Thomas McGowan 6/11/08

Michael Blair 8/25/08

Robert McClendon 8/26/08
Patrick Waller 9/24/08
Steven Phillips 10/01/08
Arthur Johnson 10/01/08
Joseph White 11/10/08
William Dillon 12/10/08
Steven Barnes 1/09/09
Ricardo Rachell 1/14/09
James Dean 1/26/09
Kathy Gonzalez 1/26/09
Debra Shelden 1/26/09
Ada JoAnn Taylor 1/26/09
Thomas Winslow 1/26/09
Joseph Fears Jr. 3/10/09
Miguel Roman 4/02/09
Victor Burnette 4/03/09
Timothy Cole 4/09/09
Johnnie Lindsey 4/24/09
Chaunte Ott 6/05/09
Lawrence McKinney 7/17/09
Robert Lee Stinson 7/26/09
Kenneth Ireland 8/19/09
Joseph Abbitt 9/02/09
James Woodard 9/30/09

THE INNOCENCE PROJECT IN PRINT

BENJAMIN N. CARDOZO SCHOOL OF LAW, YESHIVA UNIVERSITY VOLUME 5 ISSUE 2 WINTER 2009
 IN THIS ISSUE
BOARD OF DIRECTORS
FEATURES
Gordon DuGan FORENSICS FORWARD: HOW FORENSIC SCIENCE REFORM
President and Chief Executive IS GAINING MOMENTUM NATIONWIDE ......................................4
Officer, W.P. Carey & Co., LLC
Senator Rodney Ellis SEARCHING FOR EVIDENCE AND ANSWERS .........................................9
Texas State Senate, District 13
Board Chair
IDENTIFYING INNOCENCE: VICTIMS AND
Jason Flom
President, LAVA Records EXONEREES COLLABORATE TO COMBAT
John Grisham
Author
Calvin Johnson
Former Innocence Project client
and exoneree;
Supervisor, Metropolitan Atlanta
Rapid Transit Authority
EYEWITNESS MISIDENTIFICATIONS.............................................12

IN THEIR OWN WORDS:

Dr. Eric S. Lander
Director, Broad Institute of
MIT and Harvard Professor of
Biology, MIT
Hon. Janet Reno
Former U.S. Attorney General
Q & A WITH GERALD HURST, FIRE EXPERT ..............................16
12
DEPARTMENTS
LETTER FROM THE EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR..............................................3
EXONERATION NATION ..........................................................................18

20
Matthew Rothman
Managing Director and Global INNOCENCE PROJECT NEWS..................................................................20
Head of Quantitative Equity
Strategies, Barclays Capital INNOCENCE BY THE NUMBERS:
Stephen Schulte
Founding Partner and COMPENSATION.............................................................................22
Of Counsel, Schulte Roth &
Zabel LLP
Board Vice Chair
Bonnie Steingart
Partner, Fried, Frank, Harris,
Shriver & Jacobson LLP
Andrew H. Tananbaum
President and CEO, Capital ON THE COVER: ERNEST SONNIER, PROVEN INNOCENT THROUGH DNA TESTING AFTER OVER 23 YEARS OF WRONGFUL
Business Credit LLC IMPRISONMENT, HUGS HIS FAMILY MEMBERS ON THE DAY OF HIS RELEASE, AUGUST 7, 2009.

Jack Taylor
Head of High Yield Debt, PHOTO CREDITS: COVER, ©Houston Chronicle; PAGE 3, ©Douglas Gorenstein; PAGE 4, Alex Sanz/KHOU-TV; PAGE 6, THIRD FROM TOP, KHOU-TV; PAGE
Managing Director, Prudential
8, Chicago Tribune photo by Alex Garcia; PAGE 12, AP Photo/Chuck Burton; PAGE 13, ©Michael Stravato; PAGE 14, Reprint courtesy of
Real Estate
Board Treasurer the Fort Worth Star-Telegram; PAGE 16, Chicago Tribune photo by Alex Garcia; PAGE 18, ©2009 Winston-Salem Journal photo/Lauren
Conrad; PAGE 19 MIDDLE, AP Photo/Jessica Hill; PAGE 20, ©Wisconsin State Journal/Kyle McDaniel; PAGE 21, James Estrin/The New York
Paul R.Verkuil Times/Redux
Of Counsel, Boies, Schiller &
Flexner LLP
Rachel Warren
M.K. Enterprises, Inc. THE NAMES THAT FOLLOW BELOW ARE THOSE OF THE 245 WRONGFULLY CONVICTED PEOPLE WHOM DNA
HELPED EXONERATE, FOLLOWED BY THE YEARS OF THEIR CONVICTION AND EXONERATION.
▲

Gary Dotson David Vasquez Edward Green Bruce Nelson Charles Dabbs Glen Woodall Joe Jones Steven Linscott Leonard Callace Kerry Kotler Walter Snyder
1979 to 1989 1985 to 1989 1990 to 1990 1982 to 1991 1984 to 1991 1987 to 1992 1986 to 1992 1982 to 1992 1987 to 1992 1982 to 1992 1986 to 1993
 FROM THE EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR 3

BUILDING BRIDGES TO SECURE RESULTS

Too often, people assume the Innocence Project is at odds with prosecutors, police,
crime victims, forensic scientists and others. In fact, the opposite is true, as you’ll learn
more about in this issue of The Innocence Project in Print.

To be sure, there are times that we are in direct opposition to law enforcement and
others. Sometimes we have to disagree. By its very nature, our litigation and policy
reform work challenges the status quo and forces people to confront our justice
system’s shortcomings. Despite the sometimes-adversarial nature of our work, we are
finding common ground with a diverse range of allies throughout the criminal justice
system to address and prevent wrongful convictions.

Victims of crime and their families are a powerful voice in litigation and broader public
policy debates. Everyone feels sympathy for crime victims – particularly those involved in
the types of cases the Innocence Project handles, which are often sex crimes. Victims of
crime want and deserve justice, and they don’t get it when the wrong person is convicted.

Improving eyewitness identification procedures is one of many areas where we agree

with national and local victims’ organizations because victims of crime are not served by
identification procedures that can lead them to an incorrect identification. Beginning
on page 12, you can learn more about how crime victims and their families are working
with the Innocence Project to improve eyewitness identification procedures nationwide.

At the same time, more law enforcement agencies are embracing eyewitness
identification procedures that increase the likelihood of selecting the true perpetrator
and decrease the likelihood of identifying the innocent. Police and prosecutors want
and need reliable evidence. All of the evidence they rely on – from eyewitness
identification to confessions – is more solid and accurate if it is collected properly.

Forensic scientists, meanwhile, are doing their best to perform high-quality forensic
analyses but are often overburdened and under-resourced. As we press for better
research and national standards in the field, we’re working hand-in-hand with a
growing number of forensic professionals who want and need the tools to provide top-
notch work. You can learn more about our forensic reform work – and how it will help
forensic scientists, law enforcement and innocent suspects – starting on page 4.

The Innocence Project has always been squarely focused on exonerating innocent
prisoners and preventing future wrongful convictions. Working with people from
different perspectives isn’t tangential to our mission and isn’t an extension of our
mission – it’s how we accomplish our mission.

