Thomas McGowan 6/11/08 Michael Blair 8/25/08 Robert McClendon 8/26/08 Patrick Waller 9/24/08 Steven Phillips 10/01/08 Arthur Johnson 10/01/08 Joseph White 11/10/08 William Dillon 12/10/08 Steven Barnes 1/09/09 Ricardo Rachell 1/14/09 James Dean 1/26/09 Kathy Gonzalez 1/26/09 Debra Shelden 1/26/09 Ada JoAnn Taylor 1/26/09 Thomas Winslow 1/26/09 Joseph Fears Jr. 3/10/09 Miguel Roman 4/02/09 Victor Burnette 4/03/09 Timothy Cole 4/09/09 Johnnie Lindsey 4/24/09 Chaunte Ott 6/05/09 Lawrence McKinney 7/17/09 Robert Lee Stinson 7/26/09 Kenneth Ireland 8/19/09 Joseph Abbitt 9/02/09 James Woodard 9/30/09
THE INNOCENCE PROJECT IN PRINT BENJAMIN N. CARDOZO SCHOOL OF LAW, YESHIVA UNIVERSITY
VOLUME 5 ISSUE 2
WINTER 2009
IN THIS ISSUE FEATURES
BOARD OF DIRECTORS Gordon DuGan President and Chief Executive Officer, W.P. Carey & Co., LLC Senator Rodney Ellis Texas State Senate, District 13 Board Chair Jason Flom President, LAVA Records John Grisham Author Calvin Johnson Former Innocence Project client and exoneree; Supervisor, Metropolitan Atlanta Rapid Transit Authority Dr. Eric S. Lander Director, Broad Institute of MIT and Harvard Professor of Biology, MIT Hon. Janet Reno Former U.S. Attorney General Matthew Rothman Managing Director and Global Head of Quantitative Equity Strategies, Barclays Capital Stephen Schulte Founding Partner and Of Counsel, Schulte Roth & Zabel LLP Board Vice Chair Bonnie Steingart Partner, Fried, Frank, Harris, Shriver & Jacobson LLP Andrew H. Tananbaum President and CEO, Capital Business Credit LLC Jack Taylor Head of High Yield Debt, Managing Director, Prudential Real Estate Board Treasurer Paul R.Verkuil Of Counsel, Boies, Schiller & Flexner LLP Rachel Warren M.K. Enterprises, Inc.
FORENSICS FORWARD: HOW FORENSIC SCIENCE REFORM IS GAINING MOMENTUM NATIONWIDE ......................................4 SEARCHING FOR EVIDENCE AND ANSWERS .........................................9 IDENTIFYING INNOCENCE: VICTIMS AND EXONEREES COLLABORATE TO COMBAT EYEWITNESS MISIDENTIFICATIONS.............................................12
12
IN THEIR OWN WORDS: Q & A WITH GERALD HURST, FIRE EXPERT ..............................16
DEPARTMENTS LETTER FROM THE EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR..............................................3 EXONERATION NATION ..........................................................................18
20
INNOCENCE PROJECT NEWS..................................................................20 INNOCENCE BY THE NUMBERS: COMPENSATION.............................................................................22
ON THE COVER: ERNEST SONNIER, PROVEN INNOCENT THROUGH DNA TESTING AFTER OVER 23 YEARS OF WRONGFUL IMPRISONMENT, HUGS HIS FAMILY MEMBERS ON THE DAY OF HIS RELEASE, AUGUST 7, 2009.
PHOTO CREDITS: COVER, ©Houston Chronicle; PAGE 3, ©Douglas Gorenstein; PAGE 4, Alex Sanz/KHOU-TV; PAGE 6, THIRD FROM TOP, KHOU-TV; PAGE 8, Chicago Tribune photo by Alex Garcia; PAGE 12, AP Photo/Chuck Burton; PAGE 13, ©Michael Stravato; PAGE 14, Reprint courtesy of the Fort Worth Star-Telegram; PAGE 16, Chicago Tribune photo by Alex Garcia; PAGE 18, ©2009 Winston-Salem Journal photo/Lauren Conrad; PAGE 19 MIDDLE, AP Photo/Jessica Hill; PAGE 20, ©Wisconsin State Journal/Kyle McDaniel; PAGE 21, James Estrin/The New York
Times/Redux
THE NAMES THAT FOLLOW BELOW ARE THOSE OF THE 245 WRONGFULLY CONVICTED PEOPLE WHOM DNA HELPED EXONERATE, FOLLOWED BY THE YEARS OF THEIR CONVICTION AND EXONERATION.
▲ Gary Dotson 1979 to 1989
David Vasquez 1985 to 1989
Edward Green 1990 to 1990
Bruce Nelson 1982 to 1991
Charles Dabbs 1984 to 1991
Glen Woodall 1987 to 1992
Joe Jones 1986 to 1992
Steven Linscott 1982 to 1992
Leonard Callace 1987 to 1992
Kerry Kotler 1982 to 1992
Walter Snyder 1986 to 1993
FROM THE EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR
3
BUILDING BRIDGES TO SECURE RESULTS Too often, people assume the Innocence Project is at odds with prosecutors, police, crime victims, forensic scientists and others. In fact, the opposite is true, as you’ll learn more about in this issue of The Innocence Project in Print. To be sure, there are times that we are in direct opposition to law enforcement and others. Sometimes we have to disagree. By its very nature, our litigation and policy reform work challenges the status quo and forces people to confront our justice system’s shortcomings. Despite the sometimes-adversarial nature of our work, we are finding common ground with a diverse range of allies throughout the criminal justice system to address and prevent wrongful convictions. Victims of crime and their families are a powerful voice in litigation and broader public policy debates. Everyone feels sympathy for crime victims – particularly those involved in the types of cases the Innocence Project handles, which are often sex crimes. Victims of crime want and deserve justice, and they don’t get it when the wrong person is convicted. Improving eyewitness identification procedures is one of many areas where we agree with national and local victims’ organizations because victims of crime are not served by identification procedures that can lead them to an incorrect identification. Beginning on page 12, you can learn more about how crime victims and their families are working with the Innocence Project to improve eyewitness identification procedures nationwide. At the same time, more law enforcement agencies are embracing eyewitness identification procedures that increase the likelihood of selecting the true perpetrator and decrease the likelihood of identifying the innocent. Police and prosecutors want and need reliable evidence. All of the evidence they rely on – from eyewitness identification to confessions – is more solid and accurate if it is collected properly. Forensic scientists, meanwhile, are doing their best to perform high-quality forensic analyses but are often overburdened and under-resourced. As we press for better research and national standards in the field, we’re working hand-in-hand with a growing number of forensic professionals who want and need the tools to provide topnotch work. You can learn more about our forensic reform work – and how it will help forensic scientists, law enforcement and innocent suspects – starting on page 4. The Innocence Project has always been squarely focused on exonerating innocent prisoners and preventing future wrongful convictions. Working with people from different perspectives isn’t tangential to our mission and isn’t an extension of our mission – it’s how we accomplish our mission.
