35 years in prison.

Read the full story.

Watch the New Documentary about NC Exoneree Greg Taylor

April 12th, 2012

Be sure to check out 6,149 Days, the documentary airing online tonight at 8pm that covers the amazing story of Greg Taylor. Taylor was convicted in 1993 for the murder of Jacquetta Thomas, who was beaten to death in 1992. Contributing factors to Taylor’s wrongful conviction included a rushed police investigation, evidence that was withheld from defense attorneys and misleading testimony that was presented to the jury. In 2010, after Taylor spent 16 years in prison for a crime that he did not commit, the North Carolina Innocence Inquiry Commission dismissed the murder charge against him and he walked out of prison a free and innocent man.

Capitol Broadcasting Company based in North Carolina will be airing the documentary on three of it’s local stations during primetime tonight. This will be the first time in the company’s 75-year history that a documentary will be shown commercial free and pre-empt regular primetime broadcasting. Following the 90 minutes documentary, there will be a live, half-hour discussion with retired police chief Darrel Stephens and state representative Rick Glazier. The documentary will also be shown streaming live on the WRAL website starting at 8pm and will be available for viewing on demand after the broadcast.

Read more information about the case and watch the documentary here.

NEIP, New England Law | Boston and the Boston Bar Association Hold Successful Symposium

April 6th, 2012

Check out photos from March 19th’s symposium sponsored by the New England Innocence Project, New England Law | Boston and Boston Bar Association!

Professor Brandon L. Garrett discussed his new book Convicting the Innocent: Where Criminal Prosecutions Go Wrong, which analyzes what went wrong in the first 250 criminal convictions overturned on the basis of DNA evidence. Professor Garrett was joined by Gretchen Bennett, the Executive Director of the New England Innocence Project, who discussed recent legislative developments in Massachusetts. The Honorable Robert J. Cordy and the Honorable Nancy Gertner also discussed the judiciary’s role in responding to the critical problem that wrongful conviction poses to our criminal justice system.

 

Left: Professor Brandon Garrett discusses his research into wrongful convictions.

Middle: Professor David Siegel, Judge Robert Cordy, Professor Brandon Garrett and NEIP Executive Director Gretchen Bennett with New England Law | Boston students following the event.

Right: Professor Brandon Garrett, Judge Robert Cordy and NEIP Executive Director Gretchen Bennett take questions from the audience.

The Center on Wrongful Convictions at Northwestern University Law School Calls on Cook County State’s Attorney to Vacate Conviction and Free Daniel Taylor

April 4th, 2012

The Center on Wrongful Convictions at Northwestern University Law School has called on Cook County State’s Attorney Anita Alvarez to vacate the conviction of Daniel Taylor. When Taylor was 17, he and seven others were charged with the 1992 shooting deaths of Sharon Haugabook and Jeffrey Lassiter. Taylor received a life sentence.

Police questioned Taylor about two weeks after the murders and after Taylor gave police a statement and confessed, he remembered that he was in Chicago police lockup at the time of the crime. According to Professor Brandon Garrett’s book, “Convicting the Innocent” in the first 250 DNA exonerations in the United States, 16% of the cases included false confessions. Juveniles are also more likely to confess to a crime they did not commit than adults.

The Chicago Tribune investigated the case in 2001 and found that documents that supported Taylor’s alibi were never turned over to his trial attorney. New documents include “handwritten notes of interviews of the officers working at the station the night Taylor was arrested,” according to the Tribune. Taylor’s attorney argues that these documents “did not support the prosecutors’ suggestion at trial that the police lockup records were falsified or inaccurate.” These documents would have helped to prove Taylor’s innocence by solidifying his alibi and showing that he could not have committed these murders as he was in police custody at the time of the crime. In a 7th U.S.Circuit Court of Appeals order late last year granting Taylor’s request to file a second appeal in federal court, the judges wrote that the newly revealed witness and the newly discovered police reports are “strong proof that Taylor’s participation in the crime was physically impossible.”

Read the full story.

UPDATE-Real Perpetrator in Ireland Case Convicted

March 24th, 2012

On Friday, March 23, 2012 Kevin Benefield was sentenced to 60 years in prison, the maximum sentence that he could have received, for the 1986 rape and murder of Barbara Pelkey. Kenneth Ireland spent nearly 20 years in prison before the Connecticut Innocence Project helped to secure DNA testing on blood found at the crime scene proving Ireland’s innocence and leading authorities to the true perpetrator. Ireland has decided to skip the sentencing explaining that he had to work and also, “because it’s not my case anymore. It never was.” Since his release, Ireland has gotten his driver’s license, a car, a job and money for an apartment with the help of the Innocence Project, Connecticut Bar Association and Community Partners in Action. Ireland’s lawyer is hoping to secure additional compensation for Ireland under a 2008 compensation law benefiting the wrongfully convicted.