Maddy deLone
Executive Director

Kirk Bloodsworth Dwayne Scruggs Mark D. Bravo Dale Brison Gilbert Alejandro Frederick Daye Edward Honaker Brian Piszczek Ronnie Bullock David Shephard Terry Chalmers
1985 to 1993 1986 to 1993 1990 to 1994 1990 to 1994 1990 to 1994 1984 to 1994 1985 to 1994 1991 to 1994 1984 to 1994 1984 to 1995 1987 to 1995
 4

ERNEST SONNIER, FLANKED BY FAMILY MEMBERS, SPEAKS TO
REPORTERS AT A PRESS CONFERENCE IN AUGUST ABOUT HIS
YEARS OF WRONGFUL IMPRISONMENT.
FORENSICS
FORWARD
FORENSIC SCIENCE REFORM IS GAINING MOMENTUM
NATIONWIDE
Forensic science missteps contributed to Ernest Sonnier’s wrongful
conviction. Twenty-three years later, his release comes during a period
of national reinvestigation into the use of forensic science in our
courtrooms. The Innocence Project is capitalizing on the moment with
a strategy for affecting real change.
On Christmas Eve 1985, Ernest Sonnier paid a visit to his family members. He stopped
by his mother’s house, his grandmother’s house and an uncle’s house before heading

Ronald Cotton Rolando Cruz Alejandro Hernandez William O. Harris Dewey Davis Gerald Davis Walter D. Smith Vincent Moto Steven Toney Richard Johnson Thomas Webb
1985, 1987 to 1995 1985 to 1995 1985 to 1995 1987 to 1995 1987 to 1995 1986 to 1995 1986 to 1996 1987 to 1996 1983 to 1996 1992 to 1996 1983 to 1996
 FORENSICS FORWARD 5

home. It would be the last Christmas he would share with his family for a quarter of a
century. That same night, a Houston woman was kidnapped from a service station by
two men who threatened to kill her. They took turns raping the woman for seven hours
as they drove to San Antonio. Around 4 a.m. on Christmas morning they finally stopped
the car and she escaped.

Sonnier became a suspect based on the victim’s identification of him from a photo
lineup, but the perpetrator she described was 6 feet tall, and Sonnier was only 5’2".
The prosecution paired her uncertain identification with the testimony of a forensic
analyst from the Houston Police Department (HPD) crime lab. Since DNA testing was
not available at the time, the analyst performed blood type testing on several pieces
of evidence, including the rape kit and the victim’s clothing. At trial, he testified that
Sonnier’s blood type didn’t show up in the rape kit, but he didn’t mention that
Sonnier was also excluded as the contributor of seminal fluids found on the clothing.
The prosecution suggested that Sonnier could still be guilty if the victim’s blood type
had overwhelmed and concealed the perpetrator’s in a mixed sample. The analyst
agreed, although the absence of Sonnier’s blood type on the victim’s clothing would
seem to contradict that conclusion. The analyst’s own lab report did not support “THEY TOOK IT ALL AWAY
his testimony.
FOR NO REASON – BECAUSE
The defense called no witnesses, and the jury found him guilty. His family was
I WAS BLACK. THEY JUST
devastated. Sonnier’s mother, Altha Davis says, “Going to bed knowing your child is
in prison, it isn’t easy. I would pray all the time that he’d be OK and that the truth WANTED TO CLOSE THE BOOKS,
would come out.”
AND THEY USED ME.”
Meanwhile, Sonnier met other innocent people in prison. He served time on the
– Ernest Sonnier
same unit that housed Ronald Taylor, Kevin Byrd and Charles Chatman. All three
would eventually be proven innocent through DNA testing. All together, DNA testing
has exonerated 39 Texans since 1994. Sonnier often wondered when his day would
come. And then in 2004, he received a response from a letter he had written to the
Innocence Project – his case was being reviewed. He says, “I knew then that I was
going to be a free man.”

After two years of thorough evaluation, Sonnier’s case was accepted, and five Cardozo
law clinic students at the Innocence Project worked on it under the supervision of
several attorneys for three years. Multiple rounds of DNA testing on the rape kit, the
victim’s clothing and evidence in her car all proved that Sonnier could not have been
the perpetrator. Instead, two distinct DNA profiles were detected and run through a
DNA database of convicted felons. The database identified two felons who are known
associates of each other, one of whom is currently awaiting trial for an additional rape.

Ultimately, Sonnier spent half of his life behind bars. He was 23 at the time of his
wrongful conviction and 46 when he was released. “That’s something that you can’t
forget,” he says. “I didn’t have any kids, I didn’t have any opportunities, I didn’t get
married. They took it all away for no reason – because I was black. They just wanted
to close the books, and they used me.”

Kevin Green Verneal Jimerson Kenneth Adams Willie Rainge Dennis Williams Frederic Saecker Victor Ortiz Troy Webb Timothy Durham Anthony Hicks Keith Brown
1980 to 1996 1985 to 1996 1978 to 1996 1978, 1987 to 1996 1978, 1987 to 1996 1990 to 1996 1984 to 1996 1989 to 1996 1993 to 1997 1991 to 1997 1993 to 1997
 6 THE INNOCENCE PROJECT IN PRINT

SYMPTOM OF A LARGER PROBLEM

The HPD crime lab has a troubled history, which has contributed to at least five
wrongful convictions overturned through DNA testing, including the conviction of
Ernest Sonnier. Partly in response to these cases, an independent investigation of the
HPD crime laboratory began in 2005 and completed two years later. The final report
called for officials to retest evidence in a substantial number of cases.

Problems at the Houston lab are not isolated; improper and unvalidated forensic
science have contributed to approximately half of the 245 wrongful convictions

HOUSTON DNA EXONERATIONS

In addition to Ernest Sonnier, these four other Harris County men have also been proven innocent
THE SITUATION IN HOUSTON through DNA testing after faulty forensics at the Houston Police Department (HPD) crime lab
contributed to their wrongful convictions.
IS MERELY A SYMPTOM OF
RONALD TAYLOR:
THE LARGER PROBLEM –
EXONERATED IN 2008 AFTER 12 YEARS
A LACK OF NATIONAL Over a decade after a serologist at the HPD crime lab testified that no biological material
existed on the victim’s bed sheet or any of the other items of evidence, post-conviction DNA
STANDARDS AND OVERSIGHT testing conducted on the bed sheet revealed the presence of semen and proved Taylor’s
innocence.
FOR FORENSIC SCIENCE.
GEORGE RODRIGUEZ:
EXONERATED IN 2005 AFTER 17 YEARS
According to an HPD crime lab employee, Rodriguez’ hair was microscopically similar to a
hair found on the victim’s clothing. Additionally, flawed blood type testing excluded another
potential suspect. Post-conviction DNA testing showed that the hair did not match Rodriguez,
and that the other potential suspect could not actually be excluded as the perpetrator.

JOSIAH SUTTON:
EXONERATED IN 2004 AFTER 4.5 YEARS
An HPD crime lab employee erroneously testified that DNA evidence found at the crime
scene was an exact match to Sutton. Post-conviction DNA testing later proved that this
testimony was wrong; Sutton could not have been the perpetrator.

KEVIN BYRD:
EXONERATED IN 1997 AFTER 12 YEARS
An HPD crime lab analyst incorrectly determined that blood type testing implicated Byrd
within 15–20% of the population, when in fact, the results were inconclusive and no one
could be excluded. Post-conviction DNA testing proved Byrd’s innocence.

Marvin Mitchell Chester Bauer Donald Reynolds Billy Wardell Ben Salazar Kevin Byrd Robert Miller Perry Mitchell Ronnie Mahan Dale Mahan David A. Gray
1990 to 1997 1983 to 1997 1988 to 1997 1988 to 1997 1992 to 1997 1985 to 1997 1988 to 1998 1984 to 1998 1986 to 1998 1986 to 1998 1978 to 1999
 FORENSICS FORWARD 7

overturned with DNA testing. The situation in Houston is merely a symptom of the
larger problem – a lack of national standards and oversight for forensic science.