Maddy deLone Executive Director
Kirk Bloodsworth 1985 to 1993
Dwayne Scruggs 1986 to 1993
Mark D. Bravo 1990 to 1994
Dale Brison 1990 to 1994
Gilbert Alejandro 1990 to 1994
Frederick Daye 1984 to 1994
Edward Honaker 1985 to 1994
Brian Piszczek 1991 to 1994
Ronnie Bullock 1984 to 1994
David Shephard 1984 to 1995
Terry Chalmers 1987 to 1995
4
FORENSICS FORWARD
FORENSIC SCIENCE REFORM IS GAINING MOMENTUM NATIONWIDE Forensic science missteps contributed to Ernest Sonnier’s wrongful conviction. Twenty-three years later, his release comes during a period of national reinvestigation into the use of forensic science in our courtrooms. The Innocence Project is capitalizing on the moment with a strategy for affecting real change. ERNEST SONNIER, FLANKED BY FAMILY MEMBERS, SPEAKS TO REPORTERS AT A PRESS CONFERENCE IN AUGUST ABOUT HIS YEARS OF WRONGFUL IMPRISONMENT.
Ronald Cotton 1985, 1987 to 1995
On Christmas Eve 1985, Ernest Sonnier paid a visit to his family members. He stopped by his mother’s house, his grandmother’s house and an uncle’s house before heading
Rolando Cruz Alejandro Hernandez William O. Harris 1985 to 1995 1985 to 1995 1987 to 1995
Dewey Davis 1987 to 1995
Gerald Davis 1986 to 1995
Walter D. Smith 1986 to 1996
Vincent Moto 1987 to 1996
Steven Toney 1983 to 1996
Richard Johnson 1992 to 1996
Thomas Webb 1983 to 1996
FORENSICS FORWARD
5
home. It would be the last Christmas he would share with his family for a quarter of a century. That same night, a Houston woman was kidnapped from a service station by two men who threatened to kill her. They took turns raping the woman for seven hours as they drove to San Antonio. Around 4 a.m. on Christmas morning they finally stopped the car and she escaped. Sonnier became a suspect based on the victim’s identification of him from a photo lineup, but the perpetrator she described was 6 feet tall, and Sonnier was only 5’2". The prosecution paired her uncertain identification with the testimony of a forensic analyst from the Houston Police Department (HPD) crime lab. Since DNA testing was not available at the time, the analyst performed blood type testing on several pieces of evidence, including the rape kit and the victim’s clothing. At trial, he testified that Sonnier’s blood type didn’t show up in the rape kit, but he didn’t mention that Sonnier was also excluded as the contributor of seminal fluids found on the clothing. The prosecution suggested that Sonnier could still be guilty if the victim’s blood type had overwhelmed and concealed the perpetrator’s in a mixed sample. The analyst agreed, although the absence of Sonnier’s blood type on the victim’s clothing would seem to contradict that conclusion. The analyst’s own lab report did not support his testimony. The defense called no witnesses, and the jury found him guilty. His family was devastated. Sonnier’s mother, Altha Davis says, “Going to bed knowing your child is in prison, it isn’t easy. I would pray all the time that he’d be OK and that the truth would come out.”
“THEY TOOK IT ALL AWAY FOR NO REASON – BECAUSE I WAS BLACK. THEY JUST WANTED TO CLOSE THE BOOKS, AND THEY USED ME.”
Meanwhile, Sonnier met other innocent people in prison. He served time on the same unit that housed Ronald Taylor, Kevin Byrd and Charles Chatman. All three would eventually be proven innocent through DNA testing. All together, DNA testing has exonerated 39 Texans since 1994. Sonnier often wondered when his day would come. And then in 2004, he received a response from a letter he had written to the Innocence Project – his case was being reviewed. He says, “I knew then that I was going to be a free man.”
– Ernest Sonnier
After two years of thorough evaluation, Sonnier’s case was accepted, and five Cardozo law clinic students at the Innocence Project worked on it under the supervision of several attorneys for three years. Multiple rounds of DNA testing on the rape kit, the victim’s clothing and evidence in her car all proved that Sonnier could not have been the perpetrator. Instead, two distinct DNA profiles were detected and run through a DNA database of convicted felons. The database identified two felons who are known associates of each other, one of whom is currently awaiting trial for an additional rape. Ultimately, Sonnier spent half of his life behind bars. He was 23 at the time of his wrongful conviction and 46 when he was released. “That’s something that you can’t forget,” he says. “I didn’t have any kids, I didn’t have any opportunities, I didn’t get married. They took it all away for no reason – because I was black. They just wanted to close the books, and they used me.”
Kevin Green 1980 to 1996
Verneal Jimerson 1985 to 1996
Kenneth Adams 1978 to 1996
Willie Rainge Dennis Williams Frederic Saecker 1978, 1987 to 1996 1978, 1987 to 1996 1990 to 1996
Victor Ortiz 1984 to 1996
Troy Webb 1989 to 1996
Timothy Durham 1993 to 1997
Anthony Hicks 1991 to 1997
Keith Brown 1993 to 1997
6
THE INNOCENCE PROJECT IN PRINT
SYMPTOM OF A LARGER PROBLEM The HPD crime lab has a troubled history, which has contributed to at least five wrongful convictions overturned through DNA testing, including the conviction of Ernest Sonnier. Partly in response to these cases, an independent investigation of the HPD crime laboratory began in 2005 and completed two years later. The final report called for officials to retest evidence in a substantial number of cases. Problems at the Houston lab are not isolated; improper and unvalidated forensic science have contributed to approximately half of the 245 wrongful convictions
THE SITUATION IN HOUSTON IS MERELY A SYMPTOM OF
HOUSTON DNA EXONERATIONS In addition to Ernest Sonnier, these four other Harris County men have also been proven innocent through DNA testing after faulty forensics at the Houston Police Department (HPD) crime lab contributed to their wrongful convictions. RONALD TAYLOR: EXONERATED IN 2008 AFTER 12 YEARS Over a decade after a serologist at the HPD crime lab testified that no biological material existed on the victim’s bed sheet or any of the other items of evidence, post-conviction DNA testing conducted on the bed sheet revealed the presence of semen and proved Taylor’s innocence.
THE LARGER PROBLEM – A LACK OF NATIONAL STANDARDS AND OVERSIGHT FOR FORENSIC SCIENCE.
GEORGE RODRIGUEZ: EXONERATED IN 2005 AFTER 17 YEARS According to an HPD crime lab employee, Rodriguez’ hair was microscopically similar to a hair found on the victim’s clothing. Additionally, flawed blood type testing excluded another potential suspect. Post-conviction DNA testing showed that the hair did not match Rodriguez, and that the other potential suspect could not actually be excluded as the perpetrator. JOSIAH SUTTON: EXONERATED IN 2004 AFTER 4.5 YEARS An HPD crime lab employee erroneously testified that DNA evidence found at the crime scene was an exact match to Sutton. Post-conviction DNA testing later proved that this testimony was wrong; Sutton could not have been the perpetrator.
KEVIN BYRD: EXONERATED IN 1997 AFTER 12 YEARS An HPD crime lab analyst incorrectly determined that blood type testing implicated Byrd within 15–20% of the population, when in fact, the results were inconclusive and no one could be excluded. Post-conviction DNA testing proved Byrd’s innocence.
