Center on Wrongful Convictions files brief in Japanese confession case

Posted: May 1, 2008 4:24 pm

The Supreme Court of Japan recently accepted its first-ever amicus (“friend of the court”) brief from an American legal organization, and the issue at hand was false confessions. The Center on Wrongful Convictions at Northwestern University filed the brief in the case of Masaru Okunishi, who has been on Japan’s death row for nearly four decades. He was convicted of poisoning his wife and four other women but has proclaimed his innocence all along. Japanese law enforcement officials say Okunishi confessed after 49 hours of interrogation.

The legal director of the Center on Wrongful Convictions, Steven Drizin, told the National Law Journal that we have learned a great deal about false confessions from the 216 DNA exonerations in the United States, and that many of these lessons apply to Japan.

In recent years, the Japanese criminal justice system has also been rocked with numerous false confessions, Drizin noted, explaining that these false confessions have been blamed on Japan's excessive reliance on confession evidence to gain convictions. Japanese law enforcement authorities, who have a 99 percent conviction rate, rely on exceedingly long interrogations and psychological coercion to obtain confessions, he added.

Read the full story here. (National Law Journal, 05/1/08)

More than 25 percent of wrongful convictions later overturned by DNA testing involved a false confession or admission. Review some of these false confession cases here.
 
 

 

“Fatally flawed” compensation bill advances in Florida, California exoneree settles for $500K

Posted: May 1, 2008 4:22 pm

Florida lawmakers voted on Tuesday to advance a bill compensating the wrongfully convicted for each year they spent in prison before their exoneration, but restrictions on the bill exclude too many people. The bill would pay some exonerees $50,000 per year served, but it excludes anyone with a prior felony conviction. This would include Alan Crotzer, who spent almost 25 years in prison for a rape he didn’t commit. He was convicted of stealing beer from a convenience store before his wrongful conviction, and that would disqualify him. Crotzer will be paid $1.25 million by the state after lawmakers passed a bill specifically written for him. While the Innocence Project has commended Florida legislators for addressing this important issue, the provision about unrelated prior felony convictions falls far short of the state’s obligation to compensate the wrongfully convicted.

Eric Ferrero, spokesman for the national Innocence Project, said the clean hands provision is a ''fatal flaw.'' He said that of the 23 states that have compensation laws for the wrongfully incarcerated, none disqualify people based on unrelated prior felony convictions.

''Prior convictions have nothing to do with the fact that an innocent person was wrongfully convicted,'' Ferrero said. “They have paid their debt to society for prior convictions but society has not paid its debt to them for a separate and unrelated wrongful conviction.''

Read the full story here. (Miami Herald, 04/29/08)

 

In other news, California exoneree James Ochoa has reached a tentative settlement in his lawsuit against Buena Park, California for his wrongful conviction. Ochoa spent 10 months in prison for a carjacking he didn’t commit before DNA cleared him. He also received approval recently to receive $30,000 in state compensation. Read more here.

Does your state have a compensation law? Find out here.

Tags: Florida, Alan Crotzer, Exoneree Compensation

 

Dallas DA will push for conviction reviews across Texas

Posted: April 30, 2008 5:10 pm

In the wake of yesterday’s release of James Lee Woodard, Dallas District Attorney Craig Watkins said he will lobby for the creation of Conviction Integrity Units across the state. Watkins took office in 2007 as Texas’ first African-American District Attorney, and quickly created a Conviction Integrity Unit to review past cases for possible wrongful convictions. The unit was instrumental in overturning Woodard’s conviction. Before his release yesterday, Woodard had served 27 years in prison for a murder he didn’t commit.

"This is a perfect time to do it," Watkins said (of conviction reviews across the state). "We have to look at it. We have to balance that time when we are being a politician, and when we are a human being."

…Before walking out of the courtroom to "breathe in fresh, clean air," Woodard praised Watkins' office for having a public integrity unit that was willing to work with the Innocence Project to prove his innocence.

"I used to have nightmares about the DA's office, but now they are among my best friends," Woodard said in an earlier interview.