Earlier this year, the National Academy of Sciences (NAS) released an unprecedented
report finding fundamental problems throughout the forensic science system and
presenting 13 key recommendations for reform. Central to these recommendations is
the proposal to create a federal forensic science agency to conduct research, scrutinize
forensic disciplines, set standards and oversee the field. Such an entity must be
independent and science-based to enhance the criminal justice system. Leaders from
many aspects of the system have publicly supported this cause by joining the Just Science
Coalition, an emerging and diverse group of law enforcement professionals, scientists,
attorneys, crime victims and academics spearheaded by the Innocence Project.

Forensic science reform has always been a top priority for the Innocence Project.
Wrongful convictions cases illustrate what’s at stake in maintaining the status
quo. With the release of the NAS report, the Innocence Project has focused these
efforts on building consensus around the creation of a federal forensic science agency.
Innocence Project Co-Director Peter Neufeld has testified before the House Judiciary
Subcommittee and, more recently, the Senate Judiciary Committee about the urgent
need for the agency.

The Innocence Project recently drafted a proposal for potential federal legislation to
create the agency, which would be called the Office of Forensic Science Improvement
and Support (OFSIS). The proposal builds on discussions with key stakeholders and
policymakers about what an efficient, independent, science-based federal agency
should look like. In the Innocence Project’s proposal, the office would be established
within the Department of Commerce, which would help define the office’s agenda
for research. OFSIS would also engage existing government entities to regulate the
mandatory accreditation of crime labs and certification of forensic practitioners;
support science-based education and training throughout the criminal justice system; CAMERON TODD WILLINGHAM ON THE DAY HE WAS EXECUTED,
FEBRUARY 17, 2004.
provide periodic needs assessments of the forensic system; and oversee compliance.

THE WORST-CASE SCENARIO

In September, a groundbreaking New Yorker article investigated the case of Cameron
Todd Willingham, who was convicted and executed based on forensic testimony that
a fire that killed his three children was intentionally set. Willingham’s case has quickly
come to represent the worst-case scenario of faulty forensic science. It is a stark
reminder that forensic science reform is indeed a matter of life and death.

Leading arson experts, including Craig Beyler who was hired by the Texas Forensic
Science Commission to investigate the Willingham case, have disagreed with the original
finding of arson. Beyler wrote that the fire marshal who investigated the case “seems to
be wholly without any realistic understanding of fires,” and that the determination of
arson lacked “rational reasoning.” (For more about the science in the case, see “In Their
Own Words” on p. 16 featuring an interview with fire expert Gerald Hurst.)

Habib W. Abdal Anthony Gray John Willis Ron Williamson Dennis Fritz Calvin Johnson James Richardson Ronald Jones Clyde Charles McKinley Cromedy Larry Holdren
1983 to 1999 1991 to 1999 1993 to 1999 1988 to 1999 1988 to 1999 1983 to 1999 1989 to 1999 1989 to 1999 1982 to 1999 1994 to 1999 1984 to 2000
 8 THE INNOCENCE PROJECT IN PRINT

Tragically, Beyler’s report may never be heard by the very commission that requested it.
Days before a hearing in which Beyler was scheduled to speak to commission members,
Governor Rick Perry removed the commission chairman and replaced him with a new
chair whose first move was to indefinitely postpone the hearing. Perry removed three
other members of the commission as well. Although a media firestorm has ensued in
response to the news, Perry has temporarily been successful at preventing the state’s
investigation to continue.

This blatantly political move belies the true intention of the Forensic Science
Commission, which was created as an independent entity in 2005 to evaluate cases of
forensic negligence and misconduct. The Willingham case, submitted by the Innocence
Project, was to be one of their first. These recent obstacles to the investigation illustrate
starkly why oversight entities like the Forensic Science Commission must be independent
and should not be subject to such political maneuverings.

It is a valuable lesson to consider in the creation of a federal forensic science agency.

In the coming weeks and months, the Innocence Project will be working to find
common ground with police, prosecutors, defense attorneys and scientists to make
the Office of Forensic Science Improvement and Support a reality. Cameron Todd
Willingham, Ernest Sonnier and many others are proof that comprehensive reform
is the only responsible option. ▲

THE WILLINGHAM FAMILY HOME IN CORSICANA, TEXAS,

RECONSTRUCTED AFTER THE FIRE.

Larry Youngblood Willie Nesmith James O’Donnell Frank L. Smith Herman Atkins Neil Miller A.B. Butler Armand Villasana William Gregory Eric Sarsfield Jerry Watkins
1985 to 2000 1982 to 2000 1998 to 2000 1986 to 2000 1988 to 2000 1990 to 2000 1983 to 2000 1999 to 2000 1993 to 2000 1987 to 2000 1986 to 2000
 9

SEARCHING
FOR EVIDENCE AND ANSWERS
Decades after a crime, biological evidence retains the power to solve
cold cases and settle claims of innocence. Innocent prisoners and
victims of unsolved crimes hope that the evidence in their cases will
still be available to unlock the truth. Yet all over the country, every day,
evidence is mishandled, mislabeled, contaminated and destroyed. The
Innocence Project takes on cases in which evidence is said to be lost,
continuing the search and the battle for our clients’ freedom.
Stephen Brooks would like to be the 246th person exonerated through DNA testing.
With the cooperation of Essex County, New Jersey, he might have been the 100th
DNA exoneree, or the 50th, or even the 5th. Instead, he has languished in prison for
decades, a 52-year-old man still fighting to get access to his evidence for DNA testing.

Brooks contested his innocence from the beginning, requesting post-conviction DNA
testing as early as 1988. Brooks recently told WNBC in New York that he has not
wavered in his determination. “I didn’t do it, and I don’t think I should have to go
through all of the stigma and everything else that’s attached to this thing for a crime
I didn’t commit,” he said.

Brooks, also known as Sharif Abdur-Raqeeb, was convicted of rape in 1987 based on the
identification of the victim who viewed her assailant in near total darkness. The rape kit A GLIMPSE INSIDE SEVERAL EVIDENCE WAREHOUSE FACILITIES.

Roy Criner Anthony Robinson Carlos Lavernia Earl Washington Lesly Jean David S. Pope Kenneth Waters Danny Brown Jeffrey Pierce Jerry F. Townsend Calvin Washington
1990 to 2000 1987 to 2000 1985 to 2000 1984 to 2000 1982 to 2001 1986 to 2001 1983 to 2001 1982 to 2001 1986 to 2001 1980 to 2001 1987 to 2001
 10 THE INNOCENCE PROJECT IN PRINT

and bedding were available at the time of his trial, but two years later, prosecutors
reported that the evidence was gone. The Innocence Project would later learn that
they had been wrong. In fact, in 1998, some evidence samples still existed and were
transferred from the crime lab to the East Orange Police Department, where officials
now claim they may have been destroyed in a flood in 2004.

Separately, the Innocence Project requested a search of a room-sized “legacy vault” in

the Essex County Prosecutor’s Office that is known to contain evidence from the late
1980s. The prosecutor’s office responded that it was inaccessible because nobody on
the county payroll had the combination. Prosecutors finally conceded, after pressure
from the Innocence Project, that they had opened the locked vault but provided no
documentation of their search or any record of the vault’s contents.

At a New Jersey Superior Court hearing in August, the Innocence Project successfully
argued that the state must conduct a more thorough search. No official documentation
of the “chain of custody” – the journey the evidence took from the time it was collected
to the present – has been provided. If the evidence was destroyed, there should be a
record of its destruction. A New Jersey judge agreed and has ordered police to search
more thoroughly.

