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Confession Shouldn't Bar DNA Testing
Posted: March 3, 2011 1:05 pm
Despite a 2002 law that approved post-conviction DNA testing for people convicted before 1995, four judges and the former Philadelphia District Attorney have blocked testing in Wright’s case for more than 5 years.
Last week, Wright finally got some good news when the Pennsylvania Supreme Court overruled the lower courts. The high court held that a confession to a crime does not bar someone from seeking post conviction DNA testing. After noting that the state legislature was motivated to pass the DNA testing law because of the exoneration of a man who had falsely confessed to the crime, the court said, “We need not be reminded of the countless situations where persons confess to crimes of which they are innocent, either out of desire to cover up for the guilty person or because of a psychological urge to do so.”
In approximately 25% of the wrongful convictions overturned with DNA evidence, defendants made false confessions, admissions or statements to law enforcement officials.
The case will be sent back to the trial court to determine if Wright meets all of the requirements of the DNA testing law. According to the briefs that have filed been filed by the Innocence Project in the case, Wright meets these requirements.
The Innocence Project has agreed to pay for all DNA testing in the case.
Read the full article.
Read about the Supreme Court decision in Anthony Wright’s case.
Understand the causes of false confessions.
Innocence Project Seeks DNA Testing in Another Pennsylvania Case
Posted: April 21, 2009 6:28 pm
Last week, Innocence Project staff attorney Nina Morrison argued before the Pennsylvania Supreme Court that client Anthony Wright should be granted DNA testing that could prove his innocence or guilt of a 1993 murder he says he didn’t commit.
Meanwhile, the Innocence Project filed a brief seeking DNA testing in the case of John Kunco, an Allegheny County man who was convicted in 1992 of a murder he didn’t commit. His conviction rested in part on bite-mark comparison testimony, which has been a factor is several wrongful convictions overturned by DNA testing.
"Simply put, Kunco's trial was polluted and contaminated with false, misleading and grossly unreliable bite mark evidence, and as a result this court can have no confidence in the jury's decision to convict Kunco," states the appeal written by Innocence Project lawyer Craig M. Cooley.Read about wrongful conviction cases involving bite mark evidence.
Read the full story here.
Innocence Project Advocates for DNA Testing in PA Supreme Court
Posted: April 14, 2009 10:28 am
This morning in the Pennsylvania Supreme Court, Innocence Project Staff Attorney Nina Morrison will argue that client Anthony Wright should get DNA testing that could prove his innocence of a 1993 murder he says he didn’t commit.
In 2002, Pennsylvania enacted a law that allows convicted people to seek DNA testing to prove their innocence. The law applies to people convicted before 1995 or cases where DNA testing was not previously conducted, and the law says courts that are weighing requests for testing should presume that the DNA testing would be exculpatory (meaning the results would favor the defendant). However, the Philadelphia District Attorney’s Office has opposed Anthony Wright’s efforts to secure DNA testing for the last four years.
“The District Attorney does not dispute that DNA testing could prove Anthony Wright’s innocence. Testing would be conducted at no cost to the state and could be completed in a matter of weeks,” said Morrison.
Read more on the Wright case and today’s arguments here.
Media coverage of the case:
Philadelphia Inquirer – April 14, 2009
Friday Roundup: Seeking New Trials
Posted: November 21, 2008 3:01 pm
Lots of case news and events around the U.S. to cover this week:
Innocence Project client Anthony Wright has been in Pennsylvania prison for 15 years for a murder he has always said he didn’t commit. He is seeking DNA testing on evidence in the case, but the Philadelphia District Attorney is fighting his requests for testing and courts have denied his appeals. This week, the Philadelphia Inquirer said “the best and only way to resolve the dispute is to proceed with the DNA test.”
DNA tests in the Norfolk Four case have already implicated the real perpetrator of the crime, but three men who say they had nothing to do with the murder are still behind bars. More than two dozen FBI agents called for a pardon last week, and the New York Times joined them this week.
A federal appeals court will hear arguments in the case of Troy Davis on December 9, and former FBI Director William Sessions wrote in the Atlanta Journal-Constitution this week that Davis deserves another day in court.