Marvin Mitchell 1990 to 1997
Chester Bauer 1983 to 1997
Donald Reynolds 1988 to 1997
Billy Wardell 1988 to 1997
Ben Salazar 1992 to 1997
Kevin Byrd 1985 to 1997
Robert Miller 1988 to 1998
Perry Mitchell 1984 to 1998
Ronnie Mahan 1986 to 1998
Dale Mahan 1986 to 1998
David A. Gray 1978 to 1999
FORENSICS FORWARD
7
overturned with DNA testing. The situation in Houston is merely a symptom of the larger problem – a lack of national standards and oversight for forensic science. Earlier this year, the National Academy of Sciences (NAS) released an unprecedented report finding fundamental problems throughout the forensic science system and presenting 13 key recommendations for reform. Central to these recommendations is the proposal to create a federal forensic science agency to conduct research, scrutinize forensic disciplines, set standards and oversee the field. Such an entity must be independent and science-based to enhance the criminal justice system. Leaders from many aspects of the system have publicly supported this cause by joining the Just Science Coalition, an emerging and diverse group of law enforcement professionals, scientists, attorneys, crime victims and academics spearheaded by the Innocence Project. Forensic science reform has always been a top priority for the Innocence Project. Wrongful convictions cases illustrate what’s at stake in maintaining the status quo. With the release of the NAS report, the Innocence Project has focused these efforts on building consensus around the creation of a federal forensic science agency. Innocence Project Co-Director Peter Neufeld has testified before the House Judiciary Subcommittee and, more recently, the Senate Judiciary Committee about the urgent need for the agency. The Innocence Project recently drafted a proposal for potential federal legislation to create the agency, which would be called the Office of Forensic Science Improvement and Support (OFSIS). The proposal builds on discussions with key stakeholders and policymakers about what an efficient, independent, science-based federal agency should look like. In the Innocence Project’s proposal, the office would be established within the Department of Commerce, which would help define the office’s agenda for research. OFSIS would also engage existing government entities to regulate the mandatory accreditation of crime labs and certification of forensic practitioners; support science-based education and training throughout the criminal justice system; provide periodic needs assessments of the forensic system; and oversee compliance.
CAMERON TODD WILLINGHAM ON THE DAY HE WAS EXECUTED, FEBRUARY 17, 2004.
THE WORST-CASE SCENARIO In September, a groundbreaking New Yorker article investigated the case of Cameron Todd Willingham, who was convicted and executed based on forensic testimony that a fire that killed his three children was intentionally set. Willingham’s case has quickly come to represent the worst-case scenario of faulty forensic science. It is a stark reminder that forensic science reform is indeed a matter of life and death. Leading arson experts, including Craig Beyler who was hired by the Texas Forensic Science Commission to investigate the Willingham case, have disagreed with the original finding of arson. Beyler wrote that the fire marshal who investigated the case “seems to be wholly without any realistic understanding of fires,” and that the determination of arson lacked “rational reasoning.” (For more about the science in the case, see “In Their Own Words” on p. 16 featuring an interview with fire expert Gerald Hurst.)
Habib W. Abdal 1983 to 1999
Anthony Gray 1991 to 1999
John Willis 1993 to 1999
Ron Williamson 1988 to 1999
Dennis Fritz 1988 to 1999
Calvin Johnson 1983 to 1999
James Richardson 1989 to 1999
Ronald Jones 1989 to 1999
Clyde Charles 1982 to 1999
McKinley Cromedy 1994 to 1999
Larry Holdren 1984 to 2000
8
THE INNOCENCE PROJECT IN PRINT
Tragically, Beyler’s report may never be heard by the very commission that requested it. Days before a hearing in which Beyler was scheduled to speak to commission members, Governor Rick Perry removed the commission chairman and replaced him with a new chair whose first move was to indefinitely postpone the hearing. Perry removed three other members of the commission as well. Although a media firestorm has ensued in response to the news, Perry has temporarily been successful at preventing the state’s investigation to continue. This blatantly political move belies the true intention of the Forensic Science Commission, which was created as an independent entity in 2005 to evaluate cases of forensic negligence and misconduct. The Willingham case, submitted by the Innocence Project, was to be one of their first. These recent obstacles to the investigation illustrate starkly why oversight entities like the Forensic Science Commission must be independent and should not be subject to such political maneuverings. It is a valuable lesson to consider in the creation of a federal forensic science agency. In the coming weeks and months, the Innocence Project will be working to find common ground with police, prosecutors, defense attorneys and scientists to make the Office of Forensic Science Improvement and Support a reality. Cameron Todd Willingham, Ernest Sonnier and many others are proof that comprehensive reform is the only responsible option. ▲
THE WILLINGHAM FAMILY HOME IN CORSICANA, TEXAS, RECONSTRUCTED AFTER THE FIRE.
Larry Youngblood 1985 to 2000
Willie Nesmith 1982 to 2000
James O’Donnell 1998 to 2000
Frank L. Smith 1986 to 2000
Herman Atkins 1988 to 2000
Neil Miller 1990 to 2000
A.B. Butler 1983 to 2000
Armand Villasana 1999 to 2000
William Gregory 1993 to 2000
Eric Sarsfield 1987 to 2000
Jerry Watkins 1986 to 2000
9
SEARCHING FOR EVIDENCE AND ANSWERS Decades after a crime, biological evidence retains the power to solve cold cases and settle claims of innocence. Innocent prisoners and victims of unsolved crimes hope that the evidence in their cases will still be available to unlock the truth. Yet all over the country, every day, evidence is mishandled, mislabeled, contaminated and destroyed. The Innocence Project takes on cases in which evidence is said to be lost, continuing the search and the battle for our clients’ freedom. Stephen Brooks would like to be the 246th person exonerated through DNA testing. With the cooperation of Essex County, New Jersey, he might have been the 100th DNA exoneree, or the 50th, or even the 5th. Instead, he has languished in prison for decades, a 52-year-old man still fighting to get access to his evidence for DNA testing. Brooks contested his innocence from the beginning, requesting post-conviction DNA testing as early as 1988. Brooks recently told WNBC in New York that he has not wavered in his determination. “I didn’t do it, and I don’t think I should have to go through all of the stigma and everything else that’s attached to this thing for a crime I didn’t commit,” he said. Brooks, also known as Sharif Abdur-Raqeeb, was convicted of rape in 1987 based on the identification of the victim who viewed her assailant in near total darkness. The rape kit
Roy Criner 1990 to 2000
Anthony Robinson 1987 to 2000
Carlos Lavernia 1985 to 2000
Earl Washington 1984 to 2000
Lesly Jean 1982 to 2001
David S. Pope 1986 to 2001
Kenneth Waters 1983 to 2001
Danny Brown 1982 to 2001
A GLIMPSE INSIDE SEVERAL EVIDENCE WAREHOUSE FACILITIES.
Jeffrey Pierce 1986 to 2001
Jerry F. Townsend Calvin Washington 1980 to 2001 1987 to 2001
10
THE INNOCENCE PROJECT IN PRINT
and bedding were available at the time of his trial, but two years later, prosecutors reported that the evidence was gone. The Innocence Project would later learn that they had been wrong. In fact, in 1998, some evidence samples still existed and were transferred from the crime lab to the East Orange Police Department, where officials now claim they may have been destroyed in a flood in 2004. Separately, the Innocence Project requested a search of a room-sized “legacy vault” in the Essex County Prosecutor’s Office that is known to contain evidence from the late 1980s. The prosecutor’s office responded that it was inaccessible because nobody on the county payroll had the combination. Prosecutors finally conceded, after pressure from the Innocence Project, that they had opened the locked vault but provided no documentation of their search or any record of the vault’s contents. At a New Jersey Superior Court hearing in August, the Innocence Project successfully argued that the state must conduct a more thorough search. No official documentation of the “chain of custody” – the journey the evidence took from the time it was collected to the present – has been provided. If the evidence was destroyed, there should be a record of its destruction. A New Jersey judge agreed and has ordered police to search more thoroughly.
INNOCENCE PROJECT CLIENT STEPHEN BROOKS, WHO HAS FOUGHT TO GET ACCESS TO HIS BIOLOGICAL EVIDENCE FOR POST-CONVICTION DNA TESTING FOR 20 YEARS.
