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The Innocence Project Online - September 2009
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The Indiana Supreme Court ruled September 15 that confessions and other evidence gathered during interrogations can only be entered in court if the entire interrogation was recorded. The new law will take effect in 2011. Deadline Extended: Donate for DNA Testing Thanks to all of the generous gifts from our online community, we've raised more than $20,000 this month for DNA testing. We have less than $2,000 to go to reach our $25,000 goal by midnight September 30. Can you help? Please donate online today.
New DNA evidence suggests someone else committed the crime, and a Florida judge ordered Caravella be released while prosecutors consider whether to retry him.
 CREDO & Working Assets Members - Vote today to help support the Innocence Project. Not a CREDO member? Find out how you can support the Innocence Project by using your credit card or cell phone.
 
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A Path Forward on Forensic Reform New reports proving that Texas executed an innocent man have underscored the critical need for forensic reform in the United States, and a hearing this month before Congress made it clear that bipartisan support exists for science-based federal forensic standards. The U.S. Senate Judiciary Committee held a hearing on forensic reform September 9, and a central topic was the case of Cameron Todd Willingham, an innocent man executed in Texas in 2004. Read below for more on the Willingham case. Senators also focused on the recommendation of the National Academy of Sciences to establish an independent, science-based entity to oversee forensic science research and standards. Senator Al Franken called the NAS report on forensics “damning" and "terrifying," and in a report following the hearing, NPR noted the bipartisan support for a federal role in stimulating research, training forensic analysts and setting standards. Innocence Project Co-Director Peter Neufeld appeared before the panel, along with Houston Police Chief Harold Hurtt, a law professor, a lab director and two prosecutors. Neufeld was joined by Roy Brown, who was convicted of a crime he didn’t commit in New York based in part on faulty forensic tests. Above is Neufeld, with Brown sitting behind him. Watch the complete Senate hearing here. Visit the Just Science Coalition website here for more background on federal forensic reform proposals and to take action to support the creation of a federal forensic agency to oversee forensics. Tweet This Article - Post to Facebook A Fire in Texas and a Wrongful Execution  New reports released this month provide the most conclusive proof to date that an innocent man has been executed in the United States. Cameron Todd Willingham was executed in Texas in 2004 for allegedly setting a fire that killed his three children. An exhaustive report in the September 7 issue of the New Yorker deconstructed every aspect of the case against Willingham, and other coverage since that report has added new layers to the story. Visit our website for an in-depth background on the case and the new developments this month. Following the New Yorker report, Nightline interviewed the original prosecutor on the case, John Jackson, who is now a judge in Texas. Jackson (above) admitted to Nightline that "without question" the scientific evidence was not valid, but went on to claim that Willingham was likely a devil worshipper and was therefore guilty. Jackson showed reporter Terry Moran a diagram of the fire and claimed to see a pentagram in the floor, saying this makes it “more likely” that Willingham set the fire — even though there’s no evidence the fire was anything but a tragic accident. Watch the video here. Tweet This Article - Post to Facebook Victim, Exoneree and Officer Join Forces for Reform  In a unique alliance that is becoming more common, a Texas man exonerated after serving 23 years for a crime he didn’t commit has joined the crime victim and the original investigating officer in calling for reforms that can prevent wrongful convictions. Thomas McGowan was convicted in 1985 of raping a woman in her Dallas home, and her identification testimony was central to his conviction. Last year, after more than two decades, DNA testing obtained by the Innocence Project proved McGowan innocent and implicated another man in the rape. Now the victim has joined with McGowan and Richardson (TX) Assistant Police Chief Mike Corley in advocating for reforms to the flawed eyewitness identification procedures that contributed to McGowan’s wrongful conviction. “My heart goes out to Thomas. I can’t give him back those 23 years, I wish I could,” the victim, who wished to remain anonymous, recently told the Innocence Project. “The best we can do is try to go forward from here to make sure that no one else has to be wrongfully convicted and no other victim has to go through this. It was good for me to meet Thomas, but when I went home I cried all night long. I cried for me, I cried for Thomas, I cried for Mike Corley and most of all I cried for the victim that was raped the next year because I picked the wrong person.” She will join Corley and McGowan on a panel next month about eyewitness identification practices at the 116th Annual International Association of Chiefs of Police Conference. More than 15,000 law enforcement professionals are expected to attend. Read more. Tweet This Article - Post to Facebook Why I Give: Phoebe Santillana Love Unemployed St. Louis, MO
Sometimes, the defendant was acquitted by a jury — but only after months of enduring incredible stress and sometimes losing a job or custody of a child. Unfortunately, however, these were the lucky ones. Many innocent clients went to prison because juries got it wrong. And juries get it wrong far more often than most people suspected, until the Innocence Project started overturning wrongful convictions through DNA testing. There's still a long way to go before the public demands an overhaul of the system; the majority of people still seem to assume that anyone in handcuffs is guilty, eyewitness accounts are always flawless, and confessions freely given. Such an overhaul will not happen without a giant shift in public awareness and concern, which is only now beginning to happen because of the mounting evidence collected by the Innocence Project. I have supported the Innocence Project privately for years, but in asking my friends and family to join me (which wasn't easy), I helped throw a light on the work of the organization. The Innocence Project is freeing the innocent and bringing fairness and truth to the criminal justice system — through a more convincing method than anyone else. Have a birthday coming up? Set up a birthday fundraising campaign on Facebook. |
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