Innocence in Alabama needs your help!

Via The Innocence Blog

Tommy Arthur has spent 25 years on Alabama’s death row for a murder he has always said he didn’t commit. Again this week, his lawyers filed court papers requesting DNA testing at the defense's expense. The filing requests a stay if the testing can not be completed by Arthur's scheduled execution date of July 31. The Innocence Project has consulted with Arthur's attorneys on the case, and thousands of supporters have sent emails to Alabama Gov. Bob Riley calling on him to order DNA testing for Arthur.

Visit the Innocence Project on-line to read more about Arthur's case. Click here to send an e-mail to Governor Riley asking that this request be accomodated. Possibly taking an innocent life will not provide justice and only serves to weaken our judicial system.

Innocence in Florida: the Wrongful Incarceration Act

The Innocence Blog had a post yesterday detailing the problems with the proposed Wrongful Incarceration Act in Florida. This piece of legislation which is currently waiting on the Governor's signature was proposed as a method of making it easier for those who are found to have been wrongfully convicted to receive financial compensation from the State without having to engage in the current legal quagmire necessary to be eligible for an amount higher than the sovereign immunity imposed $200,000 cap. While the Wrongful Incarceration Act has emerged as something that does not achieve it's primary stated goal, the main controversy is the "clean hands" portion of the Act which will prevent anyone who has been convicted of a prior unrelated felony from being able to collect any form of compensation from the State. The Tallahassee Democrat quotes Seth Miller, executive director of the Innocence Project in Florida, who sums up the controversy quite effectively.

"You're innocent when we release you but you're not innocent enough to be compensated?" said Seth Miller, executive director of the Innocence Project of Florida. "These two ideas just don't jibe together."

While this statement very concisely explains the Act's opposition, perhaps an example mentioned earlier in the same article better highlights exactly what kind of people will no longer be eligible for compensation.

Orlando Boquete, who in 2006 was exonerated from a sexual battery and burglary conviction based on DNA evidence, won't have an easy road to compensation either. The new law prevents those with prior felonies from receiving automatic compensation, but Boquete's prior felony is a conviction for escaping while serving his wrongful imprisonment.

It's important that states like Florida and others are beginning to publicly deal with the reality of wrongfully convicted individuals. I hope this is a continuing trend. However, this particular piece of legislation is truly a step backwards.

Part 5 Innocence in Mississippi

The State of Mississippi is fortunately encountering pressure from the community to remove Dr. Steven Hayne, whose false testimony led to the wrongful conviction of both Levon Brooks and Kennedy Brewer, as medical examiner. The Innocence Project has already filed an official complaint against Dr. Hayne.

For months, Mississippi medical examiner Steven Hayne has come under fire for years of false forensic testimony, unethical methods, nepotism and potential illegal activities. His flawed autopsies led two innocent men to spend a combined three decades in prison before they were exonerated earlier this year. He claims to work 110 hours a week and conduct 1,500 autopsies a year – earning him more than a million dollars annually.

On Sunday, the Hattiesburg American posted an editorial criticizing the state of Mississippi's slow response to what is truly a serious problem. The author of the editorial quotes three different district attorneys who say that they have found no problems with Dr. Hayne's work and are sure that he hasn't been a problem in their district. This response comes despite the fact that Dr.Hayne claims to perform on average 1500 autopsies each year. The recommended average by the National Association of Medical Examiners is 250 per year with an absolute maximum of 325. Given these numbers, the author of the editorial asks, how can the district attorneys be confident in the results?

"I have found him to be competent. I think he's qualified and I have encountered no problems or irregularities," said Jon Mark Weathers, district attorney for Forrest and Perry counties.

Jones County District Attorney Tony Buckley concurred.

"I don't think any of his actions he's being investigated for affects our district, in my opinion," Bowen said. "I just don't see a problem with him in this district."

Covington County District Attorney Eddie Bowen also said he had no issue.

This strikes as three ostriches putting their heads in the sand. How can these DA's be at all confident in Hayne's work given the information that has come out about the pathologist?

I hope that the only motivation behind these reactions is a desire to maintain a calm working environment. However, I can't help but suspect that due to the high potential for rampant lawsuits these DAs along with other state officials may want to avoid exposing flaws in their system and therefore uncovering large numbers of wrongful convictions. I realize that most state governments are strapped for cash and that a large number of overturned convictions could be a public relations nightmare as well as a financial one, but freeing innocent people is just simply more important than all of that.