Read the full story here. (Star-Telegram, 04/30/08)

Read more media coverage of his case here.

Woodard was represented by the Innocence Project of Texas, a member of the Innocence Network. Read a blog post on the case by IPOT Executive Director Natalie Roetzel here.

Tomorrow night, May 1, IPOT will host a benefit event in Dallas featuring four leaders in the legal community – District Attorney Craig Watkins, IPOT Chief Counsel Jeff Blackburn, Judge John Creuzot and Southern Poverty Law Center Founder Morris Dees. Learn more here.

Two weeks ago, Innocence Project client Thomas McGowan was released in Dallas. Read more about his case here.

In light of the unprecendented number of wrongful convictions in Texas overturned by DNA testing, state leaders are holding a Summit on Wrongful Convictions at the capital in Austin on May 8. Learn more here.

 

Wisconsin man still working to prove his innocence, 27 years later

Posted: April 30, 2008 4:50 pm

For 27 years, Ralph Armstrong has proclaimed his innocence, to no avail. But evidence disclosed this month pointing to the real perpetrator’s identity, combined with DNA test results from 2005, casts serious doubt on his conviction.

Armstrong was 28 years old when he was convicted of killing a 19-year-old college freshman in Madison, Wisconsin; today he is 55. In 2005, the Wisconsin Supreme Court threw out his conviction after DNA test results excluded him as the source of biological evidence from the crime scene. He is currently awaiting a new trial.

The Innocence Project has worked for years on Armstrong’s case with lawyers at the Wisconsin Innocence Project and other private attorneys. A new brief filed this month by the Innocence Project and Armstrong’s local counsel reveals two affidavits showing that Armstrong’s brother, Steve, has admitted that he committed the crime. The brief goes on to allege that the Dane County prosecutors knew of Steve Armstrong’s confession in 1995 but failed to share this information with Ralph Armstrong or his lawyers.

“[T]he state deliberately suppressed and withheld, for approximately the last thirteen years, information that a known third party confessed to the rape and murder of the victim in this case,” states the brief, filed on April 17 by Armstrong’s defense attorneys, Jerome Buting of Brookfield and Barry Scheck of New York. The brief to Wisconsin’s Dist. 4 Court of Appeals calls this confession “exculpatory evidence supporting the claim of Ralph Armstrong that he is innocent of this crime.”

Read more about Ralph Armstrong’s case here. (Madison Isthmus, 04/25/08)

 

Another innocent man released in Dallas, summit set for next week

Posted: April 29, 2008 2:50 pm

James Lee Woodard, who served more than 27 years in prison for a murder he didn’t commit, walked out of a Dallas courtroom this morning a free man for the first time since 1981. He is the eighteenth man cleared by DNA testing in Dallas County, more than any other county in the nation. In the wake of his release today, Texas State Sen. Rodney Ellis officially announced that a landmark Summit on Wrongful Convictions will be held May 8 in Austin. The summit will bring lawmakers, lawyers, civic leaders and exonerees together to work on addressing and preventing wrongful convictions in Texas. Read more about the summit here.

Days after he was arrested on New Year’s Day in 1981, Woodard began writing letters proclaiming his innocence and seeking to prevent a wrongful conviction. He was charged with sexually assaulting and strangling a 21-year-old woman he was dating at the time. He was convicted mainly based on the testimony of two eyewitnesses, and his lawyers at the Innocence Project of Texas say prosecutors had evidence at trial of the possible involvement of other suspects, but withheld that evidence from Woodard’s defense.

"On the first day he was arrested, he told the world he was innocent … and nobody listened," Jeff Blackburn, chief counsel for the Innocence Project of Texas, said during Tuesday's hearing.

Read the full story here. (Associated Press, 04/29/08)

Watch video of James Woodard's comments in the courtroom today. (WFAA, 04/29/08) 

To bring about Woodard’s release, his lawyers at the Innocence Project of Texas worked closely with the Dallas District Attorney’s Office and its Conviction Integrity Unit. Read more about the cooperation on the Dallas Observer’s Unfair Park blog.

