Archive for the ‘exoneration’ Category

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Post Exoneration: The Rarity of Success after Freedom

Ileejah Hutchinson — June 13, 2013 @ 11:53 AM — Comments (1)

In the U.S., more than 1,000 people have been exonerated for crimes they did not commit, 308 of those have been through postconviction DNA testing. These individuals, who on average spent 13.6 years in prison, are released into a society after their exoneration. Some find success in the ever changing world we live in, but many can not shake the demons linked to the wrongful conviction.

Not all DNA exonerees are as lucky as Jeffrey Deskovic, a New York man who spent 16 years in prison for rape and murder, who is now celebrating a turning-point in his life after returning to school and acquiring a master’s degree in criminal justice.

Deskovic says that despite nonexistent DNA evidence linking him to the murder, the police got him to confess after a seven-and-a-half-hour interrogation with no attorney present, his parents unaware of his whereabouts and no food. Deskovic, who was 16 at the time, maintained his innocence after his conviction and fought for his freedom with the help of the Innocence Project. Deskovic was released in 2006 and used a portion of his $8 million settlement to establish the Jeffrey Deskovic Foundation for Justice.

Exoneration and wrongful conviction stories are heavily publicized in the news, but not many cover the success and hardships of said individuals after their exoneration and after the cameras have stopped rolling and the buzz of the latest story has died down. Brian Banks, a man who was convicted of rape at age 16, and spent five years in prison and five years on probation before being exonerated, is getting a second chance at his dream of being an NFL professional football player. His story will forever be immortalized throughout the Innocence Network and throughout the world.

With the help of the California Innocence Project, Banks, whose accuser admitted on tape countless times that she fabricated the rape allegation against Banks, was able to get his conviction overturned and now will get a chance to win a coveted roster spot and maybe even a starting nod as linebacker for the Atlanta Falcons.

But graduate degrees and NFL dreams come true are a rarity when discussing victims of wrongful conviction and incarceration, and many are incapable of getting a house, a car and even a job years after their release.

Virginia LeFever, an Ohio women who was convicted of killing her husband in 1990, found it easier to re-enroll in college than it was for her to obtain a job. One would think that since LeFever was exonerated and her record was sealed  that it would be quite easy for her to acquire a proper job seeing as she was qualified, but that was not the case.

LeFever suffered great difficulty trying to find work due to her criminal record showing up every time a potential employer performed a background check. She also had to overcome difficulties getting her nursing license fully reinstated, but now that she has her degree and license she hopes to find a decent job that will provide her financial security. Like most wrongfully convicted exonerees the wait has been a long one.

One would hope that after exoneration the lives of these victims would return to normal. However, a study performed by the Life After Exoneration Program found that:

  • Half of exonerees are living with family
  • 2 in 3 are not financially independent
  • 1 in 3 lose custody of their children
  • 1 out of 4 suffer from Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder

All formerly incarcerated people face similar barriers. Most of the world treats exonerees like anyone else with a criminal record:

  • Both groups are chronically underemployed.
  • Both groups have difficulty accessing routine government services.
  • Both groups are routinely denied the right to vote, live in public housing, get food stamps, or access college loans.

After being wrongfully convicted, and for some spending over a decade in prison, exonerees are looking for compensation as they rightfully should. However, statutes providing compensation for these innocent people are only in place in 27 states, including Washington D.C. and the majority of the these laws undercompensate for the trauma endured by the exoneree.

Roughly about one-third of the people exonerated after proving their innocence have not been compensated. In the states where there are no compensation laws, individuals must file civil lawsuits or wait for the legislature to consider a private bill on their behalf. After completing one strenuous court battle, exonerees are forced into another as they try and obtain the funding necessary to re-establish themselves in society.

Florida exoneree, William Dillon, who spent 27.5 years in prison for a crime he did not commit, is one of the few Florida exonerees who has been compensated.  In early 2012, Gov. Rick Scott signed the bill that paid Dillon $1.35 million, while also providing him a public apology on behalf of the State of Florida, finally shutting the door on a case that has been going on for more than 30 years.