Read the full story.

Originally posted 1/20/12
The story of New England exoneree Kenneth Ireland was back in the news yesterday when jurors convicted Kevin Benefield of the 1986 rape and murder of Barbara Pelkey, a crime that Ireland served 19 years in prison for before being cleared by DNA evidence. Pelkey was a 30-year-old mother of four when she was brutally raped and murdered while working the night shift at a factory in Wallingford, CT. The Connecticut Innocence Project took up Ireland’s case and with more advanced DNA testing methods was able to prove that the Ireland could not have been the perpetrator. The DNA results also led police to Kevin Benefield, who worked in the same building complex as Pelkey at the time of the crime. Karen Goodrow, the Director of the Connecticut Innocence Project was happy to hear the jury’s verdict saying, “It doesn’t negate from the pain for the victim’s family, or our client, but we’re satisfied that justice was done.”

Fallibility of Forensics

March 15th, 2012

According to Professor Brandon Garrett’s book “Convicting the Innocent”, more than half of the first 250 DNA exonerations were cases that included “invalid, unreliable, concealed, or erroneous forensic evidence.” In these cases forensic tests had been conducted on the evidence and had lead police to an innocent person. NEIP exoneree Stephan Cowans is mentioned in the photo gallery portion of the article.

Police, Prosecutors and Downstate Illinois Innocence Project Work Together to Achieve Justice

March 8th, 2012

On Tuesday a judge vacated the conviction of an Aurora, Illinois man who has maintained his innocence for the past 12 years in the murder of Shawn Miller and attempted murder of Leroy Starks. Two eyewitnesses to the murder identified Jonathan Moore as the shooter and he was subsequently found guilty and sentenced to 80 years in prison for the crime. Last April a confidential informant came to the police and provided new evidence indicating that Moore was not the shooter. Police followed up on the lead and officers John Munn and Darryl Moore located witnesses who had not come forward during the original investigation. Jonathan Moore’s family members report that police came to visit Moore in prison to tell him that they believed someone else committed the murder and that they planned to present their evidence to prosecutors. After police re-opened their investigation, they contacted the Kane County State’s Attorney Office to update them on the developments in the case and the office assigned a prosecutor to assist police in their investigation.

Judge Tim Sheldon vacated Moore’s conviction after prosecutors filed a motion to vacate all Moore’s convictions on Tuesday. Kane County State’s Attorney Joe McMahon said, “(Vacating the convictions) was a difficult decision, but I’m confident it was the right decision based on what we know today. The goal, both then and now, is to pursue the truth.” The Downstate Illinois Innocence Project became involved in the case after police visited Moore in prison to inform him about the new evidence in the case. Larry Golden, the Director of the Project, lauded the police stating, “The police officers deserve tremendous credit. This is unheard of. I know we haven’t had a case like this. This is the kind of county you want to live in.” Police are still actively investigating the case and searching for the true perpetrator.

NYT Examines False Confessions

February 29th, 2012

Did you know that in 16% of the first 250 DNA exonerations, suspects gave false confessions to police? Even though it seems counterintuitive to confess to a crime that you did not commit, it is a common occurrence that happens for a variety of reasons. Read a NYT piece that examines some of these reasons.

DNA Access Bill Becomes Law!

February 17th, 2012

On Friday, February 17, 2012 Massachusetts Governor Deval Patrick signed bill S.1987 into law, allowing potentially innocent inmates access to DNA evidence in their cases. Friday’s signing represents years of hard work and is a huge step in the right direction for justice in Massachusetts. The cost-neutral bill passed the Massachusetts Senate unanimously in July of 2011 and was again passed unanimously by the Massachusetts House of Representatives on Wednesday February 8, 2012. Representative John Fernandes, who co-sponsored the bill with Senator Cynthia Creem, urged the House to pass the bill saying, “We hold freedom highest among the rights that we cherish. One day, one week, one year, is too long for anybody wrongfully convicted to be held in prison. For the over 280 cases where DNA testing has resulted in reversals the average time in prison was 13 ½ years. No one should miss that much of their life.”