Innocent man released from Prison after 27 years

Charles Chatman is the 15th prisoner to be released in Dallas County after DNA evidence, preserved by the Southwest Institute of Forensic Sciences, proved his innocence. He was a free man as of May 15, 2008. Sadly, Chatman was up for parole on three separate occasions-- and was denied all three times because he maintained he did not commit the 1981 rape that resulted in his imprisonment.

The New York Times reports Chatman is not angry at the woman who identified him as her rapist, but instead angry at the system which kept him wrongly imprisoned.

According to The Innocence Project, There have been 216 post-conviction DNA exonerations in the United states since 1989. Factors that lead to wrongful conviction include incorrect eye-witness testimony, lab error, junk science, false confessions, and the use of "snitches", or jailhouse informants who would receive special treatment or lesser punishments for providing testimony, no matter what its veracity.

Unfortunately, due to these factors, innocent people spend time in jail- years of their lives that can never be regained. Even more tragic is that some innocent prisoners may be put to death due to faulty evidence. Sixteen of the 216 prisoners exonerated thus far have spent time on death row. Surely, since America claims so vociferously to be a 'culture of life', 16 innocent men who came very close to receiving death penalty is shameful to us indeed.

Thankfully, The Innocence Project has a list of priority reforms that can help cut down on wrongful convictions, and a list of things anyone can do to help keep innocent people out of prison.

Institutionalized death is not cruel and unusual

On April 16th the Supreme Court ruled that the most common form of lethal injection could not be considered cruel and unusual punishment, despite the claim that it causes unnecessary pain to the individual being executed. There is once again heightened urgency to push for fairness in the criminal justice system.

There has been a de facto moratorium on executions in the U.S. while states waited for the court’s decision in this case. Today’s decision means that the chances of an innocent person being executed are once again very real, as executions will likely resume immediately. One Innocence Project client on death row, Tommy Arthur in Alabama, was scheduled for execution before challenges to lethal injection led to a delay in the execution date. Will Alabama Gov. Bob Riley grant him the DNA testing that could prove his innocence before allowing him to be executed? Learn more about Arthur’s case here and send an email to Riley here.

The vote was 7-2. Justice John Paul Stevens voted with the majority but he wrote in his opinion that “the time for a dispassionate, impartial comparison of the enormous costs that death penalty litigation imposes on society with the benefits that it produces has surely arrived." He also cites the possibility of executing innocent people as something to be considered when taking further action on the death penalty.

In my opinion, the possibility of executing an innocent person is the only thing that really needs to be considered when asking if the death penalty should be allowed to remain as part of our criminal justice system. The system is and will always be set up by humans and will therefore be flawed and subject to mistakes. Innocent people will be convicted (though hopefully by a much smaller margin as time goes on) no matter what kind of reforms we succeed in making. While the damage that incarceration can do to a person is permanent, they at least still have their life and their liberty can be reinstated once they are exonerated.

Jill at Feministe had this to say about the ruling:

What the hell kind of country are we living in when we not only allow the state the right to execute criminals — something done in only a handful of other states with abhorrent human rights recorders, including Iran, Saudi Arabia and Yemen — but when we can’t even be bothered to make sure that our methods of execution are as humane as possible? Who are we when our standard for killing our own citizens is that the way we kill them simply cannot pose an “objectively intolerable risk of harm”?

This is sick and shameful.

Not only did the Supreme Court vote to uphold the death penalty, it is now hearing arguments on whether or not to expand the death penalty to sexual abuse cases. Make no mistake, if someone touched my child or murdered someone I cared about, I feel confident I would kill them if given the chance. I don't pretend to truly understand that kind of pain. Unfortunately, with the inherent flaws of our system there is no concrete way to know that the right person is being punished. The death penalty is not only intrinsically a moral failure, but it is also handed out disproportionately to poor defendants and defendants of color. It's time to stand up and say no to this barbaric vestige of our past.