It isn’t the first time that the Innocence Project has faced obstacles in its search for evidence in a New Jersey case. Also recently, Innocence Project attorneys reached out to prosecutors to request clothing evidence in the case of a man convicted in the 1980s of sexual assault. The prosecutors responded, saying that they couldn’t access the room where the evidence might be located because of an asbestos leak. Many exonerees would not be free today if officials had prematurely given up the search. A review of cases closed by the Innocence Project from 2002 to 2006 shows that 21% of the cases had to be closed because evidence had been lost or destroyed. That percentage would certainly be higher if not for the Innocence Project’s efforts. Most states don’t have consistent methods of warehousing evidence, so critical items could turn up in a number of different facilities. Evidence has been retrieved from a storage closet, a police department refrigerator, and between the wall and a prosecutor’s desk. The Innocence Project works with police departments, hospitals, evidence warehouse facilities and district attorneys’ offices when trying to locate evidence in a case. A cotton swab taped to the inside of a deceased forensic scientist’s notebook proved Marvin Anderson’s innocence, even after police and prosecutors reported that all the evidence had been destroyed. Mary Jane Burton, the scientist, broke with laboratory policy by retaining bits of evidence in many of the cases she analyzed; her practices ultimately helped exonerate six men. Anderson was exonerated in 2002, followed by five others, most recently Victor Burnette, who was exonerated in April. The Innocence Project searched for evidence in the case of Scott Fappiano for two years without results. New York City officials had no record of where Fappiano’s evidence was located or what had happened to it. Finally, Orchid Cellmark, a private
Eduardo Velasquez 1988 to 2001
Charles I. Fain 1983 to 2001
Anthony M. Green 1988 to 2001
John Dixon 1991 to 2001
Calvin Ollins 1988 to 2001
Larry Ollins 1988 to 2001
Marcellius Bradford 1988 to 2001
Omar Saunders 1988 to 2001
Larry Mayes 1982 to 2001
Richard Alexander 1998 to 2001
Mark Webb 1987 to 2001
SEARCHING FOR EVIDENCE AND ANSWERS
11
A REVIEW OF CASES CLOSED BY THE INNOCENCE PROJECT FROM
DNA laboratory, notified the Innocence Project that they had inherited some biological material from another DNA laboratory where testing was performed in 1989, but the results were inconclusive. The material included two tubes of DNA extract from Fappiano’s case. It was enough to prove Fappiano’s innocence and exonerate him after 21 years in prison
2002 TO 2006 SHOWS THAT 21% OF THE CASES HAD TO BE CLOSED BECAUSE EVIDENCE HAD BEEN LOST OR DESTROYED.
Inevitably, no amount of searching will recover missing evidence in some cases, and the Innocence Project is forced to give up looking. Robin Lovitt, convicted of capital murder and robbery, was unable to secure DNA testing because a court clerk discarded the murder weapon even though Virginia law requires evidence to be preserved. Governor Mark Warner spared Lovitt from execution by commuting his sentence to life in prison. New Jersey, where Brooks is imprisoned, doesn’t have an evidence preservation statute, and the few existing guidelines for how to store and save evidence are inadequate. Requirements for the cataloging, storage and retention of evidence are often embedded in DNA access laws, which permit prisoners with claims of innocence to apply for DNA testing. Forty-seven states have DNA access laws, but only about half of the states have evidence preservation statutes. Therefore, some prisoners who are permitted by law to petition for post-conviction DNA testing will find that there is no evidence left to test. Among other states, the Innocence Project is focused on passing evidence preservation legislation in New Jersey this year. When evidence is located after an arduous search (or narrowly rescued from destruction), it has the potential to exonerate an innocent prisoner and to renew a national commitment to preserving evidence. ▲
Leonard McSherry Ulysses R. Charles 1988 to 2001 1984 to 2001
Bruce Godschalk 1987 to 2002
Ray Krone 1992 to 2002
Hector Gonzalez Alejandro Dominguez Clark McMillan 1996 to 2002 1990 to 2002 1980 to 2002
Larry Johnson 1984 to 2002
SCOTT FAPPIANO ON HIS EXONERATION DAY IN 2006 WITH INNOCENCE PROJECT SENIOR STAFF ATTORNEY NINA MORRISON. FAPPIANO’S EVIDENCE WENT MISSING UNTIL IT WAS DISCOVERED BY A PRIVATE DNA LABORATORY.
Christopher Ochoa 1989 to 2002
Victor L. Thomas 1986 to 2002
Marvin Anderson 1982 to 2002
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IDENTIFYING INNOCENCE
VICTIMS AND EXONEREES COLLABORATE TO COMBAT EYEWITNESS MISIDENTIFICATIONS Years ago, they misidentified innocent men as their assailants. Now, they’re working with the Innocence Project to educate the public about wrongful convictions and lending powerful voices to the call for eyewitness identification reform. RAPE SURVIVOR JENNIFER THOMPSON-CANNINO AND EXONEREE RONALD COTTON BECAME FRIENDS AND FELLOW ADVOCATES FOR EYEWITNESS IDENTIFICATION REFORM AFTER HIS EXONERATION IN 1995. SHE MISIDENTIFIED HIM AS HER ASSAILANT IN 1984.
Eddie J. Lloyd 1985 to 2002
Jimmy R. Bromgard 1987 to 2002
Albert Johnson 1992 to 2002
“We thought that might be the guy,” investigators told Jennifer Thompson-Cannino moments after she selected her rapist out of a physical lineup. “It’s the same person you picked from the photos.” That person was Ronald Cotton, and Thompson-Cannino
Samuel Scott 1987 to 2002
Douglas Echols 1987 to 2002
Bernard Webster 1983 to 2002
David B. Sutherlin 1985 to 2002
Arvin McGee 1989 to 2002
Antron McCray 1990 to 2002
Kevin Richardson 1990 to 2002
Yusef Salaam 1990 to 2002
IDENTIFYING INNOCENCE
13
would go on to testify at two trials about her absolute certainty that he was her assailant – even after being presented with a person at the second trial who it was later discovered was the real perpetrator. “I carried that on my shoulders,” she says. “I blamed myself solely and 100% for years. I thought I’d let the police department down and the city down, and then I realized that I was just human.” In 1995, over 11 years after Cotton’s wrongful conviction, Thompson-Cannino learned that he had been proven innocent and exonerated through DNA testing. Since then, she’s become a powerful advocate for eyewitness identification reform. Her ally in the effort? Ronald Cotton. The two have appeared in an award-winning documentary, “After Innocence” and co-authored a bestselling book, “Picking Cotton: Our Memoir of Injustice and Redemption.” “I don’t know what I would’ve done without him,” she says. “He really was the person who taught me how to live, and how to forgive myself.” But Thompson-Cannino readily admits it hasn’t all been easy. Cotton’s exoneration forced her to relive the crime and brought back difficult memories. She waited two years after his release before reaching out. Coming to terms with her role in the wrongful conviction, and understanding what went wrong with the identification procedures, took time.
“I BLAMED MYSELF SOLELY AND 100% FOR YEARS. I THOUGHT I’D LET THE POLICE DEPARTMENT DOWN AND
In “Picking Cotton,” she writes: “Ron was the only person who had been in both the photo and the physical lineups, making his face more recognizable to me. And then the police told me that I had identified the same person in the physical lineup whose photo I had selected, so by the time I went into court, everything added up for me: I was defiantly confident that Ronald Cotton was the one.” Today, when Thompson-Cannino speaks to lawmakers, police, prosecutors and others about identification procedures, she stresses the importance of using methods that have been scientifically proven to reduce the rate of misidentification. These methods are based on 30 years of social science research, as well as the recommendations of police, prosecutors, judges and national justice organizations, including the National Institute of Justice and the American Bar Association.