Unlike LeFever and countless others, Dillon has been blessed and has managed to forge a successful music career for himself after being exonerated. He has managed to turn his horrific story into heart wrenching songs about the struggles of his wrongful conviction. He also serves on the board of directors for the Innocence Project of Florida. He is truly one of the lucky ones.

Now that we are cognizant of the great success of a few exonerees, we must also keep the innocents who are struggling to stay afloat in our thoughts. Now that the truth about post exoneration struggles is apparent and the rose-colored glasses are off, we must do our part to ensure that innocent people who were wrongfully convicted are set free, compensated for their time spent in prison, and given the proper chance to secure a steady financial future.

 

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Jerry Lee Jenkins Exonerated in Maryland

Anna Fitzpatrick — June 12, 2013 @ 9:11 AM — Comments (1)

After serving more than ten years in prison and spending time on the sex offender registry, the Charles County Circuit Court vacated Mid-Atlantic Innocence Project (MAIP) client Jerry Lee Jenkins of his 1986 rape conviction and dismissed all charges against him! DNA testing both proved he was innocent of the crime and that another man, Norman Bruce Derr, was the real perpetrator.

Jenkins was convicted despite the victim testifying at trial that he only looked like her attacker and that she could not be positive that it was him. Furthermore, he had been excluded as the perpetrator of an eerily similar 1984 rape that both the Charles County Police and FBI believed to have been committed by the same person as the 1986 rape.

DNA testing being in its infancy at the time of the trial, the testing done at that time was unable to obtain a result. When Jenkins requested a re-test in the mid-1990′s, he was told the evidence did not exist – something he would continue to be told for the next fifteen years.

In 2006, he learned that Derr had been convicted of the 1984 rape based on a DNA cold hit. It was then that Jenkins wrote to the MAIP, which took him on as a non-DNA case. In 2010, before filing a non-DNA innocence claim based on the Derr evidence, MAIP attempted one last search for DNA evidence. Miraculously, Charles County police were able to locate a box of physical evidence containing a hair. Subsequent testing confirmed the semen in the 1986 case belonged to Derr.

Jenkins had been previously released from prison, but he’s elated to be off the sex offender registry and have the stigma of the rape removed from his record.

Congratulations to Mr. Jenkins, the MAIP, and everyone involved in the case!

exoneration,justice, , , ,


All 50 States Now Provide Access to Post-Conviction DNA Testing

Anna Fitzpatrick — June 07, 2013 @ 11:00 AM — Comments (0)

On May 24th, Oklahoma became the 50th and final state to pass a post-conviction DNA testing law. 307 people who were wrongfully convicted of crimes have been exonerated by DNA evidence in the United States since DNA testing first became available as a forensic tool in 1989.

Laws like the one passed in Oklahoma give many wrongfully convicted individuals the opportunity to gain access to DNA testing. Without such laws, innocent prisoners do not have a statutory right to testing and are required to rely on judges and prosecutors to grant access to DNA testing. Larry Peterson is one example of the harm done without these laws – Peterson spent sixteen years in prison in New Jersey, struggling to have evidence tested until a DNA testing law was passed in his state.

Oklahoma’s testing law is one of the most comprehensive in the nation, but some laws in other states have limitations which can be significant; several states specifically exclude those who pled guilty or confessed, even though more than a third of the 307 people exonerated by DNA testing either falsely confessed or pled guilty.

Check out this DNA testing law infographic put together by the Innocence Project in New York, as well as what the DNA testing law is in your state.

exoneration,legislation,post-conviction, , , ,


One Year of the National Registry of Exonerations

Anna Fitzpatrick — May 29, 2013 @ 9:49 AM — Comments (0)

This month the National Registry of Exonerations celebrates its first anniversary, having launched the site on May 21, 2012. At the time, the site listed 891 exonerations. Since then, they’ve added 232 more cases to their database. The Registry is a joint project between the University of Michigan Law School and the Center on Wrongful Convictions at Northwestern University School of Law and is the only comprehensive database containing all known exonerations since 1989.