Massachusetts is the second-to-last state to pass a law of this kind and NEIP has worked hard alongside a representative group of stakeholders convened by the Boston Bar Association that included prosecutors, defense attorneys, law enforcement, and crime lab personnel to educate lawmakers about the importance of such legislation. On the House floor on February 8, Representative Fernandes told the story of NEIP exoneree Kenny Waters and his sister Betty Anne Waters, who dedicated 18 years of her life to proving her brother’s innocence. Ms. Waters and NEIP exoneree Dennis Maher, who spent 19 years in prison for a crime he did not commit, testified during the judiciary hearings in June 2011 in support of the bill. Because Massachusetts did not have a DNA access law, Mr. Maher spent an additional 6 years in prison before DNA testing proved his innocence.


You can watch a video of the bill being debated here. Representative Fernandes’ remarks on the bill begin at the 78 minute mark.

Massachusetts House of Representatives Unanimously Passes DNA Access Bill!

February 8th, 2012

The New England Innocence Project (NEIP) is thrilled to announce that on Wednesday February 8, 2012 the Massachusetts House of Representatives unanimously passed bill S.1987 which would allow potentially innocent inmates access to DNA evidence in their cases. The cost-neutral bill passed the Massachusetts Senate unanimously in July of 2011. Representative John Fernandes, who co-sponsored the bill with Senator Cynthia Creem, urged the House to pass the bill saying, “We hold freedom highest among the rights that we cherish. One day, one week, one year, is too long for anybody wrongfully convicted to be held in prison. For the over 280 cases where DNA testing has resulted in reversals the average time in prison was 13 ½ years. No one should miss that much of their life.”

Massachusetts is the second-to-last state to pass a bill of this kind and NEIP has worked hard alongside a representative group of stakeholders convened by the Boston Bar Association that included prosecutors, defense attorneys, law enforcement, and crime lab personnel to educate lawmakers about the importance of such legislation. On the House floor yesterday, Representative Fernandes told the story of NEIP exoneree Kenny Waters and his sister Betty Anne Waters, who dedicated 18 years of her life to proving her brother’s innocence. Ms. Waters and NEIP exoneree Dennis Maher, who spent 19 years in prison for a crime he did not commit, testified during the judiciary hearings in June 2011 in support of the bill. The passage of the bill represents years of hard work and is a huge step in the right direction for justice in Massachusetts. The bill will now be sent to Governor Deval Patrick to sign into law.


Above right: The House Gallery during the momentous vote yesterday.

House Debates DNA Access Bill Today!

February 8th, 2012

Today is the day! The MA House of Representatives will be debating the DNA Access bill later today. If passed, potentially INNOCENT inmates in MA will be able to test the DNA evidence which could prove their innocence.

UPDATE- DNA Access Bill Awaits House of Representatives Discussion

February 2nd, 2014

UPDATE-If you an innocent person in prison in Massachusetts, and there is DNA evidence in your case, you do not have the right to test that evidence under current laws. NEIP exoneree Dennis Maher spent 6 extra years in prison because Massachusetts does not have a DNA access law. The bill passed unanimously in the Massachusetts Senate last July. It seems that at long last the Massachusetts House of Representatives is slated to discuss a new bill that would ensure the right to testing. Massachusetts is one of only two states without this law. Please spend 2 minutes to call your representative and tell them this important bill matters to you. Read the Senate Bill here. Find your representative here. Let’s not let Massachusetts be the last state in the US to get this done. Thank you!

Read the Boston Globe Magazine’s cover story about the bill.
(originally published 7/29/11)
Massachusetts Senate passes DNA Bill Unanimously
The Massachusetts State Senate unanimously passed S.1987 yesterday granting inmates access to post-conviction DNA testing. After a 37-0 Senate vote in favor of the bill, the legislation will now be debated by the House of Representatives in the coming weeks. Massachusetts is currently one of only two states without a post-conviction DNA access law. (The other is Oklahoma.) Before debate on the bill yesterday, Senator Cynthia Creem, one of S.1987’s sponsors, recognized NEIP Executive Director Gretchen Bennett and Betty Anne Waters on the Senate floor for their work in support of the bill.

News Roundup: Flawed Arson Science

February 1st, 2012

The Associated Press ran a story about how Innocence Projects and defense attorneys are challenging arson convictions based on advances in science that disprove past methods of determining whether fires were due to natural causes or arson. For example, for years fire investigators were taught that if a fire burned particularly hot, it indicated the presence of an accelerant, suggesting arson. After a series of experiments were conducted in the 1990s, experts learned that in fact, fires can reach flashover (when all combustible surfaces ignite at once) and burn very hot in just four minutes without the presence of accelerants. Despite the experiments of the 90s, it has taken some time for changes to be implemented in fire investigations across the country. The article highlights NEIP exoneree James Hebshie, who was freed in late 2010 after serving four years, after experts ruled out arson as the cause of fire in his case.