THE CITY DOWN, AND THEN I REALIZED THAT I WAS JUST HUMAN.” – Jennifer Thompson-Cannino
“I say to them, can you imagine going to the doctor’s office and the doctor says, ‘We need to do a triple bypass surgery on you, and we’re going to use the techniques we used in 1969. We have modern technology, but we’re not going to use that.’ If we have best practices in the medical field, wouldn’t it be logical to have best practices for identification procedures?” Although reforms to eyewitness identification procedures have been adopted nationwide in large cities and some states (including North Carolina, ThompsonCannino’s home state), progress has been slow. Eyewitness misidentification has contributed to the wrongful convictions of over 175 people who were later exonerated
Raymond Santana 1990 to 2002
Korey Wise 1990 to 2002
Paula Gray 1978 to 2002
Richard Danziger 1990 to 2002
Julius Ruffin 1982 to 2003
Gene Bibbins 1987 to 2003
Eddie J. Lowery 1982 to 2003
Dennis Maher 1984 to 2003
Michael Mercer 1992 to 2003
Paul D. Kordonowy 1990 to 2003
Dana Holland 1995 to 2003
14
THE INNOCENCE PROJECT IN PRINT
through DNA testing. Thompson-Cannino’s experience of identifying the wrong person has been shared by hundreds of witnesses in DNA exoneration cases. Yet, many police departments still don’t have any written guidelines for identification procedures. For years, Thompson-Cannino’s advocacy work has placed her squarely in the center of the discussion on eyewitness identification reform in this country. At the same time, she has become a central figure among victims involved in wrongful convictions cases. “I’ve been able to reach out and kind of form a sisterhood,” she says. Michele Mallin, of Texas, is one of those “sisters.” The two women’s cases are incredibly similar: both were college students when they were raped, both misidentified innocent men based on faulty lineup procedures, and both of the real perpetrators have since been found. However, Mallin has faced an additional heartache. Timothy Cole, wrongfully convicted of rape, died in prison before he could be exonerated. Mallin says, “We [crime victims] want the person who did it to go to prison. I’m back in counseling because of this. It’s traumatic for me. From what I’ve seen of Timothy’s brothers and his mom, I think that he would have been very loving, and I don’t think he would blame me. But I just hate that it happened this way.” The lineup procedures used in Mallin’s case were seriously flawed. She was shown a photo lineup including six photos. Cole’s was the only color photo and it was a Polaroid. The other five were black-and-white mug shots. Cole was also the only man pictured facing forward; the other five were facing to the side. It was a biased lineup, suggesting clearly that Cole was the police suspect. Mallin did what any witness would have done in that situation and selected him. MICHELE MALLIN AND RUBY SESSION, MOTHER OF TIM COLE, CRY IN EACH OTHER’S ARMS AS TIM COLE’S BROTHERS, CORY SESSION AND KEVIN KENNARD, LOOK ON. MALLIN MISIDENTIFIED COLE AS HER ASSAILANT IN A 1985 RAPE, AND HE SUBSEQUENTLY DIED IN PRISON.
Mallin didn’t know that Cole was an asthmatic non-smoker, quite the opposite of the chain-smoking man she had described as her rapist. She was also unaware that another man, Jerry Wayne Johnson, was being considered as an alternate suspect by the defense. Ten years after Cole’s conviction, when the statute of limitations had run out, Johnson wrote to authorities and confessed to the crime. Mallin wasn’t notified, and neither was Timothy Cole or his family. Four years after Johnson’s confession, Cole died in prison of an asthma attack. Mallin didn’t find out until 2008, when DNA testing secured by Cole’s family and the Innocence Project of Texas proved him innocent and confirmed that Johnson was indeed the true perpetrator. Cole’s innocence presented Texas with the unprecedented legal situation of exonerating a deceased prisoner. At a special hearing in February, a Texas judge heard testimony from Mallin, Cole’s family members and Jerry Wayne Johnson, all in support of Cole’s posthumous exoneration. The Innocence Project joined the Innocence Project of Texas as co-counsel on the case. Cole was officially exonerated in April. “It was difficult,” Mallin says of the hearing, “But the hardest part was seeing Jerry Wayne Johnson. The day that Timothy was convicted, Johnson was in the same jail in another
Kenneth Wyniemko 1994 to 2003
Michael Evans 1977 to 2003
Paul Terry 1977 to 2003
Lonnie Erby 1986 to 2003
Steven Avery 1985 to 2003
Calvin Willis 1982 to 2003
Nicholas Yarris 1982 to 2003
Calvin L. Scott 1983 to 2003
Wiley Fountain 1986 to 2003
Leo Waters 1982 to 2003
Stephan Cowans 1998 to 2004
IDENTIFYING INNOCENCE
15
cell and actually heard Timothy crying and didn’t say anything.” Johnson will be imprisoned for life for two sexual assaults with similar characteristics to Mallin’s case. In addition to fighting for Cole’s exoneration, Mallin has joined the Innocence Project in its effort to secure post-conviction DNA testing for every prisoner with a legitimate claim of innocence. In a speech at Georgetown Law Center she said, “Everybody deserves that right to a DNA test…Even though he’s not here anymore, Timothy’s family needs to know the truth that their son and their brother and their uncle was not a rapist.” Rape survivors like Michele Mallin and Jennifer Thompson-Cannino show extraordinary courage in their decision to publicly come forward, but they’re not always celebrated for it. Both Mallin and Thompson-Cannino received death threats from hostile onlookers who naively blamed them for an innocent man’s wrongful conviction. Because of this concern, some victims have chosen to remain anonymous. The rape survivor who misidentified Innocence Project client Thomas McGowan has recently spoken out on the condition of anonymity. McGowan was wrongfully convicted of rape in 1985 and spent 23 years in prison before DNA testing proved his innocence and implicated the real perpetrator, Kenneth Woodson. A year after his exoneration in June 2008, McGowan met with the victim and the original investigator on the case, Assistant Police Chief Mike Corley, in Richardson, Texas. “Everything was very emotional,” McGowan says of the meeting. “I thought to myself, here it is all over again – same detective, same woman, same scenario – why couldn’t it have been like this in the first place? But we still have an opportunity to make things right.” McGowan’s determination to make something positive out of the experience has become a source of inspiration for the victim. “I have been humbled by Thomas’ graciousness and compassion during this all,” she says. Together with Mike Corley, the two spoke on a panel before some 200 law enforcement officers at the 116th Annual International Association of Chiefs of Police Conference in October about the importance of improving eyewitness identification procedures. The victim says, “It was amazing how many of the officers came up to us afterwards and said that they were so touched to hear our story and that they were going to go back to their departments to change how they do things.” As both crime victims and victims of injustice, these three rape survivors have suffered twice from the inadequacies of a flawed system. By becoming advocates for criminal justice reform, they have helped spare others from sharing their experience. And by forging newfound friendships with exonerees and exoneree’s families, they have found healing and transformation. For years, Thompson-Cannino says, she envisioned Ronald Cotton’s face as her rapist. Now she says, “I don’t have those nightmares anymore. I don’t see anybody’s face.” ▲
Anthony Powell 1992 to 2004
Josiah Sutton 1999 to 2004
Lafonso Rollins 1994 to 2004
Ryan Matthews Wilton Dedge Arthur L. Whitfield Barry Laughman 1999 to 2004 1982, 1984 to 2004 1982 to 2004 1988 to 2004
Clarence Harrison 1987 to 2004
RAPE SURVIVOR MICHELE MALLIN IN 2009.
