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The Innocence Project Online - May 2010
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 Two to Go: Alaska Becomes 48th State with DNA Access Law A False Confession Reversed in New York U.S. Supreme Court to Hear Death Row Case Why I Give: A Donor Profile  News from the innocence movement around the United States  Celebrating Freedom
Watch video and see photos of the event on our website.  Set Free After Three Decades  Raymond Towler served 29 years in Ohio prisons before DNA testing obtained by the Ohio Innocence Project proved his innocence and led to his exoneration. During his first week of freedom, Towler sat courtside at a playoff game of the Cleveland Cavaliers, his favorite basketball team. Read more.  Death and Innocence DNA testing can prove whether Claude Jones was executed in 2000 for a crime he didn’t commit, but prosecutors in San Jacinto County, Texas, are opposing the tests. An article this week in Time Magazine examines the case, which could be decided soon. Read more.  Justice and Country A new book by Stephen Kiernan entitled "Authentic Patriotism" tells the story of individuals and organizations focused on making America better — and includes an in-depth profile of the Innocence Project. Read more and buy a copy of the book.  Teen Seeks Exoneration Davontae Sanford was convicted in 2007 of four Detroit murders he says he didn’t commit. Detroit Police say an accused hit man may have been involved in the murders, and a Michigan judge is deciding whether Sanford can withdraw his guilty plea. Read more.  Police Review Identification Practices With an eyewitness identification reform bill pending in the Rhode Island state legislature, police agencies across the state are considering revisions to their written policies. Only three departments in the state have policies that align with Department of Justice best practices. Read more.  Use our easy online form to forward this message to friends, family and colleagues. Connect with other Innocence Project supporters on Facebook, MySpace, Twitter and YouTube.  
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Two to Go: Alaska Becomes 48th State with a DNA Access Law  On May 14, Alaska Gov. Sean Parnell signed a new state law allowing prisoners to seek post-conviction DNA testing in cases where it can prove innocence. The groundbreaking new law will help Alaska prisoners fight injustice and leaves only Oklahoma and Massachusetts without such measures. Passed this month with unanimous support in both houses of Alaska’s legislature, the critical reform came about thanks to years of work by a coalition of advocates including the Alaska Innocence Project and the Innocence Project. Among other provisions, it provides for state funding in cases where a judge decides that DNA testing could prove innocence and requires the state to preserve biological evidence from crime scenes as long as a defendant is in prison (or for 50 years in unsolved crime). In a guest post on the Innocence Blog this week, Alaska Innocence Project Executive Director Bill Oberly writes that the details of a DNA access law can make it or break it, and that Alaska’s includes several provisions critical to effectively overturning wrongful convictions. "The Last Frontier is not the last in justice," he writes. Learn more about post-conviction DNA testing laws across the country. Post to Facebook — Tweet This Article A False Confession Reversed in New York  On April 28, Innocence Project client Frank Sterling (above) walked out of a Rochester, New York, courthouse a free man for the first time in 19 years. Sterling, who was convicted of a murder based almost entirely on a false confession he gave after long hours of police interrogation, is now beginning to rebuild his life in upstate New York. DNA testing conducted on evidence from the 1988 murder not only proved Sterling’s innocence, but also pointed to the identity of the alleged real perpetrator, Mark Christie, who was briefly a suspect at the time of the initial investigation. After the DNA tests implicated him, Christie gave multiple detailed confessions to the crime. He is in prison for the murder of a four-year-old girl in 1994, a crime that could have been prevented if the police had not instead focused on Sterling for the 1988 case. Sterling was convicted based mainly on his confession to the 1988 crime. He confessed after 12 hours in police custody, which followed a 36-hour trucking shift. He immediately recanted the confession, but it was used against him at trial. Watch the videotaped confession here. False confessions and admissions are a leading cause of injustice in the U.S., playing a role in nearly 25% of the 254 wrongful convictions overturned through DNA testing nationwide — and nearly half of wrongful convictions in New York. These injustices can be prevented by recording interrogations. Although Sterling’s confession was recorded, his complete interrogation was not. The Innocence Project strongly recommends the videotaping of full custodial interrogations to prevent false confessions and to provide tools to improve law enforcement investigations. Several states and hundreds of jurisdictions have successfully enacted these reforms. Learn more about recording of interrogations and your state’s practices on our website. Post to Facebook — Tweet This U.S. Supreme Court to Hear Death Row Case  The U.S. Supreme Court announced on Monday that it will hear the case of Texas death row prisoner Hank Skinner (above), who last month came within 47 minutes of execution — for a crime he says he didn’t commit — before receiving a stay. Skinner, who was convicted and sentenced to death for a 1993 triple murder, is seeking DNA tests on untested crime scene evidence that could prove his innocence or guilt, but Texas judges have repeatedly denied access to the tests. The Supreme Court could potentially decide whether a defendant can obtain post-conviction DNA testing through a civil rights claim. Oral arguments have not yet been scheduled, but a decision is expected next year. Thousands of Innocence Project supporters have taken action on Skinner’s behalf in recent months, calling for DNA testing in the case and raising awareness about the possibility that Texas would execute Hank Skinner without conducting tests that could prove his innocence. Read more about Skinner’s case here. Post to Facebook — Tweet This Article
Why I Give: J.E. "Chip" Harding
I'm currently the Sheriff of Albemarle County, Virginia, but I spent most of my career in the Charlottesville Police Department as supervisor of Investigations. Both organizations are extremely ethical and professional, but looking back over the early years, I realize that there were cases where detectives had tunnel vision and focused on a particular suspect instead of the evidence. I've been in rooms for eyewitness identification procedures when an ethical investigator has unknowingly used a voice inflection or eye contact that could have subtly influenced a witness. These are the details that can lead to wrongful conviction, but can't be seen by judges and juries. They're exactly the details addressed by the smart reforms proposed by the Innocence Project. Like many people in law enforcement, I consider myself somewhat conservative. But it would be a mistake to see the work of the Innocence Project as a liberal vs. conservative issue. It's not. It's an issue of justice, and we need more people to see that stopping wrongful convictions is in everyone's interest. To build this movement for reform and justice we need champions in every city and town across the United States. I am proud to be one of the first Sheriffs in the United States to champion the Innocence Project. Will you join me by setting up a $10 monthly donation today? Your donation will help the Innocence Project overturn wrongful convictions and promote sound reforms to prevent injustice in the future. |
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