Part 4 Innocence in Mississippi

Dr. Steven Hayne, who performs 80% of the autopsies in the state of Mississippi and who performed the autopsies on the victims in both the Kennedy Brewer and Levon Brooks cases, is being exposed as a fraud by the Innocence Project. Innocence Project attorneys in Mississippi are officially calling for Hayne's license to be revoked. Hayne's misdeeds include lying under oath about his position within the medical examiners office, performing too many autopsies in a year, and making false statements concerning the conclusions of his autopsies. Given the importance of his job and the long term effect his testimony can have, Dr. Hayne's is amazingly cavalier about his indiscretions. In response to the Innocence Project asserting that while he has performed around 1500 autopsies each year, the maximum limit of the National Association of Medical Examiners is 250, Hayne told the press

Hayne said such a number is arbitrary. “There’s one group that says you shouldn’t do more than 350, and there are other groups that don’t have a limit,” he said. “Should I call the Innocence Project to see if I’ve done too many and stop?”

He estimates he works 110 hours a week. “Some people were put on this earth to party, and some people were put on this earth to work,” he said. “I’ve always worked very hard.”

Dr. Hayne fails to ever cite any group with 350 as its limit or with no limits at all. The question of quantity is central to this case given the fact that the autopsies he has performed when evaluated by independent experts is shown to be astonishingly poor. There is also a demonstrated pattern of arriving to scientifically improbably solutions in order to support the prosecutions theory of the crime. It's not surprising then that Mississippi prosecutor Forrest Allgood had this to say,

"My experience with Hayne is that 99 times out of 100 he testifies this guy died and this is how he died," Allgood said. "How is that in any way convicting innocent people?"

As the prosecutor in both the Levon Brooks and Kennedy Brewer cases, Allgood really should know the answer to this question. The jury convicted both men largely based on the faulty testimony of Dr. Hayne and another pathologist. These cases have thankfully held this obviously corrupt criminal justice system under the national microscope, and the fact that both Dr. Hayne and Mr. Allgood seem to have no remorse about the wrong that was done to these two men (and now it seems probably many more people as faulty autopsies done by Hayne are being discovered as a I type this for trials that have recently concluded or have not yet begun) is very unsettling. Our criminal justice system is not perfect and never can be and mistakes will happen, but when covering up those mistakes becomes more important than the rights of innocent people then maybe Mr. Allgood needs think about stepping down as well.

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 South Carolina

South Carolina is one of only six states in the US that does not currently have a law allowing inmates to request DNA testing for purposes of exoneration. Recently, Democratic state Senator Gerald Malloy, introduced a bill known as the Post-Conviction DNA Procedures Act that would give an inmate the right to apply for DNA testing of evidence in the county in which they were convicted. The Innocence Project has been heavily involved in lobbying for this bill's passing, but today there was an editorial in The Herald, a South Carolina newspaper, that concisely explains that passage of this bill is long overdue.

If a DNA test can free an innocent person from prison, the state should provide a path for inmates to request a test.

"Simply put, nobody wins when an innocent person is convicted," Scheck said. "Not the victims, the police, the prosecutors, the courts or the public."

That sentiment seems unassailable. We hope that DNA testing becomes commonplace in any case where evidence could provide an answer as to the guilt or innocence of a prisoner.

I couldn't say it any better than that.

Via Innocence Blog

No way to know

According to a New York Times article, the general consensus is that there is no way to know how many innocent people are currently serving time or on death row. While that is not really a new revelation, the fact that at least one member of the US Supreme Court seems to see no need for reform within our justice system is disturbing news to me.

A couple of years ago, Justice Antonin Scalia, concurring in a Supreme Court death penalty decision, took stock of the American criminal justice system and pronounced himself satisfied. The rate at which innocent people are convicted of felonies is, he said, less than three-hundredths of 1 percent — .027 percent, to be exact.
That rate, he said, is acceptable. “One cannot have a system of criminal punishment without accepting the possibility that someone will be punished mistakenly,” he wrote. “That is a truism, not a revelation.”

Now call me an idealist, but I consider even one innocent person having years of their life taken away, or being put to death for a crime they didn't commit to be a serious problem that shouldn't be light-heartedly dismissed in an effort to seem tough and intellectual. But my philosophical disagreements aside, Scalia's math is decidedly fuzzy. As Mr. Liptak and the Innocence Blog both point out, Judge Scalia is getting this .027 statistic by using the discredited methodology of dividing an estimate of the number of exonerated prisoners, almost all of them in murder and rape cases, by the total of all felony convictions.