INNOCENCE PROJECT CLIENT STEPHEN BROOKS, WHO HAS
FOUGHT TO GET ACCESS TO HIS BIOLOGICAL EVIDENCE FOR
POST-CONVICTION DNA TESTING FOR 20 YEARS.
It isn’t the first time that the Innocence Project has faced obstacles in its search for
evidence in a New Jersey case. Also recently, Innocence Project attorneys reached out to
prosecutors to request clothing evidence in the case of a man convicted in the 1980s of
sexual assault. The prosecutors responded, saying that they couldn’t access the room
where the evidence might be located because of an asbestos leak.

Many exonerees would not be free today if officials had prematurely given up the
search. A review of cases closed by the Innocence Project from 2002 to 2006 shows that
21% of the cases had to be closed because evidence had been lost or destroyed. That
percentage would certainly be higher if not for the Innocence Project’s efforts.

Most states don’t have consistent methods of warehousing evidence, so critical items could
turn up in a number of different facilities. Evidence has been retrieved from a storage
closet, a police department refrigerator, and between the wall and a prosecutor’s desk. The
Innocence Project works with police departments, hospitals, evidence warehouse facilities
and district attorneys’ offices when trying to locate evidence in a case.

A cotton swab taped to the inside of a deceased forensic scientist’s notebook proved
Marvin Anderson’s innocence, even after police and prosecutors reported that all the
evidence had been destroyed. Mary Jane Burton, the scientist, broke with laboratory
policy by retaining bits of evidence in many of the cases she analyzed; her practices
ultimately helped exonerate six men. Anderson was exonerated in 2002, followed by
five others, most recently Victor Burnette, who was exonerated in April.

The Innocence Project searched for evidence in the case of Scott Fappiano for two
years without results. New York City officials had no record of where Fappiano’s
evidence was located or what had happened to it. Finally, Orchid Cellmark, a private

Eduardo Velasquez Charles I. Fain Anthony M. Green John Dixon Calvin Ollins Larry Ollins Marcellius Bradford Omar Saunders Larry Mayes Richard Alexander Mark Webb
1988 to 2001 1983 to 2001 1988 to 2001 1991 to 2001 1988 to 2001 1988 to 2001 1988 to 2001 1988 to 2001 1982 to 2001 1998 to 2001 1987 to 2001
 SEARCHING FOR EVIDENCE AND ANSWERS 11

A REVIEW OF CASES CLOSED BY

THE INNOCENCE PROJECT FROM

DNA laboratory, notified the Innocence Project that they had inherited some biological 2002 TO 2006 SHOWS THAT
material from another DNA laboratory where testing was performed in 1989, but the 21% OF THE CASES HAD TO BE
results were inconclusive. The material included two tubes of DNA extract from
Fappiano’s case. It was enough to prove Fappiano’s innocence and exonerate him after CLOSED BECAUSE EVIDENCE HAD
21 years in prison
BEEN LOST OR DESTROYED.
Inevitably, no amount of searching will recover missing evidence in some cases, and the
Innocence Project is forced to give up looking. Robin Lovitt, convicted of capital murder
and robbery, was unable to secure DNA testing because a court clerk discarded the
murder weapon even though Virginia law requires evidence to be preserved. Governor
Mark Warner spared Lovitt from execution by commuting his sentence to life in prison.

New Jersey, where Brooks is imprisoned, doesn’t have an evidence preservation

statute, and the few existing guidelines for how to store and save evidence are
inadequate. Requirements for the cataloging, storage and retention of evidence are
often embedded in DNA access laws, which permit prisoners with claims of innocence
to apply for DNA testing. Forty-seven states have DNA access laws, but only about half
of the states have evidence preservation statutes. Therefore, some prisoners who are
permitted by law to petition for post-conviction DNA testing will find that there is no
evidence left to test.

Among other states, the Innocence Project is focused on passing evidence preservation
legislation in New Jersey this year. When evidence is located after an arduous search SCOTT FAPPIANO ON HIS EXONERATION DAY IN 2006 WITH
INNOCENCE PROJECT SENIOR STAFF ATTORNEY NINA
(or narrowly rescued from destruction), it has the potential to exonerate an innocent
MORRISON. FAPPIANO’S EVIDENCE WENT MISSING UNTIL IT
prisoner and to renew a national commitment to preserving evidence. ▲ WAS DISCOVERED BY A PRIVATE DNA LABORATORY.

Leonard McSherry Ulysses R. Charles Bruce Godschalk Ray Krone Hector Gonzalez Alejandro Dominguez Clark McMillan Larry Johnson Christopher Ochoa Victor L. Thomas Marvin Anderson
1988 to 2001 1984 to 2001 1987 to 2002 1992 to 2002 1996 to 2002 1990 to 2002 1980 to 2002 1984 to 2002 1989 to 2002 1986 to 2002 1982 to 2002
 12

RAPE SURVIVOR JENNIFER THOMPSON-CANNINO AND
EXONEREE RONALD COTTON BECAME FRIENDS AND FELLOW
ADVOCATES FOR EYEWITNESS IDENTIFICATION REFORM AFTER
HIS EXONERATION IN 1995. SHE MISIDENTIFIED HIM AS HER
ASSAILANT IN 1984.
IDENTIFYING
INNOCENCE
VICTIMS AND EXONEREES COLLABORATE TO COMBAT
EYEWITNESS MISIDENTIFICATIONS
Years ago, they misidentified innocent men as their assailants. Now,
they’re working with the Innocence Project to educate the public about
wrongful convictions and lending powerful voices to the call for
eyewitness identification reform.
“We thought that might be the guy,” investigators told Jennifer Thompson-Cannino
moments after she selected her rapist out of a physical lineup. “It’s the same person
you picked from the photos.” That person was Ronald Cotton, and Thompson-Cannino

Eddie J. Lloyd Jimmy R. Bromgard Albert Johnson Samuel Scott Douglas Echols Bernard Webster David B. Sutherlin Arvin McGee Antron McCray Kevin Richardson Yusef Salaam
1985 to 2002 1987 to 2002 1992 to 2002 1987 to 2002 1987 to 2002 1983 to 2002 1985 to 2002 1989 to 2002 1990 to 2002 1990 to 2002 1990 to 2002
 IDENTIFYING INNOCENCE 13

would go on to testify at two trials about her absolute certainty that he was her
assailant – even after being presented with a person at the second trial who it was
later discovered was the real perpetrator.

“I carried that on my shoulders,” she says. “I blamed myself solely and 100% for years.
I thought I’d let the police department down and the city down, and then I realized
that I was just human.”

In 1995, over 11 years after Cotton’s wrongful conviction, Thompson-Cannino learned

that he had been proven innocent and exonerated through DNA testing. Since then,
she’s become a powerful advocate for eyewitness identification reform. Her ally in
the effort? Ronald Cotton. The two have appeared in an award-winning documentary,
“After Innocence” and co-authored a bestselling book, “Picking Cotton: Our Memoir
of Injustice and Redemption.”

“I don’t know what I would’ve done without him,” she says. “He really was the person
who taught me how to live, and how to forgive myself.”

But Thompson-Cannino readily admits it hasn’t all been easy. Cotton’s exoneration “I BLAMED MYSELF SOLELY
forced her to relive the crime and brought back difficult memories. She waited two
AND 100% FOR YEARS.
years after his release before reaching out. Coming to terms with her role in the
wrongful conviction, and understanding what went wrong with the identification I THOUGHT I’D LET THE POLICE
procedures, took time.
DEPARTMENT DOWN AND
In “Picking Cotton,” she writes: “Ron was the only person who had been in both the
photo and the physical lineups, making his face more recognizable to me. And then THE CITY DOWN, AND THEN
the police told me that I had identified the same person in the physical lineup whose
I REALIZED THAT I WAS JUST
photo I had selected, so by the time I went into court, everything added up for me:
I was defiantly confident that Ronald Cotton was the one.” HUMAN.”
– Jennifer Thompson-Cannino
Today, when Thompson-Cannino speaks to lawmakers, police, prosecutors and others
about identification procedures, she stresses the importance of using methods that have
been scientifically proven to reduce the rate of misidentification. These methods are
based on 30 years of social science research, as well as the recommendations of police,
prosecutors, judges and national justice organizations, including the National Institute
of Justice and the American Bar Association.

