Search Term(s):
Blog Tags:
Order by: Date Relevancy
Your search returned 8 entries.
Exoneree Ken Wyniemko to speak Thursday at the University of South Dakota
Posted: February 14, 2007
Ken Wyniemko, who served nine years in Michigan for a rape he didn’t commit, will speak Thursday at 4 p.m. at University of South Dakota Law School. Wyniemko, who speaks at more than 130 public events each year, will discuss his wrongful conviction and life after exoneration.
"One morning I'm at home lying in bed," Wyniemko said. "The next, I'm talking to two detectives about a rape I didn't do."
Wyniemko found himself on trial after a jailhouse snitch said he confessed and the rape victim who had never seen the face of her attacker, identified him as her attacker.
He was found guilty of 15 counts of first degree Criminal Sexual Conduct and was sentenced to 40-60 years for each count.
Read the full story here. (The Volante Online, 02/14/07)
Get details on attending the event.
Read more about Wyniemko’s case here.
Other exonerees have spoken recently about their cases and the issue of wrongful convictions:
Jeff Deskovic was convicted of murder when he was 17 years old and served 16 years before DNA testing proved his innocence in 2006. He studied the causes of wrongful conviction during his time in prison and now speaks actively around the region on a variety of criminal justice topics.
He spoke at two community events in New York yesterday, telling one group: "It's not a question of if we execute an innocent person. It's a question of when -- and how many."
Read the full story here.
Maryland exoneree Kirk Bloodsworth was the first person who had served time on death row to be exonerated based on DNA evidence. He spoke last week in Bergen County, NJ.
Read the full story here.
Interested in inviting an exoneree to speak at an event? Email us for more information.
Tags: Michigan, Kenneth Wyniemko
Dispatch from Michigan: A Perfect Day
Posted: May 29, 2008 5:45 pm
By Ken Wyniemko, Michigan Exoneree 
May 21, 2008 was a perfect day. It was the day that Walter Swift walked out of prison a free man after 26 years of wrongful incarceration. I know the feeling, just through my own experience; I know how it feels to walk out of prison, in my case after almost ten years, and have absolutely nothing. Both Walter and Nathaniel Hatchett, who was released on April 14, are going through the same thing I did. It felt so good to be there to help Walter, just as it was to help Nathaniel Hatchett when he was released last month. I gave each of them a big hug and a check for $500 from the Kenneth Wyniemko Foundation, which I have established to help people who have been exonerated after serving time for a wrongful conviction.
In Michigan, currently, anyone who is wrongfully imprisoned and freed doesn’t have access to compensation. I’m trying to correct that problem. I’m going to Lansing next week to testify before the House Judiciary Committee again on behalf of a bill that would provide $50,000 per year of wrongful imprisonment. It would also provide all lost wages during the time that you were wrongfully imprisoned as well as reimbursement for any attorney fees, and it would provide ten years of healthcare covered by the state of Michigan.
I have also testified about a bill that would extend and expand the current DNA statute in Michigan. House Bill 5089 would remove any time limits, any expiration date, because the current statute it is set to expire in January 2009. Another good thing about this bill: it would remove the restriction that people who pled guilty are not eligible for post-conviction DNA testing. In 11 of the DNA exonerations around the country, an innocent person pled guilty. And 25% of the DNA exonerations involved false confessions or admissions, including the case of my friend Eddie Joe Lloyd who was exonerated in Michigan in 2002. So if you look at the numbers, you can see that post-conviction DNA testing should be provided wherever it could prove innocence. Also under the current law, if you were convicted of a crime after January 8, 2001, you are currently barred from applying for DNA testing, and we’re trying to get that roadblock removed also.
If Michigan’s DNA access statute wasn’t passed originally, in 2001, I would still be in prison. I read that statute for the first time as a law librarian at the correctional center, and I actually started crying because I was thinking to myself, “This is exactly what I need to prove my innocence.” It has been a main goal of mine to never let the law expire. I testified about it on three separate occasions, and it’s already passed in the House and hopefully it will pass in the Senate either this week or next.
I’m so happy and blessed to be able to help. It makes my life worthwhile. I don’t want anyone to have to struggle like I did.
Read more about the cases of Ken Wyniemko, Walter Swift and Nathaniel Hatchett.
Tags: Nathaniel Hatchett, Kenneth Wyniemko
Nine years of freedom for Atlanta man
Posted: June 16, 2008 3:54 pm
Nine years ago, Calvin Johnson was freed from a Georgia prison after serving more than 15 years for a crime he didn’t commit. Today, he has a wife and daughter, he serves on the boards of the Innocence Project and the Georgia Innocence Project, he has published a memoir, “Exit to Freedom,” and he works as a supervisor for the Metropolitan Atlanta Rapid Transit Authority. Last year he received the Innocence Project’s first Freedom & Justice Award, and spoke at the ceremony about the suffering he endured while wrongfully incarcerated and the slow process of rebuilding a life after release. Watch his speech here.
Today, Johnson says he is proud to be a leader in the innocence movement and a mentor to newly released exonerees. But he also wants to see more states – including his own – pass laws to support exonerees as they face the hard road of building a new life after years, or decades, away from society. While three states (Connecticut, Florida and Utah) have enacted new compensation laws in the last two months, Johnson’s home state of Georgia is still one of the 25 states without a law compensating the exonerated upon their release. And among the 25 states with compensation laws, many are woefully outdated and inadequate.