Compiling all exoneration cases in one place has allowed the students and staff of these organizations not only to organize exonerations by geography and contributing factors but also to conduct studies intended to identify patterns within wrongful conviction cases and to seek reforms to eliminate these patterns. Their first study, which covered post-conviction witness recantations, can be found on their site and is the first systematic study of recantations ever conducted.

Congratulations to everyone at the registry and to those who worked tirelessly conducted the recantation study. Keep up the hard work!

exoneration,post-conviction, , , , ,


The Deep Roots of Prosecutorial Misconduct

Anna Fitzpatrick — May 24, 2013 @ 2:17 PM — Comments (0)

Fifty years ago, in the landmark Brady v. Maryland case, the U.S. Supreme Court established a fundamental principle about the duty of prosecutors – to seek justice fairly, not merely win convictions by any means. This meant that due process required prosecutors to disclose any exculpatory evidence that was likely to affect a conviction or sentence. Known as the Brady Rule, the case was meant to lead to more transparency and equity in criminal proceedings; however, its power has been restricted by subsequent rulings of the court and severely weakened by a near complete lack of punishment for prosecutors who skirt around the rule.

It is impossible to know how often prosecutors violate Brady since this type of misconduct, by definition, involves concealment. But there is good reason to believe that violations are widespread. The National Registry of Exonerations has compiled detailed data for about 1,100 exonerations for the period 1989-2012. Of those cases, a whopping 42% were caused by what has been deemed “official misconduct.” Allowing for a 50-50 split between police and prosecutorial misconduct, the number still hovers around 21%, and when one considers that prosecutors are meant to seek justice rather than convictions, that is a rather alarming rate. The court has long agreed that individual prosecutors should be protected from civil liability so that they may freely pursue criminals; unfortunately, that allows for almost complete unaccountability for wrong-doings in judicial proceedings.

Recently the “Michael Morton Act” was passed in Texas, a law meant to decrease the amount of wrongful convictions within the state. The bill’s namesake spent 25 years in prison for the murder of his wife before DNA evidence finally exonerated him in 2011. The prosecutor in his case has been accused of deliberately withholding a substantial amount of evidence that would have led to an acquittal, including an account from the defendants three-year-old son who witnessed the murder and explained that “Daddy wasn’t home” at the time, neighbor testimonials who saw a man park a green van outside the house the morning of the murder, and a police officer in San Antonio who stated he could identify a woman who had used the victim’s stolen Visa card in a jewelry store – all of which were withheld from the defense.

The case of John Thompson represents another example of atrocious prosecutorial misconduct and the Supreme Court’s refusal to hold the prosecutor accountable. Mr. Thompson spent 14 years on death row before he was exonerated following the discovery that lawyers in the New Orleans district attorney’s office had kept more than a dozen pieces of evidence secret, even destroying some. Yet the Supreme Court overturned a $14 million jury award to Mr. Thompson, ruling that the prosecutor’s office had not shown a pattern of “deliberate indifference” to constitutional rights.

One root of the epidemic of misconduct may stem from prosecutors positions as pseudo-politicians. The position of “prosecutor” is imbedded with an incredible level of power, and as Lord Acton wrote 126 years ago, “Power tends to corrupt, and absolute power corrupts absolutely.” Not only do prosecutors have power, but they are essentially free from accountability. The outrageous breaches of due process discussed here are merely illustrative of a deep-rooted indifference towards the assurance of justice.

But what can be done? One example of a better approach that has been adopted in North Carolina and now Ohio is to adopt an open-files reform to make criminal cases more efficient and fair. The state statute require prosecutors in felony cases, before trial, to make available to the defense “the complete files of all law enforcement agencies, investigatory agencies and prosecutors’ offices involved in the investigation of the crimes committed or the prosecution of the defendant.” The Justice Department insists that is has solved the problem by tightening requirements for disclosure, but numerous misconduct scandals show that is not sufficient. The best way to fulfill the promise of Brady is with open-files reform, which addresses the need for full disclosure of evidence that could show a defendant’s innocence.

exoneration,justice,legislation,policy, , , , , , , ,


Celebrating Freedom and Justice with Orlando Boquete

Anna Fitzpatrick — May 22, 2013 @ 10:27 AM — Comments (0)

May 23, 2013 marks the seventh anniversary of Orlando Boquete’s exoneration. We would like to take a moment to celebrate not only Orlando’s freedom but the freedom restored to all exonerees.