The Los Angeles Times also ran a story this week about a court mandated three-day hearing examining the evidence of innocence in an arson case in Modesto, California. George Souliotes was convicted of starting a blaze in a rental home that he owned which killed three tenants in 1997. Fire experts have called into question some of the evidence used in securing the conviction. Steven Carman, who has investigated fires for 20 years, stated that the evidence against Souliotes was, “a laundry list of things we used to believe broadly in this profession that have since been widely discounted.”

Last Friday, a Pennsylvania Court agreed to examine what amounts to new evidence in the case of Han Tak Lee, who was convicted of setting a 1989 fire that killed his daughter. John Lentini, who also testified in support of NEIP exoneree James Hebshie, wrote a detailed affidavit stating that Mr. Lee’s conviction rested on outdated an unreliable beliefs about arson. Mr. Lee may have a chance to win his freedom after the Court ruled on Friday to re-examine his case.

Our evolving knowledge of fire science has lead to a dramatic drop in the percentage of fires classified as arson. In Massachusetts in the early 1990s, 15-20% of fires were classified as arson. In 2009, that number was 1.6%. Despite this drop, many people were convicted of arsons before the experiments of the 1990s, begging the question: how many innocent people are currently sitting behind bars, convicted of starting fires that they did not set?

For more information about evolving arson science, check out the November issue of Discover Magazine.

NEIP Exoneree Profiled in ABA Criminal Justice Magazine

January 27th, 2012

The case of Jimmy Hebshie, NEIP’s most recent exoneree, was profiled in a short article in the winter 2012 volume of the ABA’s Criminal Justice Magazine. The article titled “Ineffective Assistance of Counsel and Expert Testimony” by Paul C. Giannelli examines the discredited arson sciene and sniffer dog testimony used to convict Hebshie. Hebshie was wrongfully convicted of setting the fire that destroyed an office building in Lowell in 2006.

Read the ABA article: Ineffective Assistance of Counsel and Expert Testimony

Read more about Jimmy Hebshie.

UPDATE- Juan Rivera Freed in Illinois

January 27th, 2012

Juan Rivera, who was profiled in a November 27 New York Times Magazine article, was freed from prison in early January after an Appeals Court overturned his conviction. Rivera gave a confession to police after almost 24 hours of intense interrogation. Despite the confession, DNA tests conducted in 2005 showed that he was not the source of the semen found in 11-year-old Holly Shaker after her rape and murder. After DNA results seemed to exclude Rivera, prosecutor’s had came up with an alternate theory in which 11-year-old Holly Shaker was sexually active, and had had consensual sex with Rivera before her murder. A jury in 2009 re-convicted Rivera on the prosecution’s alternate theory, even though the DNA seemed to point to a different perpetrator. The appeals court was very critical in its decision, stating that the prosecutor’s theories were, “highly improbable”. Rivera, who was 19 when first arrested by police, is now 39 and described his release date of January 6 as, “the beginning of a new life. All I know is prison life and now there’s no longer a prison life but a family life. That’s what I look forward to. … It’s a long-awaited experience, you know, to finally show my innocence.”

Read a Chicago Tribune article about Rivera’s release.

(originally published on 12/9/11) On Wednesday, the Lake County Illinois state’s attorney’s office announced that Michael Mermel, who was featured heavily in a November 25, 2011 piece in the New York Times Magazine about some prosecutors’ resistance to the exculpatory power of DNA will be resigning early in the new year. The New York Times piece examined the case of Juan Rivera, who was convicted of raping and murdering an 11-year-old girl in 1992. After DNA tests were performed on the rape kit in 2005 and the semen didn’t match Rivera, prosecutors revised their theory to conclude that Rivera was still guilty for the murder, but that the 11-year-old victim was sexually active and had had sex with an unknown lover hours before the murder, explaining the presence of the foreign DNA. Rivera gave a confession to police after almost 24 hours of interrogation which he now explains was coerced. Despite the DNA results, Rivera has now been convicted by three separate juries, who believe the confession that he gave to police. Read more about false confessions here.

Mermel told the Chicago Sun-Times last year in response to a question about a different case where he has a theory explaining why DNA does not match the person convicted of the crime, ‘The taxpayers don’t pay us for intellectual curiosity. They pay us to get convictions.’

Read the NYT Magazine piece here.
Read about Mermel’s resignation here.