“I say to them, can you imagine going to the doctor’s office and the doctor says, ‘We
need to do a triple bypass surgery on you, and we’re going to use the techniques we
used in 1969. We have modern technology, but we’re not going to use that.’ If we have
best practices in the medical field, wouldn’t it be logical to have best practices for
identification procedures?”

Although reforms to eyewitness identification procedures have been adopted

nationwide in large cities and some states (including North Carolina, Thompson-
Cannino’s home state), progress has been slow. Eyewitness misidentification has
contributed to the wrongful convictions of over 175 people who were later exonerated

Raymond Santana Korey Wise Paula Gray Richard Danziger Julius Ruffin Gene Bibbins Eddie J. Lowery Dennis Maher Michael Mercer Paul D. Kordonowy Dana Holland
1990 to 2002 1990 to 2002 1978 to 2002 1990 to 2002 1982 to 2003 1987 to 2003 1982 to 2003 1984 to 2003 1992 to 2003 1990 to 2003 1995 to 2003
 14 THE INNOCENCE PROJECT IN PRINT

through DNA testing. Thompson-Cannino’s experience of identifying the wrong

person has been shared by hundreds of witnesses in DNA exoneration cases. Yet,
many police departments still don’t have any written guidelines for identification
procedures.

For years, Thompson-Cannino’s advocacy work has placed her squarely in the center
of the discussion on eyewitness identification reform in this country. At the same time,
she has become a central figure among victims involved in wrongful convictions cases.
“I’ve been able to reach out and kind of form a sisterhood,” she says.

Michele Mallin, of Texas, is one of those “sisters.” The two women’s cases are incredibly
similar: both were college students when they were raped, both misidentified innocent
men based on faulty lineup procedures, and both of the real perpetrators have since
been found. However, Mallin has faced an additional heartache. Timothy Cole,
wrongfully convicted of rape, died in prison before he could be exonerated.

Mallin says, “We [crime victims] want the person who did it to go to prison. I’m back
in counseling because of this. It’s traumatic for me. From what I’ve seen of Timothy’s
brothers and his mom, I think that he would have been very loving, and I don’t think
he would blame me. But I just hate that it happened this way.”

MICHELE MALLIN AND RUBY SESSION, MOTHER OF TIM COLE,
CRY IN EACH OTHER’S ARMS AS TIM COLE’S BROTHERS,
CORY SESSION AND KEVIN KENNARD, LOOK ON. MALLIN
MISIDENTIFIED COLE AS HER ASSAILANT IN A 1985 RAPE,
AND HE SUBSEQUENTLY DIED IN PRISON.
The lineup procedures used in Mallin’s case were seriously flawed. She was shown
a photo lineup including six photos. Cole’s was the only color photo and it was a
Polaroid. The other five were black-and-white mug shots. Cole was also the only man
pictured facing forward; the other five were facing to the side. It was a biased lineup,
suggesting clearly that Cole was the police suspect. Mallin did what any witness would
have done in that situation and selected him.
Mallin didn’t know that Cole was an asthmatic non-smoker, quite the opposite of the
chain-smoking man she had described as her rapist. She was also unaware that another
man, Jerry Wayne Johnson, was being considered as an alternate suspect by the defense.
Ten years after Cole’s conviction, when the statute of limitations had run out, Johnson
wrote to authorities and confessed to the crime. Mallin wasn’t notified, and neither was
Timothy Cole or his family.

Four years after Johnson’s confession, Cole died in prison of an asthma attack.
Mallin didn’t find out until 2008, when DNA testing secured by Cole’s family and the
Innocence Project of Texas proved him innocent and confirmed that Johnson was
indeed the true perpetrator. Cole’s innocence presented Texas with the unprecedented
legal situation of exonerating a deceased prisoner. At a special hearing in February, a
Texas judge heard testimony from Mallin, Cole’s family members and Jerry Wayne
Johnson, all in support of Cole’s posthumous exoneration. The Innocence Project
joined the Innocence Project of Texas as co-counsel on the case. Cole was officially
exonerated in April.

“It was difficult,” Mallin says of the hearing, “But the hardest part was seeing Jerry Wayne
Johnson. The day that Timothy was convicted, Johnson was in the same jail in another

Kenneth Wyniemko Michael Evans Paul Terry Lonnie Erby Steven Avery Calvin Willis Nicholas Yarris Calvin L. Scott Wiley Fountain Leo Waters Stephan Cowans
1994 to 2003 1977 to 2003 1977 to 2003 1986 to 2003 1985 to 2003 1982 to 2003 1982 to 2003 1983 to 2003 1986 to 2003 1982 to 2003 1998 to 2004
 IDENTIFYING INNOCENCE 15

cell and actually heard Timothy crying and didn’t say anything.” Johnson will be
imprisoned for life for two sexual assaults with similar characteristics to Mallin’s case.

In addition to fighting for Cole’s exoneration, Mallin has joined the Innocence Project
in its effort to secure post-conviction DNA testing for every prisoner with a legitimate
claim of innocence. In a speech at Georgetown Law Center she said, “Everybody
deserves that right to a DNA test…Even though he’s not here anymore, Timothy’s
family needs to know the truth that their son and their brother and their uncle was
not a rapist.”

Rape survivors like Michele Mallin and Jennifer Thompson-Cannino show extraordinary
courage in their decision to publicly come forward, but they’re not always celebrated
for it. Both Mallin and Thompson-Cannino received death threats from hostile
onlookers who naively blamed them for an innocent man’s wrongful conviction.

Because of this concern, some victims have chosen to remain anonymous. The rape
survivor who misidentified Innocence Project client Thomas McGowan has recently
spoken out on the condition of anonymity. McGowan was wrongfully convicted of rape
in 1985 and spent 23 years in prison before DNA testing proved his innocence and
implicated the real perpetrator, Kenneth Woodson. A year after his exoneration in June
2008, McGowan met with the victim and the original investigator on the case, Assistant
Police Chief Mike Corley, in Richardson, Texas.

“Everything was very emotional,” McGowan says of the meeting. “I thought to myself, here
it is all over again – same detective, same woman, same scenario – why couldn’t it have
RAPE SURVIVOR MICHELE MALLIN IN 2009.
been like this in the first place? But we still have an opportunity to make things right.”