Police interrogation of juveniles was in the news this week, with the high-profile case of an eight-year-old boy charged with shooting his father and a neighbor. Prosecutors released the videotaped interrogation of the boy, and experts around the world are saying that the police procedure in questioning an eight-year-old without a parent or lawyer was inappropriate.
A federal appeals court yesterday tossed out the conviction of a man found guilty in 1994 of killing nine people at a Buddhist temple in Arizona. Jonathan Doody was 17 when arrested, and his conviction rested on his alleged confession after 12 hours of interrogation.
"In short," the ruling says, "Doody paints an overall picture of downplayed warnings, a softly induced waiver of rights and conduct conveying the message that Doody would not be left alone until he confessed, all targeted at an unsavvy, increasingly sleep-deprived teenager."And innocence organizations around the world held events and rallies in the last week:
The Center on Wrongful Convictions in Chicago celebrated its tenth anniversary. The group is one of the pioneers of the innocence movement and has exonerated dozens of wrongfully convicted Americans across the country. The Chicago Tribune calls the group the “the heroes of the wrongfully convicted.” Watch a video looking back at the Center’s incredible first 10 years here.
William & Mary held its first annual Innocence Symposium and students from the University of Bristol Innocence Project in the United Kingdom took to the streets to educate the public about the problem of wrongful convictions.
Finally, we extend a warm welcome to the Montana Innocence Project, which opened its doors this year.
Wright case may lead to more DNA testing in Pennsylvania
Posted: July 11, 2007 1:25 pm
Innocence Project attorney Nina Morrison argued yesterday before a Pennsylvania appeals court panel that DNA testing should be granted in the case of Anthony Wright, who was convicted in Philadelphia in 1993 of raping and killing a 77-year-old woman. Wright signed a confession to the crime, but Morrison told the judges yesterday that more than 25% of the 205 people exonerated by DNA testing in the United States falsely confessed to crimes they didn’t commit.
"This may be one of those cases where it turns out he's guilty," his lawyer, Nina Morrison, of the New York-based Innocence Project, told a state Superior Court panel. But, she added, "the shame and, really, the horror would be if this was a case that he was not guilty."Read more about Wright’s case here.
Read the full story here. (Philadelphia Inquirer, 07/11/2007)
Understand the Causes: False Confessions.
YouTube: Watch a video of exoneree Chris Ochoa describing the interrogation that led to his false confession.
Tags: False Confessions
Pennsylvania appeals court hears arguments today in Innocence Project case
Posted: July 10, 2007 7:00 am
Philadelphia prosecutors filed papers in May arguing that Anthony Wright, who was convicted of murder in 1993, should not have access to DNA testing because he confessed to the crime. In these papers they cited the case of Byron Halsey, saying testing in Halsey's case was “properly denied where trial evidence, which included defendant’s confession, was overwhelming.”
The flaws in the state's argument in the Wright case became clear yesterday afternoon, when New Jersey prosecutors exonerated Halsey after DNA testing conducted in 2006 showed that another man committed the child murders for which Halsey had nearly been sentenced to death. Read more about the Halsey case here.
This morning, a Philadelphia appeals court will hear arguments in Wright's case. Prosecutors have argued for two years that Wright should be denied access to testing because he allegedly confessed to the crime. However, as Innocence Project Staff Attorney Nina Morrison will argue this morning, 25% of the 205 people exonerated by DNA testing in the United States — including Halsey — falsely confessed or admitted to the crimes of which they were wrongfully convicted.
The arguments are scheduled for 10:30 this morning at the Pennsylvania Superior Court. Read more about Wright 's case in yesterday's Innocence Project press release.
A column by Elmer Smith in today's Philadelphia Daily News calls for the District Attorney's office to support testing in the pursuit of true justice:
The D.A.'s office is vigorously opposing new DNA testing. I want to believe it is fighting to keep DNA evidence out in the interest of justice.
Except that, for the life of me, I can't see how justice is served by suppressing a test result that could point to another perpetrator.
If Louise Talley's murderer is still out there, I want my D.A.'s office to go after him with the same fervor that led to Anthony Wright's conviction.
Instead, the D.A.'s office seems more interested in holding onto Wright than it is in being absolutely sure the crime is solved. That worries me.
Read the full column here. (Philadelphia Daily News, 07/10/07)
Tags: False Confessions