The 947 Years Campaign

According to the Innocence Project, more than one-third of the 215 people that have been exonerated due to DNA evidence were between 14 and 22 years of age when they were convicted. These kids have spent a combined 947 years in prison for crimes they did not commit. To raise awareness and engage young people in the fight to free the innocent and prevent wrongful convictions, the Innocence Project has launched a national campaign called 947 Years. In their Prime. In Prison. Innocent..

The campaign's website includes a two minute video, a petition to support universal access to post-conviction DNA testing, and multimedia accounts of the kids who were sent to jail for crimes they did not commit. Click here to sign the petition today, and please spread the word on your blogs and/or in your lives about this campaign as they are counting on you to keep it going.

Innocence in Colorado

The Innocence Blog has reported that the state legislature is close to approving a bill that would allow people who's case evidence was destroyed against orders to be allowed a new trial. According to The Denver Post:

The legislation, filed Wednesday and signed by 82 House and Senate members out of 100 — including several former police officers — could mark the first time state leaders have attempted to reverse a criminal conviction, according to legislative librarians. And veteran lawmakers called the number of backers unusually large.

If the pledged support carries through to the actual vote, the bill would have enough votes to withstand a veto.

This new bill is being sponsored in response to cases like that Clarence Moses-El who has spent over 20 years in prison for a rape he says he did not commit. In 1995, when DNA testing became a possibility, Moses-El was allowed to have his DNA tested against evidence found at the scene. Unfortunately, before Moses-El's attorney could retrieve the evidence, Denver police threw away the victim's clothing and swabbings of her body. The tests that Moses-EL says would exonerate him have never been conducted. House Majority Leader Alice Madden, D-Boulder had this to say about the apparent support for the bill:

It's pretty unusual for this kind of support. There's probably been some resolutions supported by everybody — apple-pie stuff. But this is incredibly moving. Given what we know about mistakes being made, and innocent people getting out based on DNA, it's needed more than ever.

We'll keep you updated as this important legislation develops. In the meantime if you live in Colorado, contact your representative and show your support! Or, no matter where you live, you can contact The Innocence Project to find out what you can do to help.

Innocence in Mississippi

Kennedy Brewer and Levon Brooks are living proof of the importance of competence in our criminal justice system. CNN sets the scene:

At a small-town courthouse in one of rural Mississippi's poorest counties, Dr. Michael West swore under oath that a dead girl had bite marks all over her body and that they were made by the two front teeth of the man charged with murdering her.

Dr. West had appeared in numerous Mississippi trials as a paid forensic odontology expert for the prosecution.On that day in 1995, jurors found his testimony credible enough to convict Kennedy Brewer of raping and murdering a 3-year-old girl with little to no other evidence. Mr. Brewer was sentenced to death.

Three years prior, Dr.West testified in an eerily similar rape-and-murder case involving another 3-year-old girl from the same town. Dr. West testified that bite marks that were found on the victim's wrist were made by Levon Brooks. Mr. Brooks was also found guilty and sentenced to life in prison.

The crimes they were charged with were not the only thing Brooks and Brewer had in common.Both defendants were accused of raping and murdering their girlfriend's child. Both defendants were from Brooksville. Both defendants were poor. Both defendants were African-American. And both defendants were innocent.

Earlier this month[February], Justin Albert Johnson, a 51-year-old Brooksville man who had been a suspect early on, was arrested and charged in one of the murders. Investigators said he confessed to both killings after DNA analysis proved that his semen was in the victim in the Brewer case.

An investigation by an Innocence Project panel of forensic odontologists from England, Canada, and the United States confirmed that the bite marks on the victims were likely the result of small insects, decomposition, and rough handling when the bodies were recovered. The panel itself did not explicitly make a charge of intentional wrong-doing on the part of Dr.West, but multiple panel participants stated that they did not understand how these marks could have reasonably been confused with human bite marks. These findings have opened the possibility of a criminal investigation against Dr. West, who prosecutors say has not been used as an expert witness since the mid-1990s. The public and various advocacy groups are also calling for review of all cases in Dr. West worked on.

Brewer and Brooks spent more than a decade of their life in jail for crimes they did not commit, while a child rapist and murderer remained free. Given the complete incompetence and possible corruption of this "expert", there could be dozens more innocent men behind bars and dozens more criminals roaming the streets under the radar. Their story reminds us that we must get involved with our local governments and let them know that incompetence and lack of oversight will not go unnoticed.

For more information, check out the Innocence Blog