McGowan’s determination to make something positive out of the experience has

become a source of inspiration for the victim. “I have been humbled by Thomas’ “EVEN THOUGH HE’S NOT
graciousness and compassion during this all,” she says. Together with Mike Corley, the
HERE ANYMORE, TIMOTHY’S
two spoke on a panel before some 200 law enforcement officers at the 116th Annual
International Association of Chiefs of Police Conference in October about the FAMILY NEEDS TO KNOW THE
importance of improving eyewitness identification procedures.
TRUTH THAT THEIR SON AND
The victim says, “It was amazing how many of the officers came up to us afterwards and
said that they were so touched to hear our story and that they were going to go back to THEIR BROTHER AND THEIR
their departments to change how they do things.”
UNCLE WAS NOT A RAPIST.”
As both crime victims and victims of injustice, these three rape survivors have suffered – Michele Mallin
twice from the inadequacies of a flawed system. By becoming advocates for criminal
justice reform, they have helped spare others from sharing their experience. And by
forging newfound friendships with exonerees and exoneree’s families, they have found
healing and transformation. For years, Thompson-Cannino says, she envisioned Ronald
Cotton’s face as her rapist. Now she says, “I don’t have those nightmares anymore.
I don’t see anybody’s face.” ▲

Anthony Powell Josiah Sutton Lafonso Rollins Ryan Matthews Wilton Dedge Arthur L. Whitfield Barry Laughman Clarence Harrison David A. Jones Bruce D. Goodman Donald W. Good
1992 to 2004 1999 to 2004 1994 to 2004 1999 to 2004 1982, 1984 to 2004 1982 to 2004 1988 to 2004 1987 to 2004 1995 to 2004 1986 to 2004 1984 to 2004
 16

IN THEIR
OWN WORDS
Gerald Hurst, an acclaimed scientist and fire investigator, has debunked unscientific
methods of determining arson and overturned 10 or more wrongful convictions in
the process. Ernest Willis’ case was one of those wrongful convictions. The same
false assumptions used to convict Willis were also used in the case of Cameron Todd
Willingham, from Corsicana, Texas, who was convicted of murdering his three children
in a house fire. Hurst reviewed the Willingham case and submitted a report to the
Board of Pardons and Paroles and Governor Rick Perry, but the report was ignored,
and Willingham was executed in 2004. Since then, eight other independent experts
have found that the fire that killed Willingham’s three children was not intentionally
set, and the Innocence Project has worked to clear Willingham’s name. The Innocence
Project In Print recently spoke with Hurst to get his reaction to the developments in
the case and to learn more about the fallacies of traditional arson science.
Innocence Project in Print: How has your approach been different from that of
a traditional fire investigator?

Gerald Hurst: Fire investigators have, until recently, had a systematized, anti-science
attitude. It’s only changed because of court actions. The federal courts require that if
you deliver scientific testimony it has to meet standards of acceptability. You have to have
a sound scientific or rational basis for opinions. In order to avoid this, the International
Association of Arson Investigators took the stance that our investigation is not a science,
it is an art, and thus, not subject to the court’s rules for scientific testimony.
FIRE EXPERT GERALD HURST AT WORK IN AUSTIN, TEXAS.

IP: Are outdated methods of determining arson still being used?

You still have fires being investigated by people who’ve never had any form of rigorous
training in chemistry or physics or any other form of science. Many fire investigators
came into the field from the ranks of police, firefighters and ex-military because it
interested them, and the limited amount of training they got was mostly handed down
by people who based their knowledge on their personal experience as opposed to
scientific experimentation.

IP: How did you first become involved in criminal arson cases?
GH: I was involved in research in rocket science, incendiaries and covert warfare. So,
I came in first as a legal arsonist, and I used basic fundamentals of physical chemistry

Darryl Hunt Brandon Moon Donte Booker Dennis Brown Peter Rose Michael A. Williams Harold Buntin Anthony Woods Thomas Doswell Luis Diaz George Rodriguez
1985 to 2004 1988 to 2005 1987 to 2005 1985 to 2005 1996 to 2005 1981 to 2005 1986 to 2005 1984 to 2005 1986 to 2005 1980 to 2005 1987 to 2005
 IN THEIR OWN WORDS 17

to learn how fires behave. Early on, I ran a lot of experiments testing the theories
that I was reading about in the fire cases. For about 25 years, I worked on civil fire
and explosion cases, which usually involved scientists and engineers working as
experts. I was unaware of the difference in the quality of work in criminal cases until
I began studying arson cases almost exclusively about 15 years ago.

IP: How did you get involved in the Cameron Todd Willingham case?
GH: Willingham was about to be executed within a period of weeks and Walter Reaves,
his attorney, asked if I would look at the case. He gave me a timeframe such that if I got
a report to him in time, he could get it to the Parole Board and to the Governor’s desk.
So I began writing drafts based on trial testimony. We were asking for a 30-day stay, long
enough for the state to get another expert to verify my work.

IP: What were your findings after reviewing the case?

GH: The Willingham case is a common case. They came up with 20 supposed
indicators of arson. By "indicators" they threw in irrelevant factors like the way he “THERE IS NO FIELD OF
behaved after the fire. They said Willingham was a devil worshipper and that he beat
FORENSICS WHERE THEY GET
his wife, and that everything is interrelated. But in terms of arson evidence – zero.

IP: Because Willingham listened to heavy metal music, the prosecutor believed he was IT SO WRONG SO OFTEN.
a devil worshipper. Although the prosecutor now concedes that the fire analysis was ARSON SCIENCE IS HEAVILY
flawed, he continues to believe that Willingham was guilty and he even alleges that the
fire was set in a pentagram pattern. Can you respond to that allegation? INFLUENCED BY MONEY AND

GH: If you look at the patterns of the burns, you’re not seeing a pentagram. What PRESTIGE: PRESTIGE FROM
you’re seeing is ventilation rushing in a door and five windows. It’s the air coming in
PUTTING A BAD GUY AWAY
that determines the shape of a burn pattern, not the shape in which an accelerant was
poured. AND MONEY FROM THE

IP: How does arson science compare to the other forensic sciences? Are these INSURANCE COMPANIES.”
limitations of forensic science particular to arson cases?
– Gerald Hurst
GH: There is no field of forensics where they get it so wrong, so often as they do
in arson cases. There’s too much incentive to find arson. What we have is a field of
forensics that’s heavily influenced by money and prestige: prestige from putting a
bad guy away and money from the insurance companies.

IP: How have you reconciled what happened in this case? Do you believe that Texas
executed an innocent man?

GH: There’s absolutely no evidence of arson. When I heard that he’d been executed,
I started to raise hell and I called the Chicago Tribune. I thought we could make an
example out of these two cases. Willis and Willingham: one is exonerated and the
other is executed on the same physical evidence. I thought, maybe we’ll get some cage
rattling here. Nothing will bring Willingham back, but I think it would do his family
some good if he’s officially exonerated and also if we can make sure that this doesn’t
happen to anybody else. ▲

Robert Clark Phillip L. Thurman Willie Davidson Clarence Elkins John Kogut Entre N. Karage Keith E. Turner Dennis Halstead John Restivo Alan Crotzer Arthur Mumphrey
1982 to 2005 1985 to 2005 1981 to 2005 1999 to 2005 1986 to 2005 1997 to 2005 1983 to 2005 1987 to 2005 1987 to 2005 1981 to 2006 1986 to 2006
 18

JOSEPH ABBITT OUTSIDE OF FORSYTH
COUNTY JAIL IN NORTH CAROLINA AFTER WALKING OUT A
FREE MAN ON SEPTEMBER 2.
EXONERATION
NATION
Since the Summer 2009 issue, five more innocent people have been
exonerated with DNA testing. The Innocence Project congratulates
these inspiring individuals, as well as our colleagues who fought to help
prove their innocence.
When a 62-year-old woman was murdered, police officers conducted interviews with
her Milwaukee neighbors. One of them, ROBERT LEE STINSON, was arrested based
on the placement of a missing tooth that officers believed bore a resemblance to the
dentition of a bite mark on the victim’s body. Two forensic dentists helped secure his
wrongful conviction by testifying that the bite patterns were “identical” to Stinson’s
teeth, and that there was “no margin of error for this.” Stinson was sentenced to life in
prison for the murder of his 62-year-old neighbor. In 2005, the Wisconsin Innocence
Project assisted Stinson in securing DNA testing of saliva on the victim’s clothing, which
proved Stinson’s innocence. He was released in January 2009 after spending 23 years in
prison, and he was fully exonerated on July 27, 2009.