Other exoneration anniversaries this week:
Sunday: Jerry Townsend, Florida (Served 21.5 years, Exonerated 6/15/01)
Tuesday: Kenneth Wyniemko, Michigan (Served 8.5 Years, Exonerated 6/17/03)
Friday: Kevin Green, California (Served 15.5 years, Exonerated 6/20/96)
Saturday: James Giles, Texas (Served 10 years, Exonerated 6/21/07)
Armand Villasana, Missouri (Served 7 months, Exonerated 6/21/00)
Tags: James Giles, Kevin Green, Calvin Johnson, Armand Villasana, Kenneth Wyniemko
DNA identifies apparent perpetrator in Michigan case
Posted: June 27, 2008 9:40 am
Ken Wyniemko was exonerated five years ago in Michigan after serving nearly nine years in prison for a rape he didn’t commit. This week, prosecutors announced that the DNA profile that led to Wyniemko’s exoneration has identified a new suspect in the case, a man who is currently incarcerated for other crimes. They refused to release the identity of the individual while the investigation was ongoing.
Wyniemko, who testified Wednesday before the State House Judiciary Committee in support of a bill to compensate the wrongfully convicted upon their release, discussed the new developments in his case with reporters.Of the 218 DNA exonerations in the U.S. to date, real perpetrators have been identified in 83 cases. Those perpetrators were convicted of at least 74 additional violent crimes after the conviction of the innocent person – crimes that could have been prevented if the right person had been identified and apprehended earlier.
"I'm real curious to see if the guy committed any other crimes during the time I was in prison," Wyniemko says.
Read the full story here. (Detroit MetroTimes, 06/25/08)
Read a recent blog post by Wyniemko on his work to prevent wrongful convictions and to help the recently exonerated build new lives after release.
Tags: Kenneth Wyniemko
Prosecutor says real perpetrator identified in 2003 exoneration case
Posted: August 20, 2008 5:15 pm
A Michigan prosecutor will hold a press conference tomorrow at 10 a.m. to announce that law enforcement officials believe they have identified the actual perpetrator of a rape for which Kenneth Wyniemko was wrongfully convicted in 1994. Wyniemko served nearly nine years for the crime until DNA testing exonerated him in 2003. My Fox News Detroit reported on the planned the press conference.
54-year-old Kenneth Wyniemko was wrongly convicted in 1994, before DNA tests exonerated him in the rape and robbery of a 28-year-old Clinton Township woman.Macomb County Prosecutor Eric Smith says the statute of limitations has expired for the 1994 rape case, but the man will be charged for other sex crimes.
He served 9 years of a 40-to-60-year sentence, but he was freed in 2003 after testing was done at the urging of the Innocence Project at Thomas M. Cooley Law School.
The press conference will be held at the Clinton Township Police Department.
See My Fox News Detroit’s preview coverage
Tags: Michigan, Kenneth Wyniemko
Michigan exoneree: It's time to fix the system
Posted: August 27, 2008 2:19 pm
Writing in the Detroit Free Press on Sunday with Michigan Innocence Clinic Co- Director David A. Moran, exoneree Ken Wyniemko calls for criminal justice reforms to prevent future injustice in the state. Wyniemko was released and exonerated in 2003 after serving more than eight years for a rape he didn’t commit. Last week, prosecutors announced that the DNA evidence from the crime scene in Wyniemko’s case had proven that another man, Craig Gonser, had committed the rape.
This case exemplifies why we need to be more skeptical of eyewitness identifications and reform the procedures by which victims and witnesses identify suspects. When the victim picked Wyniemko out of a police lineup in 1994, Ken was 43 years old, 5-foot-10, and 185 pounds. The police, apparently, weren't concerned that the victim had described a much taller, heavier and younger man.
Craig Gonser, the man whose DNA was at the scene of the crime, was 26, 6-foot-6, and 290 pounds in 1994.
Those discrepancies are so glaring that they're worth emphasizing: The victim picked out a man who was eight inches shorter, 105 pounds lighter, and 17 years older than Gonser, even after giving a description that was much closer to the truth. Further, Ken bears almost no facial resemblance to Gonser.
Read about the reforms proposed by Wyniemko and Moran to prevent future misidentifications and wrongful convictions in Michigan.
Watch a video interview with Wyniemko.
Tags: Michigan, Kenneth Wyniemko
A First Pitch on the Anniversary of Freedom
Posted: June 18, 2010 3:30 pm
After the Michigan Legislature passed a law in 2001 permitting DNA testing in rape cases, Wyniemko’s case was among the many investigated by Thomas M. Cooley Law School Innocence Project. A DNA test was conducted and Wyniemko was exonerated on June 17, 2003.
Several years later, prosecutors announced that the DNA testing that exonerated Wyniemko had implicated another man in the crime, but that the statute of limitations prevented them from charging him.
Watch a video interview with Wyniemko below, where he discusses the snitch testimony in his case and more.
Other Exoneree Anniversaries This Week:
Calvin Johnson, Georgia (Served 15.5 Years, Exonerated 6/15/99)
Jerry Townsend, Florida (Served: 21.5 Years, Exonerated: 6/15/01)
Tags: Kenneth Wyniemko
Michigan Woman Cleared in Shaken Baby Case
Posted: October 18, 2010 5:19 pm
Carl Marlinga, a former prosecutor who represented Baumer at her second trial, said he expects the jury verdict will impact shaken baby cases nationwide.
"We now have a cautionary flag for police, prosecutors and physicians to consider VST (venous sinus thrombosis)," Marlinga told the Detroit News.
Marlinga, who served as the prosecutor for Macomb County, Michigan for two decades, pledged to devote time to working on wrongful conviction cases after the exoneration of Ken Wyniemko, who had been wrongfully convicted of a rape while Marlinga was in office. Marlinga supported Wyniemko's request for DNA testing and cooperated with his attorneys.
The Michigan Innocence Clinic is a member of the Innocence Network.
Convictions based on shaken baby syndrome have come under fire in recent years as scientific studies have cast doubt on forensic methods used in the investigations. Read more.
Tags: Kenneth Wyniemko