“EVEN THOUGH HE’S NOT HERE ANYMORE, TIMOTHY’S FAMILY NEEDS TO KNOW THE TRUTH THAT THEIR SON AND THEIR BROTHER AND THEIR UNCLE WAS NOT A RAPIST.” – Michele Mallin
David A. Jones 1995 to 2004
Bruce D. Goodman 1986 to 2004
Donald W. Good 1984 to 2004
16
IN THEIR OWN WORDS Gerald Hurst, an acclaimed scientist and fire investigator, has debunked unscientific methods of determining arson and overturned 10 or more wrongful convictions in the process. Ernest Willis’ case was one of those wrongful convictions. The same false assumptions used to convict Willis were also used in the case of Cameron Todd Willingham, from Corsicana, Texas, who was convicted of murdering his three children in a house fire. Hurst reviewed the Willingham case and submitted a report to the Board of Pardons and Paroles and Governor Rick Perry, but the report was ignored, and Willingham was executed in 2004. Since then, eight other independent experts have found that the fire that killed Willingham’s three children was not intentionally set, and the Innocence Project has worked to clear Willingham’s name. The Innocence Project In Print recently spoke with Hurst to get his reaction to the developments in the case and to learn more about the fallacies of traditional arson science.
Innocence Project in Print: How has your approach been different from that of a traditional fire investigator?
FIRE EXPERT GERALD HURST AT WORK IN AUSTIN, TEXAS.
Gerald Hurst: Fire investigators have, until recently, had a systematized, anti-science attitude. It’s only changed because of court actions. The federal courts require that if you deliver scientific testimony it has to meet standards of acceptability. You have to have a sound scientific or rational basis for opinions. In order to avoid this, the International Association of Arson Investigators took the stance that our investigation is not a science, it is an art, and thus, not subject to the court’s rules for scientific testimony. IP: Are outdated methods of determining arson still being used? You still have fires being investigated by people who’ve never had any form of rigorous training in chemistry or physics or any other form of science. Many fire investigators came into the field from the ranks of police, firefighters and ex-military because it interested them, and the limited amount of training they got was mostly handed down by people who based their knowledge on their personal experience as opposed to scientific experimentation.
IP: How did you first become involved in criminal arson cases? GH: I was involved in research in rocket science, incendiaries and covert warfare. So, I came in first as a legal arsonist, and I used basic fundamentals of physical chemistry
Darryl Hunt 1985 to 2004
Brandon Moon 1988 to 2005
Donte Booker 1987 to 2005
Dennis Brown 1985 to 2005
Peter Rose 1996 to 2005
Michael A. Williams 1981 to 2005
Harold Buntin 1986 to 2005
Anthony Woods 1984 to 2005
Thomas Doswell 1986 to 2005
Luis Diaz 1980 to 2005
George Rodriguez 1987 to 2005
IN THEIR OWN WORDS
17
to learn how fires behave. Early on, I ran a lot of experiments testing the theories that I was reading about in the fire cases. For about 25 years, I worked on civil fire and explosion cases, which usually involved scientists and engineers working as experts. I was unaware of the difference in the quality of work in criminal cases until I began studying arson cases almost exclusively about 15 years ago.
IP: How did you get involved in the Cameron Todd Willingham case? GH: Willingham was about to be executed within a period of weeks and Walter Reaves, his attorney, asked if I would look at the case. He gave me a timeframe such that if I got a report to him in time, he could get it to the Parole Board and to the Governor’s desk. So I began writing drafts based on trial testimony. We were asking for a 30-day stay, long enough for the state to get another expert to verify my work.
IP: What were your findings after reviewing the case? GH: The Willingham case is a common case. They came up with 20 supposed indicators of arson. By "indicators" they threw in irrelevant factors like the way he behaved after the fire. They said Willingham was a devil worshipper and that he beat his wife, and that everything is interrelated. But in terms of arson evidence – zero.
“THERE IS NO FIELD OF
IP: Because Willingham listened to heavy metal music, the prosecutor believed he was
IT SO WRONG SO OFTEN.
a devil worshipper. Although the prosecutor now concedes that the fire analysis was flawed, he continues to believe that Willingham was guilty and he even alleges that the fire was set in a pentagram pattern. Can you respond to that allegation?
ARSON SCIENCE IS HEAVILY
GH: If you look at the patterns of the burns, you’re not seeing a pentagram. What
PRESTIGE: PRESTIGE FROM
you’re seeing is ventilation rushing in a door and five windows. It’s the air coming in that determines the shape of a burn pattern, not the shape in which an accelerant was poured.
IP: How does arson science compare to the other forensic sciences? Are these limitations of forensic science particular to arson cases?
FORENSICS WHERE THEY GET
INFLUENCED BY MONEY AND
PUTTING A BAD GUY AWAY AND MONEY FROM THE INSURANCE COMPANIES.” – Gerald Hurst
GH: There is no field of forensics where they get it so wrong, so often as they do in arson cases. There’s too much incentive to find arson. What we have is a field of forensics that’s heavily influenced by money and prestige: prestige from putting a bad guy away and money from the insurance companies.
IP: How have you reconciled what happened in this case? Do you believe that Texas executed an innocent man?
GH: There’s absolutely no evidence of arson. When I heard that he’d been executed, I started to raise hell and I called the Chicago Tribune. I thought we could make an example out of these two cases. Willis and Willingham: one is exonerated and the other is executed on the same physical evidence. I thought, maybe we’ll get some cage rattling here. Nothing will bring Willingham back, but I think it would do his family some good if he’s officially exonerated and also if we can make sure that this doesn’t happen to anybody else. ▲
Robert Clark 1982 to 2005
Phillip L. Thurman 1985 to 2005
Willie Davidson 1981 to 2005
Clarence Elkins 1999 to 2005
John Kogut 1986 to 2005
Entre N. Karage 1997 to 2005
Keith E. Turner 1983 to 2005
Dennis Halstead 1987 to 2005
John Restivo 1987 to 2005
Alan Crotzer 1981 to 2006
Arthur Mumphrey 1986 to 2006
18
EXONERATION NATION Since the Summer 2009 issue, five more innocent people have been exonerated with DNA testing. The Innocence Project congratulates these inspiring individuals, as well as our colleagues who fought to help prove their innocence.
JOSEPH ABBITT OUTSIDE OF FORSYTH COUNTY JAIL IN NORTH CAROLINA AFTER WALKING OUT A FREE MAN ON SEPTEMBER 2.
Drew Whitley 1989 to 2006
Douglas Warney 1997 to 2006
Orlando Boquete 1983 to 2006
When a 62-year-old woman was murdered, police officers conducted interviews with her Milwaukee neighbors. One of them, ROBERT LEE STINSON, was arrested based on the placement of a missing tooth that officers believed bore a resemblance to the dentition of a bite mark on the victim’s body. Two forensic dentists helped secure his wrongful conviction by testifying that the bite patterns were “identical” to Stinson’s teeth, and that there was “no margin of error for this.” Stinson was sentenced to life in prison for the murder of his 62-year-old neighbor. In 2005, the Wisconsin Innocence Project assisted Stinson in securing DNA testing of saliva on the victim’s clothing, which proved Stinson’s innocence. He was released in January 2009 after spending 23 years in prison, and he was fully exonerated on July 27, 2009.
