Innocence Blog

Friday Roundup: Cases in Motion

Posted: February 27, 2009 5:30 pm

A North Carolina judge denied prisoner Ronnie Long access to a new trial for a 1976 rape he has always maintained he didn’t commit. The North Carolina Center on Actual Innocence represents Long and has argued that evidence before his conviction should have cleared him.

A judge ordered DNA testing this week in the case of Esdras Cardona, a client of the Innocence Project of Florida.

Exoneree Steve Barnes spoke Tuesday in Albany before a New York State Bar committee investigating wrongful convictions and reforms to prevent future injustice. "I always believed in the system but the system failed me," Barnes said. Innocence Project Policy Director Stephen Saloom also testified about reforms supported the by the Innocence Project.

The Mississippi House of Representatives is considering a bill that would require law enforcement agencies to preserve DNA evidence in criminal convictions as long as the convicted person is incarcerated or under state supervision.

Exonerees, attorneys, students and policymakers from around the country will come together in Houston next month for the annual Innocence Network Conference. Learn more about the three-day event and register to attend here.