Drew Whitley Douglas Warney Orlando Boquete Willie Jackson Larry Peterson Alan Newton James Tillman Johnny Briscoe Scott Fappiano Allen Coco James Ochoa
1989 to 2006 1997 to 2006 1983 to 2006 1989 to 2006 1989 to 2006 1985 to 2006 1989 to 2006 1983 to 2006 1985 to 2006 1997 to 2006 2005 to 2006
 EXONERATION NATION 19

KENNETH IRELAND was only 20 years old when he was wrongfully convicted of
sexual assault and murder. The victim, a mother of four, had been beaten to death at
the plastics molding company where she worked in Wallingford, Connecticut. Ireland
became a suspect when two men gave a statement to police implicating him and two
others. Ireland was the only person charged. He denied the witnesses’ claims, and
preliminary DNA testing was inconclusive. However, Ireland was convicted and
sentenced to 50 years in prison. With the help of the Connecticut Innocence Project,
DNA testing finally proved Ireland’s innocence after 21 years in prison. The real
perpetrator has not been found. Ireland was exonerated August 19, 2009.

Two teenaged sisters were raped at knifepoint in their Winston-Salem, North Carolina,
home while getting ready for school. The victims identified their attacker from a photo
lineup as JOSEPH ABBITT, a former neighbor and occasional visitor to their home.
Abbitt offered compelling alibi evidence that he was at work when the crime occurred,
and preliminary DNA test results did not match him. Nevertheless, Abbitt was convicted
in 1995 of rape, kidnapping and burglary. He was sentenced to two consecutive life
sentences plus an additional 110 years. In 2005, Abbitt applied to the North Carolina
Center on Actual Innocence to assist with his claim. Most of the biological and physical
evidence had already been destroyed, but testing on a rape kit excluded Abbitt as the
perpetrator, and he was exonerated on September 2, 2009. He had been wrongfully
imprisoned for 14 years.

A year after JAMES LEE WOODARD’s girlfriend was found raped and strangled to
death, Woodard was convicted and sentenced to life in prison for her murder. During
the trial, prosecutors withheld key evidence from the defense. For example, the jury
never learned that the victim was seen with three other men on the night of her death.
(Two of these men were later convicted of sexual assault crimes.) Woodard’s conviction
also centered on eyewitness misidentification by his girlfriend’s stepfather who has
since denied that Woodard was the man who visited the victim’s apartment and asked
for her the night she died. The Innocence Project of Texas secured DNA testing, which
confirmed that Woodard was not the assailant. Woodard was released on April 29, 2008,
and officially pardoned on September 30, 2009. Woodard spent over 27 years in prison
for a crime he did not commit.

LAWRENCE MCKINNEY and a co-defendant were convicted of rape and burglary

in Tennessee in 1978. Despite limited lighting during the assault, the victim identified
McKinney, who she recognized as a neighbor. He was sentenced to 99 years in prison.
A rape kit was collected, but DNA technology was not available at that time to test the TOP TO BOTTOM: ROBERT LEE STINSON, KENNETH IRELAND,
biological evidence. In 2008, DNA testing excluded McKinney as one of the JAMES LEE WOODARD.

perpetrators involved. He had spent 31 years in prison. ▲

YEARS OF WRONGFUL INCARCERATION ENDURED BY

ALL 245 EXONEREES 3,098
Jeffrey Deskovic Marlon Pendleton Billy J. Smith Billy W. Miller Eugene Henton Gregory Wallis Larry Fuller Travis Hayes Willie O. Williams Roy Brown Cody Davis
1990 to 2006 1996 to 2006 1987 to 2006 1984 to 2006 1984 to 2006 1989 to 2007 1981 to 2007 1998 to 2007 1985 to 2007 1992 to 2007 2006 to 2007
 20

IP NEWS
WISCONSIN MAN CLEARED AFTER THREE DECADES
A Wisconsin Circuit Court Judge recently dismissed charges against Ralph Armstrong
who was wrongfully convicted in 1981 of the rape and murder of Charise Kamps. The
Innocence Project has continued to work on the Armstrong case with local attorneys
Jerome Buting and Keith Belzer for over 15 years. Evidence of prosecutorial
misconduct led to Armstrong’s release in August.

Assistant District Attorney John Norsetter received a phone call in 1995 from a woman
reporting that Armstrong’s brother, Stephen, said he committed the crime. Although
Armstrong’s case was on appeal when Norsetter learned of the confession, he never told
defense attorneys about the call and never pursued the lead. Stephen Armstrong has
since died. In 2005, the Wisconsin Supreme Court granted Armstrong a new trial based
on DNA testing that excluded him as the perpetrator. As Armstrong remained in custody
awaiting retrial, Norsetter violated a court order by ordering additional DNA testing
without notifying the defense. This additional round of testing used up the remaining
biological evidence and prevented it from being available for future tests. Prosecutorial
misconduct has played a role in scores of wrongful convictions that were later
overturned with DNA testing – and, in many cases like Armstrong’s, prosecutorial
misconduct has also prevented innocent people from being exonerated sooner.

INNOCENCE PROJECT REPORT FINDS THAT THE WRONGFULLY CONVICTED

RALPH ARMSTRONG AT A WISCONSIN HEARING IN AUGUST.
ARE NOT FAIRLY COMPENSATED
“Making up for Lost Time: What the Wrongfully Convicted Endure and How to
Provide Fair Compensation,” released by the Innocence Project in November finds
that most states aren’t appropriately compensating the wrongfully convicted. While
indemnification is widely available for other segments of the population, for example,
crime victims and property owners, the wrongfully convicted have not historically
received the same assistance from the state, the report says. State compensation statutes
have the potential to provide the wrongfully convicted with the most comprehensive
assistance upon release, but few states meet the measure. Only five states provide at
least $50,000 per year of wrongful incarceration (which is the federal standard for
compensating the wrongfully convicted), and only 10 provide additional services
including health care, tuition waivers, housing assistance, job counseling and more.
Copies of the report are available through the Innocence Project’s website.

SUPPORTERS AND FRIENDS GATHER NATIONWIDE

As part of the Innocence Project’s national outreach and donor program, supporters
gathered around the country this fall to introduce their friends and colleagues to the

James Waller Andrew Gossett Antonio Beaver Anthony Capozzi Jerry Miller Curtis McCarty James C. Giles Byron Halsey Dwayne A. Dail Larry Bostic Marcus Lyons
1983 to 2007 2000 to 2007 1997 to 2007 1987 to 2007 1982 to 2007 1986, 1989 to 2007 1983 to 2007 1988 to 2007 1989 to 2007 1989 to 2007 1988 to 2007
 IP NEWS 21

organization’s work. Christopher and Paris Barclay hosted an event at their Los Angeles
home for over 60 guests. Paris Barclay is the director of the acclaimed HBO series “In
Treatment” and also a member of the Innocence Project Artists’ Committee, a group of
writers, actors, musicians and other artists who raise awareness and money to support
the Innocence Project’s work. Innocence Project Executive Director Maddy deLone
and exoneree Herman Atkins spoke. In Houston, Texas State Senator and Innocence
Project Board Chair Rodney Ellis and his wife, Licia Ellis, hosted a briefing. Friends and
colleagues of the Ellis’s heard about the Innocence Project’s extensive work in the state
from deLone and Innocence Project Co-Director Barry Scheck. In March, the
Innocence Project Young Professionals’ Committee will celebrate its third fundraising
event. The committee has previously hosted fundraisers at the Rubin Museum of Art
and at Tenjune in New York City, raising over $65,000.