Willie Jackson 1989 to 2006
Larry Peterson 1989 to 2006
Alan Newton 1985 to 2006
James Tillman 1989 to 2006
Johnny Briscoe 1983 to 2006
Scott Fappiano 1985 to 2006
Allen Coco 1997 to 2006
James Ochoa 2005 to 2006
EXONERATION NATION
19
KENNETH IRELAND was only 20 years old when he was wrongfully convicted of sexual assault and murder. The victim, a mother of four, had been beaten to death at the plastics molding company where she worked in Wallingford, Connecticut. Ireland became a suspect when two men gave a statement to police implicating him and two others. Ireland was the only person charged. He denied the witnesses’ claims, and preliminary DNA testing was inconclusive. However, Ireland was convicted and sentenced to 50 years in prison. With the help of the Connecticut Innocence Project, DNA testing finally proved Ireland’s innocence after 21 years in prison. The real perpetrator has not been found. Ireland was exonerated August 19, 2009. Two teenaged sisters were raped at knifepoint in their Winston-Salem, North Carolina, home while getting ready for school. The victims identified their attacker from a photo lineup as JOSEPH ABBITT, a former neighbor and occasional visitor to their home. Abbitt offered compelling alibi evidence that he was at work when the crime occurred, and preliminary DNA test results did not match him. Nevertheless, Abbitt was convicted in 1995 of rape, kidnapping and burglary. He was sentenced to two consecutive life sentences plus an additional 110 years. In 2005, Abbitt applied to the North Carolina Center on Actual Innocence to assist with his claim. Most of the biological and physical evidence had already been destroyed, but testing on a rape kit excluded Abbitt as the perpetrator, and he was exonerated on September 2, 2009. He had been wrongfully imprisoned for 14 years. A year after JAMES LEE WOODARD’s girlfriend was found raped and strangled to death, Woodard was convicted and sentenced to life in prison for her murder. During the trial, prosecutors withheld key evidence from the defense. For example, the jury never learned that the victim was seen with three other men on the night of her death. (Two of these men were later convicted of sexual assault crimes.) Woodard’s conviction also centered on eyewitness misidentification by his girlfriend’s stepfather who has since denied that Woodard was the man who visited the victim’s apartment and asked for her the night she died. The Innocence Project of Texas secured DNA testing, which confirmed that Woodard was not the assailant. Woodard was released on April 29, 2008, and officially pardoned on September 30, 2009. Woodard spent over 27 years in prison for a crime he did not commit. LAWRENCE MCKINNEY and a co-defendant were convicted of rape and burglary in Tennessee in 1978. Despite limited lighting during the assault, the victim identified McKinney, who she recognized as a neighbor. He was sentenced to 99 years in prison. A rape kit was collected, but DNA technology was not available at that time to test the biological evidence. In 2008, DNA testing excluded McKinney as one of the perpetrators involved. He had spent 31 years in prison. ▲
YEARS OF WRONGFUL INCARCERATION ENDURED BY ALL 245 EXONEREES
Jeffrey Deskovic 1990 to 2006
Marlon Pendleton 1996 to 2006
Billy J. Smith 1987 to 2006
Billy W. Miller 1984 to 2006
Eugene Henton 1984 to 2006
TOP TO BOTTOM: ROBERT LEE STINSON, KENNETH IRELAND, JAMES LEE WOODARD.
3,098 Gregory Wallis 1989 to 2007
Larry Fuller 1981 to 2007
Travis Hayes 1998 to 2007
Willie O. Williams 1985 to 2007
Roy Brown 1992 to 2007
Cody Davis 2006 to 2007
20
IP NEWS WISCONSIN MAN CLEARED AFTER THREE DECADES A Wisconsin Circuit Court Judge recently dismissed charges against Ralph Armstrong who was wrongfully convicted in 1981 of the rape and murder of Charise Kamps. The Innocence Project has continued to work on the Armstrong case with local attorneys Jerome Buting and Keith Belzer for over 15 years. Evidence of prosecutorial misconduct led to Armstrong’s release in August. Assistant District Attorney John Norsetter received a phone call in 1995 from a woman reporting that Armstrong’s brother, Stephen, said he committed the crime. Although Armstrong’s case was on appeal when Norsetter learned of the confession, he never told defense attorneys about the call and never pursued the lead. Stephen Armstrong has since died. In 2005, the Wisconsin Supreme Court granted Armstrong a new trial based on DNA testing that excluded him as the perpetrator. As Armstrong remained in custody awaiting retrial, Norsetter violated a court order by ordering additional DNA testing without notifying the defense. This additional round of testing used up the remaining biological evidence and prevented it from being available for future tests. Prosecutorial misconduct has played a role in scores of wrongful convictions that were later overturned with DNA testing – and, in many cases like Armstrong’s, prosecutorial misconduct has also prevented innocent people from being exonerated sooner.
RALPH ARMSTRONG AT A WISCONSIN HEARING IN AUGUST.
INNOCENCE PROJECT REPORT FINDS THAT THE WRONGFULLY CONVICTED ARE NOT FAIRLY COMPENSATED “Making up for Lost Time: What the Wrongfully Convicted Endure and How to Provide Fair Compensation,” released by the Innocence Project in November finds that most states aren’t appropriately compensating the wrongfully convicted. While indemnification is widely available for other segments of the population, for example, crime victims and property owners, the wrongfully convicted have not historically received the same assistance from the state, the report says. State compensation statutes have the potential to provide the wrongfully convicted with the most comprehensive assistance upon release, but few states meet the measure. Only five states provide at least $50,000 per year of wrongful incarceration (which is the federal standard for compensating the wrongfully convicted), and only 10 provide additional services including health care, tuition waivers, housing assistance, job counseling and more. Copies of the report are available through the Innocence Project’s website.
SUPPORTERS AND FRIENDS GATHER NATIONWIDE As part of the Innocence Project’s national outreach and donor program, supporters gathered around the country this fall to introduce their friends and colleagues to the
James Waller 1983 to 2007
Andrew Gossett 2000 to 2007
Antonio Beaver 1997 to 2007
Anthony Capozzi 1987 to 2007
Jerry Miller 1982 to 2007
Curtis McCarty James C. Giles 1986, 1989 to 2007 1983 to 2007
Byron Halsey 1988 to 2007
Dwayne A. Dail 1989 to 2007
Larry Bostic 1989 to 2007
Marcus Lyons 1988 to 2007
IP NEWS
21
organization’s work. Christopher and Paris Barclay hosted an event at their Los Angeles home for over 60 guests. Paris Barclay is the director of the acclaimed HBO series “In Treatment” and also a member of the Innocence Project Artists’ Committee, a group of writers, actors, musicians and other artists who raise awareness and money to support the Innocence Project’s work. Innocence Project Executive Director Maddy deLone and exoneree Herman Atkins spoke. In Houston, Texas State Senator and Innocence Project Board Chair Rodney Ellis and his wife, Licia Ellis, hosted a briefing. Friends and colleagues of the Ellis’s heard about the Innocence Project’s extensive work in the state from deLone and Innocence Project Co-Director Barry Scheck. In March, the Innocence Project Young Professionals’ Committee will celebrate its third fundraising event. The committee has previously hosted fundraisers at the Rubin Museum of Art and at Tenjune in New York City, raising over $65,000.