Of the 18 people cleared by DNA testing in Dallas County to date, 14 have been fully exonerated by DNA testing. Fifteen of the 18 were convicted under former District Attorney Henry Wade. For an exoneration to be official, the defendant must receive a pardon from the governor or a writ of habeas corpus from the Court of Criminal Appeals (the state’s highest criminal court). Read about the 14 Dallas DNA exonerations here.

Two weeks ago, Innocence Project client Thomas McGowan was released in Dallas after serving 23 years in prison for a rape and burglary that DNA now proves he didn’t commit. An editorial this week in the Texas Baptist Standard says McGowan’s case illustrates why Texas should support a moratorium on capital punishment and why the possibility of executing an innocent person should prompt Christians to support a moratorium worldwide. Read the editorial here.

 

Editorial: Fair, straightforward compensation needed in Florida

Posted: April 29, 2008 2:10 pm

Florida is one of 27 states with no law compensating the wrongfully convicted upon their exoneration. Last month, lawmakers approved a bill compensated Alan Crotzer $1.25 million for the 24 years he spent in prison for a rape he didn’t commit, but the bill was for him only, making him the second Floridian to receive state compensation after exoneration. Another Florida exoneree, Wilton Dedge, received a similar state compensation package.

The state desperately needs a universal compensation law, and lawmakers are considering one right now. But there are serious problems with the Florida bill in its current state, and an editorial in today’s Daytona Beach News-Journal details some of these problems:

Both House and Senate versions deny compensation to anyone with another felony conviction — even if the other conviction is relatively minor. This so-called "clean hands" provision is a cruel excuse to perpetrate injustice.
The fact that someone has a prior conviction does not make a wrongful conviction any less wrong. In fact, the existence of a prior conviction increases the possibility of injustice: Police sometimes focus an investigation on someone who's already been in trouble with the law, to the exclusion of other more likely suspects.

Crotzer's case provides a perfect example of how unfair this provision can be. Before he was wrongfully convicted of robbery and rape, he stole beer from a store. While in prison, he was convicted of a drug offense. Both crimes were relatively minor and would draw relatively short prison terms — if any. Yet under this proposal, he would be barred from compensation for his 24 years behind bars.

Read the full editorial here. (Daytona Beach News-Journal, 04/29/08) 

 

Tags: Florida, Alan Crotzer, Wilton Dedge, Exoneree Compensation

 

North Carolina exoneree calls for a new review of another man’s conviction

Posted: April 29, 2008 2:05 pm

Darryl Hunt served 19 years in North Carolina prison for a 1984 rape and murder before DNA testing proved his innocence. Today, he runs the Darryl Hunt Center for Freedom and Justice and travels around the United States speaking about wrongful convictions.Last weekend, he spoke in Fayetteville, North Carolina, at an event organized in support of another man behind bars in North Carolina for a crime he didn’t commit – Lamont McKoy. The North Carolina Center on Actual Innocence is working on McKoy’s case.

“Justice is something you have to demand,” he said, and encouraged McKoy’s friends and family to keep faith.

“In June of 1985, I was one vote away from the death penalty,” he said in his measured, deep voice. “If anybody here doesn’t believe in miracles, I do.”

…McKoy’s mother, Mae Helen McKoy, and his son, 16-year-old Lamont Jr., attended the event.
Mae McKoy said she prays every night for her son, now in his 17th year behind bars.

“It was just wonderful,” she said about the community outpouring Saturday. “It was so fulfilling, I couldn’t even eat. I’m still full from the joy.”

Read the full story here. (Fayetteville Observer, 04/27/08)

 

Tags: Darryl Hunt

 

Why Philadelphia needs an innocence project

Posted: April 28, 2008 1:13 pm

Since the Innocence Project was founded in 1992, a network of organizations doing similar work has grown around the world, and today the International Innocence Network has more than 40 member organizations. Many members are clinics associated with law schools. Together, the local regions served by these groups cover most of the U.S. map. The Innocence Project (which accepts cases from all 50 states) only accepts cases involving DNA testing, and many local groups work on a broader range of cases – including wrongful convictions that can be overturned by evidence other than DNA tests.