For many wrongly imprisoned, returning to life on the outside proves to be a difficult transition, and society will have changed greatly in the time they were away. But as Orlando told the New York Times, “I feel free many, many times…I want to feel free.” Despite transitional struggles and time lost, Orlando remains determined to embrace his freedom and rebuild the life he always imagined for himself.

Congratulations, Orlando, and happy anniversary of your restored freedom!

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MAYDAY: A Call of the Innocent

Ileejah Hutchinson — May 21, 2013 @ 3:20 PM — Comments (0)

Mayday, mayday, mayday!

This universal call is used to signal and aid individuals who are in distress and seeking assistance. The term is mainly used by marines and aviators; however, in some countries it is also used by law enforcement, fire departments and transportation groups.

The mayday call, which originated in the early 1920s, comes from the French words “venez m’iader,” which means “come and help me.” After a mayday call is given and if there is no response from the coast guard or any person designated to assist within two minutes, any person who hears the call for distress is required to perform a mayday relay, which is a call by one vessel on behalf of another.

IPF has vigorously worked for 10 years to aid persons in distress as a result of wrongful convictions. Exonerees such as, Orlando Boquete, William Dillon and Derrick Williams, to name a few, are perfect examples of successful mayday relays.

The United States of America prides itself on having the best criminal justice system in the world. Sadly it has been proven time and time again that the system is not immune to human error and in some cases, willful misconduct by prosecutors and law enforcement, and outright lies by jailhouse snitches. An innocent person, generally, believes that the justice system will do nothing but protect them, and do its best to eradicate the actual criminals.

Boquete, Dillon and Williams, collectively, spent 58 years in prison before their “mayday calls” were answered. Like all exonerees, Dillon made multiple cries for help; “to anyone who might listen” is how Dillon describes his desperate pleas. Finally with the help of IPF and assistant public defender Mike Pirolo, DNA testing on a key piece of evidence proved that Dillon was innocent. Dillon’s distress calls were finally answered after more than 27 years.

Williams’ sister-in-law took the first step in successfully performing a mayday relay on his behalf. With the help of IPF, Williams was finally able to go home after serving 18 years in prison.

Later this week Orlando will celebrate the 7th anniversary of his exoneration – the day his call for help was answered.

Place yourself in the shoes of Boquete, Dillon, or Williams – imagine spending years locked away from loved ones, family and friends; imagine not being able to fulfill the goals you mapped out for yourself; imagine not being able to make choices of what to eat and where to go. The small things we take for granted everyday are the things they missed, because the system failed and they were convicted of crimes they did not commit.

Because prosecutors, judges, and the State have turned their backs and ignore the cries of the innocent, IPF will continue to respond to mayday calls from those in Florida’s prisons.

It is everyone’s obligation to assist after hearing a mayday call, a cry from the wrongfully convicted, a cry that will prove to be the first step in unlocking the truth. Your assistance can be in many forms – share this post, tell others about IFP and our work, and provide financial support so we can bring home the innocent still in prison.

exoneration,Innocence Project of Florida,justice,prison, , , , , , ,


Washington State Passes Wrongful Conviction Compensation Law

Anna Fitzpatrick — May 16, 2013 @ 10:00 AM — Comments (0)

Last Wednesday Washington became the 28th state to pass a wrongful conviction compensation law with Gov. Jay Inslee signing a bill that will take effect in July. Under the new law, a wrongfully convicted person would be eligible to file a claim against the state once their conviction is reversed. After a judge or jury determines the claim is valid, the courts can award up to $50,000 for each year of imprisonment, including time spent awaiting trial and an additional $50,000 for each year spent on death row.

Money will come from the new state liability fund, which can also provide education aid and pay past child support for those who qualify. The state estimates that at least 15 wrongly convicted former inmates are likely to file claims in the first three years, with one to two each year thereafter.