NEW JERSEY INVESTIGATES EYEWITNESS EVIDENCE

An unprecedented court hearing in New Jersey this fall further established the state’s
reputation as a leader in eyewitness identification reform. The hearing, ordered by
the New Jersey Supreme Court, used the case of Larry Henderson as a basis for an
extensive inquiry into how eyewitness evidence is evaluated by judges and juries.
Henderson, sentenced to 11 years for reckless manslaughter and weapons possession
charges, appealed the photo lineup procedure in his case because law enforcement
failed to follow the proper procedures as mandated by the state Attorney General.
Eyewitness misidentification is a leading cause of wrongful conviction, contributing
to 75% of convictions overturned by DNA testing.

In a series of court appearances, the Innocence Project and defense attorneys

for Henderson called eyewitness experts, including Dr. Steven Penrod, Dr. Gary Wells
and James Doyle, to testify. Their expertise is based on three decades of social science
research showing that eyewitness identifications are not always reliable. The outcome of
the hearing could have statewide ramifications for law enforcement, prosecutors and
judges, and could serve as a national model for rigorously examining and improving
eyewitness identification procedures.
FERNANDO BERMUDEZ

INNOCENCE PROJECT FILES AMICUS BRIEF IN NEW YORK MURDER CASE

The Innocence Project recently filed an amicus, or friend-of-the-court, brief in the case
of Fernando Bermudez who was convicted of murder based, in large part, on eyewitness
evidence. Since his 1992 conviction, all four eyewitnesses have recanted. No biological
evidence is available for DNA testing. In August, the Manhattan Supreme Court
ruled that Bermudez should receive a new hearing to investigate the veracity of the
eyewitnesses’ testimony and their subsequent recantations. The witnesses’
identifications were the result of an unusual identification procedure in which they
were allowed to view a collection of mug shots together and discuss which person
looked most like the perpetrator before making a collective determination. In
November, a New York Court Justice overturned Bermudez’s conviction. The Bermudez
case may aid efforts to reform eyewitness identification procedures in the state. ▲

Chad Heins John J. White Rickey Johnson Ronald G. Taylor Kennedy Brewer Charles Chatman Nathaniel Hatchett Dean Cage Thomas McGowan Robert McClendon Michael Blair
1996 to 2007 1980 to 2007 1983 to 2008 1995 to 2008 1995 to 2008 1981 to 2008 1998 to 2008 1996 to 2008 1985, 1986 to 2008 1991 to 2008 1994 to 2008
 22

INNOCENCE
BY THE NUMBERS
COMPENSATION
States that have laws providing compensation for the wrongfully convicted 27
Years it has taken to pass those 27 laws since the first one was enacted
in 1913 96
State compensation law that provides the lowest amount of compensation per
year of wrongful imprisonment: Wisconsin at $5,000 per year
State compensation law that provides the highest amount of compensation
per year of wrongful imprisonment: Texas at $80,000 per year
Percentage of the 245 people wrongfully convicted and exonerated through
DNA testing who have received compensation 60%
Percentage of the 245 exonerees who have been compensated through state
laws as opposed to lawsuits or special legislation designed for an individual
exoneree 33%
States laws that meet or exceed the federal standard of up to $50,000 per year
of wrongful imprisonment 5
Percentage of the 245 exonerees who have received the equivalent of $50,000
per year of wrongful imprisonment through state compensation laws 6%
Median amount of state compensation received per year of wrongful
imprisonment $24,219
Average number of years exonerees wait to receive state compensation after
their release 2.8
States that provide social services such as job training, health care, housing
assistance or tuition waivers 10
Exonerees who have had access to support services under state laws,
so far 15

Patrick Waller Steven Phillips Arthur Johnson Joseph White William Dillon Steven Barnes Ricardo Rachell James Dean Kathy Gonzalez Debra Shelden Ada JoAnn Taylor
1992 to 2008 1982, 1983 to 2008 1993 to 2008 1989 to 2008 1981 to 2008 1989 to 2000 2003 to 2009 1990 to 2009 1990 to 2009 1989 to 2009 1990 to 2009
 The Innocence Project was founded in 1992 by Barry C. Scheck and Peter J. Neufeld at the
Benjamin N. Cardozo School of Law at Yeshiva University to assist prisoners who could be
proven innocent through DNA testing. To date, 245 people in the United States have been
exonerated by DNA testing, including 17 who served time on death row. These people
served an average of 13 years in prison before exoneration and release. The Innocence
Project’s full-time staff attorneys and Cardozo clinic students provided direct
representation or critical assistance in most of these cases. The Innocence Project’s
groundbreaking use of DNA technology to free innocent people has provided irrefutable
proof that wrongful convictions are not isolated or rare events but instead arise from
systemic defects. Now an independent nonprofit organization closely affiliated with
Cardozo School of Law at Yeshiva University, the Innocence Project’s mission is nothing
less than to free the staggering numbers of innocent people who remain incarcerated and
to bring substantive reform to the system responsible for their unjust imprisonment.

OUR STAFF
Olga Akselrod: Staff Attorney, Angela Amel: Director of Social Work and Associate Director of Operations/ Litigation
Department, Corinne Audet: Finance and Human Resources Associate, Elena Aviles: Documents Manager, Rebecca
Brown: Policy Advocate, Loretta Carty: Legal Assistant, Sarah Chu: Forensic Policy Associate, Kayan Clarke: Paralegal,
Scott Clugstone: Director of Finance and Administration, Craig Cooley: Staff Attorney, Valencia Craig: Case
Management Database Administrator, Jamie Cunningham: Policy Associate, Huy Dao: Case Director, Maddy deLone:
Executive Director, Anamarie Diaz: Case Assistant, Ezekiel R. Edwards: Staff Attorney on Eyewitness Identification, Eric
Ferrero: Director of Communications, Nicholas Goodness: Case Coordinator, Edwin Grimsley: Case Coordinator,
Nicole Harris: Policy Analyst, Barbara Hertel: Finance Associate, William Ingram: Case Assistant, Jane Jankie:
Paralegal, Jeffrey Johnson: Office Manager, Matthew Kelley: Online Communications Manager, Jason Kreag: Staff
Attorney, Christopher Lau: Paralegal, Audrey Levitin: Director of Development, David Loftis: Managing Attorney, Alba
Morales: Staff Attorney, Nina Morrison: Senior Staff Attorney, Peter Neufeld: Co-Director, Charlene Piper: Special
Assistant to the Executive Director, Vanessa Potkin: Senior Staff Attorney, Kristin Pulkkinen: Assistant Director,
Individual Giving, Anthony Richardson: Policy Assistant and Database Administrator, Richard Salatiello: Director of
Institutional Giving, Stephen Saloom: Policy Director, Alana Salzberg: Communications Associate, Barry Scheck: Co-
Director, Chester Soria: Communications Assistant, Jechonia Spruill: Database and Donor Recognition Administrator,
Maggie Taylor: Senior Case Coordinator, Elizabeth Vaca: Assistant to the Directors, Marc Vega: Case Assistant,
Elizabeth Webster: Publications Manager, Elizabeth Weill-Greenberg: Case Coordinator, Emily West: Research
Director, Karen Wolff: Social Worker

Thomas Winslow Joseph Fears Jr. Miguel Roman Victor Burnette Timothy Cole Johnnie Lindsey Chaunte Ott Lawrence McKinney Robert Lee Stinson Kenneth Ireland Joseph Abbitt
1990 to 2009 1984 to 2009 1990 to 2009 1979 to 2009 1986 to 2009 1983, 1985 to 2009 1996 to 2009 1978 to 2009 1985 to 2009 1988 to 2009 1995 to 2009
 INNOCENCE PROJECT, INC.
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BENJAMIN N. CARDOZO SCHOOL OF LAW,

YESHIVA UNIVERSITY

Donate online at www.innocenceproject.org

James Woodard
1981 to 2009