Innocence Blog

Editorial: Antonio Beaver exoneration should spark reforms in Missouri

Posted: April 6, 2007

Last week, Antonio Beaver was freed from prison in Missouri after serving a decade behind bars for a carjacking he didn’t commit. An editorial in today’s St. Louis Post-Dispatch argues that steps to long-lasting criminal justice reform should be started immediately before more injustices can occur.

Eyewitness error is the leading cause of wrongful convictions nationwide, according to the Innocence Project, a national litigation and public policy organization based in New York….

The Missouri Bar Association or St. Louis Circuit Attorney Jennifer Joyce could begin to repair this broken cog in the criminal justice system by appointing a commission made up of police, prosecutors, judges, defense attorneys and other experts to study reforms implemented elsewhere and formulate guidelines for more accurate identification procedures.

Read the full editorial here. (St. Louis Post-Dispatch, 4/6/07)