Need for Forensic Reform Greater than Ever

January 25th, 2011

The National Academy of Sciences released a report in 2009 detailing major flaws in the way forensic evidence collected from crime scenes is analyzed in the United States. The NAS report detailed how many labs draw conclusions from unproven and non-peer reviewed techniques such as bite-mark analysis. The report recommends implementing enforceable standards for various forensic science areas and requiring mandatory certification for labs and lab workers. Despite the findings of the NAS report, and subsequent Senate hearings on ways to improve the system, Congress has taken little action to strengthen the validity of forensic science in the United States. Bill Leahy, U.S. Senator from VT, proposed a bill in early 2011 that would address some of these concerns, but it has not made much progress. Faulty forensic science has played a role in many wrongful convictions and the until changes are made, this faulty “science” may help send more innocent people to prison.

Read the full ProPublica article.
Read more about unvalidated forensic science here.

UPDATE- Englewood Four Exonerated

January 18th, 2012

Dixmoor Cases
(originally ran 11/9/11) Prosecutors in Chicago vacated the convictions of three men, Robert Taylor, Jonathan Barr, and James Harden, serving sentences ranging from 80-85 years in prison. Taylor, Barr and Harden were convicted as teenagers of raping and murdering a 14-year-old girl in a Chicago suburb in 1991. Police also charged two others, Robert Lee Veal and Shainne Sharp. The five co-defendants and the victim knew each other from school. Veal and Sharp falsely confessed to the crime after police told them that they would receive more lenient prison sentences. Veal and Sharp were sentenced to 20 years in prison, and records indicate that they were released after about 10 years. Veal has learning disabilities and was unable to read at the time he signed a written confession. Despite inconsistencies in the two confessions, and DNA evidence that did not match the five teenagers, all five were convicted. While some people cannot imagine anyone confessing to a crime they did not commit, false confessions remain one of the main factors leading to wrongful convictions.

In 2009, defense attorneys requested new DNA testing in the case. Then, earlier this year, prosecutors re-opened the case after the DNA profile came back matching none of the five original co-defendants, but rather a separate, convicted rapist. When Robert Taylor was asked to describe the feeling of walking out of prison a free man, he summed it up in one word: Beautiful.


UPDATE (12/9/11)- This article catches up with Robert Taylor after several weeks of freedom. Read the story here.

Englewood Cases
UPDATE (1/18/12)- Prosecutors announced yesterday that they would not re-try four men who were convicted of raping and murdering a Chicago woman in 1994. All four were teenagers at the time of the crime and despite DNA testing performed before trial that excluded the four, a jury convicted the men based on their false confessions. Two of the men, Michael Saunders and Harold Richardson were released from prison in November 2011, while Terrill Swift and Vincent Thames had previously been released but were forced to register as sex offenders. Today’s decision officially clears the names of the four, who spent years behind bars for another’s crime.
Read the Chicago Tribune article here.

(originally ran 12/6/11) In the second similar case in two months, a judge vacated the convictions of four Chicago men who falsely confessed as teenagers to the rape and murder of a prostitute in 1994. Although the four confessed to the crime, the confessions varied greatly on the details, including the order that the youths supposedly raped the victim, as well as the number of people involved in the crime. Recent DNA tests conducted returned semen from convicted felon Johnny Douglas, who was in the area the night of the murder, but no DNA was found that matched the four teenagers who confessed to the crime. Although many people cannot understand why a person would ever confess to a crime they did not commit, people will often times view confessing as the only way to escape an often hours long police interrogation; youths are more likely to give false confessions than adults. Although Terrill Swift, Vincent Thames, Michael Saunders and Harold Richardson have had their convictions vacated, they still face a battle to officially clear their names. Douglas passed away in 2008.

Read the NYT article here.

Dallas Man Freed after 31 Years

January 4th, 2012

Rickey Wyatt held his 4-year-old granddaughter for the first time today after he was freed from prison after spending 31 years behind bars for a rape he insists he did not commit. Judge John Creuzot freed Wyatt and recommends that the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals vacate his conviction after it recently came to light that prosecutors withheld evidence that could have cleared Wyatt at trial in 1981. Evidence included a photo showing Wyatt with facial hair and documentation showing that he weighed 135 lbs at the time of the crime. Victims said the rapist was clean-shaven and weighed upwards of 170 lbs. The information was recently uncovered after the DA’s office allowed Wyatt’s defense attorneys to examine their files. To date, 22 men in Dallas County, Texas alone have been exonerated through DNA testing.

Read the full story here.