The bill, which passes through the Washington state House and Senate with bipartisan and nearly unanimous support, was championed by Representative Tina Orwall and the Innocence Project of Northwest Legislative Advocacy Clinic.  We want to congratulate them as well as IPNW Policy Director Lara Zarowsky and her students who worked tirelessly to advocated the passage of the bill even during a year with tight budgets.  Way to go “Team Compensate!”

Nationwide, one-third of people exonerated after proving their innocence have not been compensated for the injustices they suffered and the time they spent incarcerated.

Governor Inslee shakes hands with ICP exononree Alan Northrop, who served over 17 years in prison for crimes he did not commit.

Governor Inslee shakes hands with ICP exononree Alan Northrop, who served over 17 years in prison for crimes he did not commit.

exoneration,justice,legislation,post-conviction, , , ,


NCIP Secures Overturned Conviction for George Souliotes

Jessica — April 24, 2013 @ 10:39 AM — Comments (0)

Last week The Northern California Innocence Project won more than a decade long legal battle for the release of George Souliotes. The NCIP Press Release stated that a California judge overturned his conviction and ordered his release on April 12, 2013 unless the prosecution not only files for a re-trail but also takes the steps to do so within the next 30 days.

Souliotes was convicted in 2000 for a triple murder and arson when a fatal fire in 1997 occurred on a separate property of his in Modesto, California. The fire claimed the lives of three residents. Unfortunately, Souliotes fell victim to a wrongful conviction due to faulty fire science and ineffective counsel at a second trial.

Arson forensics have developed with the progression of technology. The advancement of fire science has allowed for many cases involving arson to be reconsidered. Regarding Souliotes case, an article in The Los Angeles Times stated,

“For decades, fire investigators believed accelerant-propelled arsons left signs: melted steel, glass etched by tiny cracks, certain patterns and markings.

But when the theories were finally tested, scientists learned the conditions also were found in accidental blazes.”

The science provided as evidence in Souliotes’ trial resulted in his conviction and sentencing of three life sentences without parole. Souliotes served 16 years of his sentence before a judge ordered for his release this April. For Souliotes, faulty science was not the only reason the prosecution secured a conviction; the counsel that Souliotes received in his second trial was inadequate in their defense.

The Wall Street Journal describes Souliotes’ counsel claiming,

“His [Souliotes] first trial resulted in a hung jury, after his defense counsel provided a vigorous defense including expert witnesses. At his second trial, however, Souliotes’ defense counsel failed to present a case, called no expert witnesses, and called none of the other fact witnesses who established Souliotes’ complete lack of motive at the first trial.”

With evidence pointing away from arson along with evidence of ineffective counsel, Souliotes’ case began unraveling as the NCIP took on the case to fight to overturn the conviction. The Wall Street Journal continued with a statement from one of Souliotes’ lawyers, Jimmy McBirney stating, “Mr. Souliotes has always maintained his innocence, and the evidence has now proven it. There is absolutely no basis for a retrial, and we look forward to seeing him set free.”

Pictured below is NCIP Press Release photo of Souliotes and the legal team that helped  him gain his overturned conviction. Congratulations to George Souliotes on his release and The Northern California Innocence Project for their success and their hard work on the Souliotes case.

George Souliotes and his counsel

exoneration,Science, , , , , ,


“The Central Park Five” Premieres on PBS Tonight

Jessica — April 16, 2013 @ 3:31 PM — Comments (0)

The documentary “The Central Park Five” will premiere on PBS tonight, April 16, 2013, at 9 p.m.

The film follows the five young, black and latino men who were wrongfully convicted of rape and assault in 1989. The victim was brutally attacked and assaulted during a late night run in Central Park. The documentary discusses the case, the questions, and the emotions directly with the men of the Central Park Five.

On USA Today, Ken Burns describes how he and two additional filmmakers choose to address this harsh miscarriage of justice.

Tune into PBS at 9 p.m. to watch “The Central Park Five.”

Find your local PBS station here.

exoneration,post-conviction, , , , ,

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