There are still some gaps in the Innocence Network map however, and Philadelphia may be the most glaring one. It is the largest U.S. city without a local innocence organization. Nine wrongful convictions have been overturned by DNA testing in Pennsylvania, and others have been overturned by non-DNA evidence. Many of these cases were handled by the Innocence Project or the Innocence Institute of Point Park University – which covers the western half of the state.

An editorial in yesterday’s Philadelphia Inquirer called for an office in the city to work on wrongful conviction issues.

The leading cause of the wrongful convictions in the 200 plus cases has been eyewitness misidentification. Other factors include false confessions, forensic fraud, government misconduct, lying snitches and bad lawyers.

All of those issues have cropped up in cases in Philadelphia over the years. That's all the more reason why an Innocence Project office is needed here. In fact, it's surprising the city lacks such an office, given its rich legal history.

The need is there. Just ask the more than 200 people who spent years in jail for crimes they didn't commit who have been set free.

Read the full editorial here. (Philadelphia Inquirer, 04/27/08)

 

Tags: Access to DNA Testing

 

For some exonerees, the “sentence goes on”

Posted: April 28, 2008 1:11 pm

An article on the front page of today’s Washington Post explores the struggles endured by people cleared of convictions and released from prison but not officially exonerated for years, if ever. At least a dozen people in Illinois have been exonerated by evidence proving their innocence but have not received an official pardon from the governor’s office. Illinois is one of 23 states with a compensation statute, but a pardon is required before compensation can be paid. One woman – Tabitha Pollock – served six years in prison before her conviction was overturned. She applied for a pardon in 2002 and hasn’t heard anything.

When the authorities do not certify innocence, "in effect, the sentence just goes on," said Stephen Saloom, policy director of the Innocence Project. Noting that legislators are recognizing "the lingering problems" of the exonerated after their release.

"A recent trend is not only to compensate at a monetary value per year incarcerated, but also to provide immediate services upon release," said Saloom, who said the project's clients spent an average of 11 years in prison. Advocates say the exonerated need help making the transition back into society, especially finding a job.

It's not enough to let the person out of prison," Saloom said.

Read the full article here. (Washington Post, 04/28/2008)

What’s your state’s stance on exoneree compensation? View our interactive map here.

Tags: Illinois, Marcus Lyons, Exoneree Compensation

 

More misconduct in Mississippi: Pathologist lied about his credentials

Posted: April 28, 2008 1:05 pm

Mississippi medical examiner Steven Hayne has sworn under oath repeatedly in recent years that he is certified by the American Board of Forensic Pathology. But the board, which was never recognized by the National Association of Medical Examiners, ceased to exist in 1995. Innocence Project Co-Director Peter Neufeld pointed out this weekend that this is several of many instances in which Hayne’s testimony under oath has misrepresented the facts.

"This shows Hayne has misrepresented his credentials under oath," said Peter Neufeld, co-director of the New York-based Innocence Project, which has called for Hayne to be stripped of his medical license.

Hayne, who says he works 110 hours a week and conducts 1,500 autopsies a year, gave incorrect and misleading testimony at the trials of Levon Brooks and Kennedy Brewer, both Innocence Project clients who were exonerated this year after serving a combined three decades in prison for murders they didn’t commit. Brewer spent much of his time on death row.

Lawyers and inmates in Mississippi have begun to envision major legal repercussions as Hayne’s questionable practices come to light.

Hinds County Assistant Public Defender Matthew Eichelberger has questioned Hayne under oath about his credentials.

"We as a state need to brace ourselves for a tidal wave of innocence claims as a result of what's been uncovered regarding Steven Hayne," he said. "And the scariest part of all of this isn't the thousands of hours of extra work we in the legal community will have to face. It's the stark realization that there are innocent people behind bars, some of whom have been there a very long time."

Read the full story here. (Jackson Clarion-Ledger, 04/27/08)

Read the Innocence Project’s recent letter calling for Hayne’s license to be revoked.

Read Reason Magazine’s investigation of Mississippi forensics – “CSI Mississippi”

Tags: Kennedy Brewer