As [University of Michigan law professor Samuel]Gross points in a recent law review article: “By this logic, we could estimate the proportion of baseball players who’ve used steroids by dividing the number of major league players who’ve been caught by the total of all baseball players at all levels: major league, minor league, semipro, college and Little League — and maybe throwing in football and basketball players as well.”

Applying more logical methods, Gross estimates the rate of wrongful conviction of death row cases to be more along the lines of 2.3% to 5%. A recent study of randomly selected cases in Virginia showed a possible rate of 9%. The Innocence Project states the rate could be even higher due to the fact that many crimes are not always dependent on biological evidence and therefore it is harder to prove someone's innocence.

The Innocence Project has always said that DNA exonerations are just the tip of the iceberg, since only 5-10% of all criminal cases involve biological evidence that can be subjected to DNA testing (and even in those cases, the evidence is often lost, destroyed or too degraded to yield results in DNA testing). But the 215 wrongful convictions overturned to date by DNA testing illustrate the broader causes of wrongful conviction and show the need for reforms that can prevent injustice.

Despite the possibility that, even if the low number of 2.3% is applied, over the last three decades 185,000 people have spent time in jail or been killed for crimes they did not commit, Justice Scalia remains optimistic, writing:“Reversal of an erroneous conviction demonstrates not the failure of the system but its success.” He seems happy to ignore the fact that without the tireless efforts of groups like the Innocence Project these erroneous convictions would probably never be discovered by the "system" he so praises.

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.

2nd on Update: Innocence in Mississippi

Yesterday Innocence Project client Levon Brooks was officially exonerated!

At a hearing this morning in Macon, Mississippi, Innocence Project client Levon Brooks was fully cleared of charges relating to a 1990 murder for which he was wrongfully incarcerated for 15 years. Brooks was convicted of the murder based on the faulty forensic testimony of Dr. Steven Hayne and Michael West, and sentenced to life in prison. The same forensic experts also testified at the trial of Innocence Project client Kennedy Brewer, who was exonerated last month after serving 15 years (several of them on death row) for an eerily similar murder in the same town as the murder for which Brooks was convicted.

DNA testing and other evidence now shows that both murders were committed by the same man, Justin Albert Johnson, who has admitted that he killed both child victims alone. At a hearing last month, Brewer was fully exonerated and Brooks was released, but charges remained against Brooks until today.

Drs. Steven Hayne and Michael West are still under investigation for potentially knowingly providing false testimony. There has been a call to officially review all cases in which they were "expert" witnesses.

Innocence in Kentucky

Today on the Innocence Blog Rebecca Brown reports from Kentucky on her work to reform the state's eyewitness identification procedures through bill HB 298. This bill would introduce eyewitness procedures that are proven through scientific studies to be effective. Here are some highlights from her report:

It is our hope that legislators will heed the lessons of wrongful conviction, and place robust science and experiential support above resistance to change. After all, traditional lineup methods are not the product of either scientific lessons or systemic validation. The unreliability of conventional eyewitness identification procedures undermines the effectiveness of public safety nationwide – and as importantly, the public faith therein. It bears repeating that eyewitness misidentification has contributed to more than three-quarters of the nation’s wrongful convictions proven through DNA testing.

The problem is well established, as are the solutions. I am testifying in Kentucky to help their legislature understand what the Innocence Project has learned – through deep study, and more importantly, through the reality of DNA exonerations – about the value of reforming their eyewitness identification procedures.

William Gregory, a Kentucky man whose innocence was proven through DNA testing, knows firsthand about the tragic implications of flawed eyewitness identification procedures; he spent seven years in prison for a crime he did not commit after two crime victims misidentified him.
Passage of HB 298 will not only protect the public and enhance Kentuckians’ confidence in their criminal justice system – it will also prove to Mr. Gregory that his suffering was not in vain. (Emphasis Added)

I encourage you to read the full report, and if you live in Kentucky, please contact your representative in support of this bill.