NEW JERSEY INVESTIGATES EYEWITNESS EVIDENCE An unprecedented court hearing in New Jersey this fall further established the state’s reputation as a leader in eyewitness identification reform. The hearing, ordered by the New Jersey Supreme Court, used the case of Larry Henderson as a basis for an extensive inquiry into how eyewitness evidence is evaluated by judges and juries. Henderson, sentenced to 11 years for reckless manslaughter and weapons possession charges, appealed the photo lineup procedure in his case because law enforcement failed to follow the proper procedures as mandated by the state Attorney General. Eyewitness misidentification is a leading cause of wrongful conviction, contributing to 75% of convictions overturned by DNA testing. In a series of court appearances, the Innocence Project and defense attorneys for Henderson called eyewitness experts, including Dr. Steven Penrod, Dr. Gary Wells and James Doyle, to testify. Their expertise is based on three decades of social science research showing that eyewitness identifications are not always reliable. The outcome of the hearing could have statewide ramifications for law enforcement, prosecutors and judges, and could serve as a national model for rigorously examining and improving eyewitness identification procedures.
FERNANDO BERMUDEZ
INNOCENCE PROJECT FILES AMICUS BRIEF IN NEW YORK MURDER CASE The Innocence Project recently filed an amicus, or friend-of-the-court, brief in the case of Fernando Bermudez who was convicted of murder based, in large part, on eyewitness evidence. Since his 1992 conviction, all four eyewitnesses have recanted. No biological evidence is available for DNA testing. In August, the Manhattan Supreme Court ruled that Bermudez should receive a new hearing to investigate the veracity of the eyewitnesses’ testimony and their subsequent recantations. The witnesses’ identifications were the result of an unusual identification procedure in which they were allowed to view a collection of mug shots together and discuss which person looked most like the perpetrator before making a collective determination. In November, a New York Court Justice overturned Bermudez’s conviction. The Bermudez case may aid efforts to reform eyewitness identification procedures in the state. ▲
Chad Heins 1996 to 2007
John J. White 1980 to 2007
Rickey Johnson 1983 to 2008
Ronald G. Taylor 1995 to 2008
Kennedy Brewer 1995 to 2008
Charles Chatman Nathaniel Hatchett 1981 to 2008 1998 to 2008
Dean Cage 1996 to 2008
Thomas McGowan Robert McClendon 1985, 1986 to 2008 1991 to 2008
Michael Blair 1994 to 2008
22
INNOCENCE
BY THE NUMBERS COMPENSATION
States that have laws providing compensation for the wrongfully convicted 27 Years it has taken to pass those 27 laws since the first one was enacted in 1913 96 State compensation law that provides the lowest amount of compensation per year of wrongful imprisonment: Wisconsin at $5,000 per year State compensation law that provides the highest amount of compensation per year of wrongful imprisonment: Texas at $80,000 per year Percentage of the 245 people wrongfully convicted and exonerated through DNA testing who have received compensation 60% Percentage of the 245 exonerees who have been compensated through state laws as opposed to lawsuits or special legislation designed for an individual exoneree 33% States laws that meet or exceed the federal standard of up to $50,000 per year of wrongful imprisonment 5 Percentage of the 245 exonerees who have received the equivalent of $50,000 per year of wrongful imprisonment through state compensation laws 6% Median amount of state compensation received per year of wrongful imprisonment $24,219 Average number of years exonerees wait to receive state compensation after their release 2.8 States that provide social services such as job training, health care, housing assistance or tuition waivers 10 Exonerees who have had access to support services under state laws, so far 15
Patrick Waller 1992 to 2008
Steven Phillips Arthur Johnson 1982, 1983 to 2008 1993 to 2008
Joseph White 1989 to 2008
William Dillon 1981 to 2008
Steven Barnes 1989 to 2000
Ricardo Rachell 2003 to 2009
James Dean 1990 to 2009
Kathy Gonzalez 1990 to 2009
Debra Shelden 1989 to 2009
Ada JoAnn Taylor 1990 to 2009
The Innocence Project was founded in 1992 by Barry C. Scheck and Peter J. Neufeld at the Benjamin N. Cardozo School of Law at Yeshiva University to assist prisoners who could be proven innocent through DNA testing. To date, 245 people in the United States have been exonerated by DNA testing, including 17 who served time on death row. These people served an average of 13 years in prison before exoneration and release. The Innocence Project’s full-time staff attorneys and Cardozo clinic students provided direct representation or critical assistance in most of these cases. The Innocence Project’s groundbreaking use of DNA technology to free innocent people has provided irrefutable proof that wrongful convictions are not isolated or rare events but instead arise from systemic defects. Now an independent nonprofit organization closely affiliated with Cardozo School of Law at Yeshiva University, the Innocence Project’s mission is nothing less than to free the staggering numbers of innocent people who remain incarcerated and to bring substantive reform to the system responsible for their unjust imprisonment.
OUR STAFF Olga Akselrod: Staff Attorney, Angela Amel: Director of Social Work and Associate Director of Operations/ Litigation Department, Corinne Audet: Finance and Human Resources Associate, Elena Aviles: Documents Manager, Rebecca Brown: Policy Advocate, Loretta Carty: Legal Assistant, Sarah Chu: Forensic Policy Associate, Kayan Clarke: Paralegal, Scott Clugstone: Director of Finance and Administration, Craig Cooley: Staff Attorney, Valencia Craig: Case Management Database Administrator, Jamie Cunningham: Policy Associate, Huy Dao: Case Director, Maddy deLone: Executive Director, Anamarie Diaz: Case Assistant, Ezekiel R. Edwards: Staff Attorney on Eyewitness Identification, Eric Ferrero: Director of Communications, Nicholas Goodness: Case Coordinator, Edwin Grimsley: Case Coordinator, Nicole Harris: Policy Analyst, Barbara Hertel: Finance Associate, William Ingram: Case Assistant, Jane Jankie: Paralegal, Jeffrey Johnson: Office Manager, Matthew Kelley: Online Communications Manager, Jason Kreag: Staff Attorney, Christopher Lau: Paralegal, Audrey Levitin: Director of Development, David Loftis: Managing Attorney, Alba Morales: Staff Attorney, Nina Morrison: Senior Staff Attorney, Peter Neufeld: Co-Director, Charlene Piper: Special Assistant to the Executive Director, Vanessa Potkin: Senior Staff Attorney, Kristin Pulkkinen: Assistant Director, Individual Giving, Anthony Richardson: Policy Assistant and Database Administrator, Richard Salatiello: Director of Institutional Giving, Stephen Saloom: Policy Director, Alana Salzberg: Communications Associate, Barry Scheck: CoDirector, Chester Soria: Communications Assistant, Jechonia Spruill: Database and Donor Recognition Administrator, Maggie Taylor: Senior Case Coordinator, Elizabeth Vaca: Assistant to the Directors, Marc Vega: Case Assistant, Elizabeth Webster: Publications Manager, Elizabeth Weill-Greenberg: Case Coordinator, Emily West: Research Director, Karen Wolff: Social Worker
Thomas Winslow 1990 to 2009
Joseph Fears Jr. 1984 to 2009
Miguel Roman 1990 to 2009
Victor Burnette 1979 to 2009
Timothy Cole 1986 to 2009
Johnnie Lindsey 1983, 1985 to 2009
Chaunte Ott 1996 to 2009
Lawrence McKinney Robert Lee Stinson 1978 to 2009 1985 to 2009
Kenneth Ireland 1988 to 2009
Joseph Abbitt 1995 to 2009
INNOCENCE PROJECT, INC. 100 FIFTH AVENUE, 3RD FLOOR NEW YORK, NEW YORK 10011 WWW.INNOCENCEPROJECT.ORG BENJAMIN N. CARDOZO SCHOOL OF LAW, YESHIVA UNIVERSITY
Donate online at www.innocenceproject.org
James Woodard 1981 to 2009