Innocence Blog

Friday Roundup: Fighting Injustice and Reforming Forensics

Posted: July 24, 2009 6:10 pm

Here's this week's roundup of news on innocence, injustice and forensic science:

The Texas Forensic Science Commission met today in Houston to plan next steps in the panel’s review of the arson convictions of Cameron Todd Willingham and Ernest Willis. Grits for Breakfast has more.

Attorneys for Illinois prisoner Michael Tillman are seeking a new trial based on allegations that Tillman falsely confessed after being tortured by Chicago Police officers under the command of former Detective Jon Burge.

A Michigan judge this week ordered a new trial for Lorinda Swain, who has served eight years in prison for a crime she says she didn’t commit. Swain was convicted in 2002 of sexually assaulting her 13-year-old son, who has since recanted statements he made against her. Attorneys and students at the University of Michigan Law School Innocence Clinic worked on the case.

Also in Michigan, prosecutors opposed a new trial for Davontae Sanford – who was convicted at age 17 of a murder he says he didn’t commit – despite a confession from another man who says he committed the crime.

The Governors of Massachusetts and Virginia are proposing new state laws to adjust the ways courts handle forensic evidence in the wake of the U.S. Supreme Court decision in Melendez-Diaz v. Massachusetts.

For more forensic news, visit the Just Science Coalition website.