Update on Innocence in Mississippi

According to the Innocence Blog, District Attorney Forrest Allgood, of Noxubee County, Mississippi, will drop the capital murder indictment against Innocence Project client Levon Brooks at a hearing Thursday morning in Macon, Mississippi. This long awaited exoneration comes after Brooks spent 18 years in prison for a murder he did not commit.

The Clarion Ledger reports,

A hearing is set for 11:30 a.m. Thursday in Noxubee County Circuit Court for Brooks, 48, now free on bond. He was convicted and sentenced to life in the 1990 killing of 3-year-old Courtney Smith. The Mississippi Supreme Court threw out that conviction.

For more information on the background of this case click here or here.

New Book Examines Innocence Commissions: Sales Support Innocence Project.

A new book titled “The Innocence Commission: Preventing Wrongful Convictions and Restoring the Criminal Justice System,” by Jon Gould examines the Innocence Commission for Virginia and the model of creating panels of experts to review the injustice of wrongful convictions and make recommendations for states to reform their criminal justice systems. According to the Innocence Blog:

Criminal justice reform commissions – also called innocence commissions – are a centerpiece of the Innocence Project’s reform proposals nationwide, and have been extremely effective in several states in bringing about reforms to protect the innocent and assist law enforcement agencies and prosecutors.

The Innocence Project explains more about innocence commissions here. And you can buy Professor Gould's book on Amazon by clicking here. A portion of the proceeds will be given to the Innocence Project.

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

The Faces of Wrongful Conviction Project

While researching topics related to our partner organizations, I came across The Faces of Wrongful Conviction Project .

This California non-profit organization tells the stories of over 200 men and women who have been proven to have been wrongfully convicted and imprisoned in the state of California. Their mission statement is as follows:

More than 200 men and women have been wrongfully convicted in California since 1990. Some of these men and women were sentenced to death; all lost years of their lives, imprisoned for crimes they did not commit. The aim of this project is to bring you their stories and to advocate for reforms that will eliminate wrongful convictions.

Their website is a great way to reaffirm the work being done by the Innocence Project. Telling these people's stories reminds us that those who have been wrongfully convicted are sons and daughters, husbands and wives, friends and co-workers, and even if there was just one wrongfully convicted individual in jail, it would be one too many.

USA Today Highlights Importance of the Innocence Project

USA Today published a remarkably comprehensive article this week surrounding the efforts of the Innocence Project and its affiliates to free wrongfully convicted prisoners. The article begins by focusing on Charles Chatman's adjustment to freedom. Chatman was recently exonerated by DNA testing after serving 27 years in the Texas prison system for a crime he did not commit.

Each of the six rooms in his new apartment, including the bathroom, is larger than any of his previous cells. The gleaming entertainment system and sleek laptop from family, friends and attorneys might as well be hollow props on a movie set, because Chatman, 47, has little idea how to operate them — testimony to more than a generation lost behind bars.

It is the increasing instances of stories like Chatman's that, according to USA Today, is sparking a new urgency across the country to secure the release of wrongfully convicted individuals. The article cites many examples of this new cooperation with the Innocence Project, but I found this one to be the most striking.

•In what may be the most aggressive move by a local prosecutor, Dallas County District Attorney Craig Watkins has turned over more than 400 files to law students working for the Innocence Project of Texas. The students are reviewing decisions by previous administrations to reject requests for DNA testing.

Watkins, Dallas County's first African-American district attorney, says opening the files may have been his easiest decision since being sworn in last year, even in a state where politicians have a reputation for supporting aggressive law-and-order policies.

"The reason I'm here is a result of what happened in the past," Watkins says. He cites a tradition of aggressive prosecution in Dallas and routine denials of prisoners' requests for post-conviction reviews, which he says shrouded past errors. Those errors have emerged, Watkins says, largely because the local forensics laboratory preserved the biological evidence at issue in many of the recent challenges by prisoners.

For many places, a review of convictions such as that in Dallas County is not possible because physical evidence has not been preserved. The lack of uniform preservation standards is a big concern among advocates for post-conviction challenges, says Peter Neufeld, co-founder of the Innocence Project.

But for Watkins, the available evidence offered "an opportunity to restore the credibility of this office."

If you have the chance, please go check out the entire article . There is so much to this complex problem and the writer does a very good job of describing the impact wrongful imprisonment has on a person and the numerous barriers to post-conviction reviews.