Watch Central Park Five Trailer on PBS. See more from Central Park Five.
PBS web page on The Central Park Five
Kentucky Journal of Criminal Justice Education & Research
Showing posts with label innocence. Show all posts
Showing posts with label innocence. Show all posts
Monday, April 15, 2013
The Central Park Five - New Film Starts on PBS Tuesday, April 16
THE CENTRAL PARK FIVE, a new film from award-winning
filmmaker Ken Burns, tells the story of the five black and Latino
teenagers from Harlem who were wrongly convicted of raping a white woman
in New York City’s Central Park in 1989. The film chronicles The
Central Park Jogger case, for the first time from the perspective of
these five teenagers whose lives were upended by this miscarriage of
justice.
PBS web page on The Central Park Five
PBS web page on The Central Park Five
Tuesday, March 26, 2013
Governor Holds Signing Ceremony for Bill that Makes Major Improvements to Post-Conviction DNA Access Law
NEW YORK, NY; (Monday, March 25, 2013)- Governor Steve Beshear held a
signing ceremony today to celebrate a recently passed law that improves
access to the state’s post-conviction DNA testing statute. The
legislation (HB 41) passed unanimously through both houses of the
Kentucky legislature, and was signed by the Governor this past Friday,
March 22nd.
Under Kentucky’s previous law, only those serving on death row have a statutory right to access post-conviction DNA testing. Of the 49 states with post-conviction DNA testing laws, only Kentucky and Alabama restricted access in this way. With the Governor’s signature, HB 41 now allows most Kentuckians convicted of violent crimes access to DNA testing if such testing can provide probative evidence of innocence.
HB 41 was sponsored by Representative Johnny Bell (D-Glasgow), who has long advocated for reform of Kentucky’s DNA testing laws. Though Representative Bell introduced similar pieces of legislation during previous sessions, the bills ultimately never became law. This year’s efforts gained momentum with the support of Senator John Schickel (R-Union), who championed a similar post-conviction DNA testing bill (SB 23) in the Senate.
“Thanks to the bipartisan efforts of Representative Bell and Senator Schickel, wrongly convicted Kentuckians will soon have greater opportunity to prove their innocence through DNA testing,” said Barry Scheck, Co-Director of the Innocence Project, which is affiliated with Cardozo School of Law. “We owe them a great deal of gratitude, and thank the Governor for recognizing the importance of this bill by signing it into law. We also must thank Kentucky Public Advocate, Ed Monahan, who advocated tirelessly for the bill’s passage.”
HB 41 represents a major improvement to Kentucky’s post-conviction DNA access law. Prior to the bill’s passage, wrongly convicted Kentuckians in non-capital cases were forced to rely on judges and prosecutors to grant access to DNA testing, meaning testing was often granted in an inconsistent manner. For instance, a local judge recently granted access to testing to Kerry Porter, which ultimately exonerated him as the perpetrator of a 1996 murder. Meanwhile, another local judge recently denied testing to Kentucky inmate, William Virgil, though such testing could exonerate him as the perpetrator of a 1987 rape and murder.
“HB 41 will ensure wrongly convicted Kentuckians have fairer access to DNA testing,” said Joe Blaney, Director of State Legislative Reform at the Innocence Project. Blaney also credited Kentucky’s leadership with helping win final approval of the bill. “This effort would not have succeeded without the support of Speaker Greg Stumbo and Senate President Robert Stivers and the strong support of Commonwealth Attorney Thomas Wine and former Commonwealth Attorney David Stengel. We also commend the Commonwealth Attorneys Association for its cooperation in finding a compromise that allowed this bill to pass.”
Though HB 41 is a major improvement over current law, the final bill was amended to exclude those who pled guilty from accessing testing. However, of the 303 people to be exonerated by DNA testing nationwide, just under 10 percent pled guilty to the crime of which they were convicted. “Though it might be hard to understand why an innocent person would plead guilty to a crime they did not commit, it isn’t all that uncommon,” Blaney said, noting innocent people pled guilty in many instances in order to avoid a harsher sentence. “We hope the legislature will revisit this issue in the future.”
Since the advent of DNA testing in forensic investigation in the late 1980s, DNA testing has evolved into a powerful tool for helping to establish guilt or innocence in criminal cases. Nationwide, 303 people have been exonerated through DNA testing. In about half of those instances, the real perpetrator was subsequently identified. With the exception of Oklahoma, every state in the nation has passed laws allowing for post-conviction DNA testing.
Since 2000, 14 people have been wrongfully convicted of serious felony offenses in Kentucky, the most recent being Kerry Porter exonerated in December 2011 after 14 years in prison. These individuals spent an average of 8 years in prison before they were released from custody.
The Innocence Project, which is affiliated with Cardozo School of Law, is a national litigation and public policy organization dedicated to exonerating wrongfully convicted individuals through DNA testing and reforming the criminal justice system to prevent future injustices. For more information on the Innocence Project, visit www.innocenceproject.org.
Under Kentucky’s previous law, only those serving on death row have a statutory right to access post-conviction DNA testing. Of the 49 states with post-conviction DNA testing laws, only Kentucky and Alabama restricted access in this way. With the Governor’s signature, HB 41 now allows most Kentuckians convicted of violent crimes access to DNA testing if such testing can provide probative evidence of innocence.
HB 41 was sponsored by Representative Johnny Bell (D-Glasgow), who has long advocated for reform of Kentucky’s DNA testing laws. Though Representative Bell introduced similar pieces of legislation during previous sessions, the bills ultimately never became law. This year’s efforts gained momentum with the support of Senator John Schickel (R-Union), who championed a similar post-conviction DNA testing bill (SB 23) in the Senate.
“Thanks to the bipartisan efforts of Representative Bell and Senator Schickel, wrongly convicted Kentuckians will soon have greater opportunity to prove their innocence through DNA testing,” said Barry Scheck, Co-Director of the Innocence Project, which is affiliated with Cardozo School of Law. “We owe them a great deal of gratitude, and thank the Governor for recognizing the importance of this bill by signing it into law. We also must thank Kentucky Public Advocate, Ed Monahan, who advocated tirelessly for the bill’s passage.”
HB 41 represents a major improvement to Kentucky’s post-conviction DNA access law. Prior to the bill’s passage, wrongly convicted Kentuckians in non-capital cases were forced to rely on judges and prosecutors to grant access to DNA testing, meaning testing was often granted in an inconsistent manner. For instance, a local judge recently granted access to testing to Kerry Porter, which ultimately exonerated him as the perpetrator of a 1996 murder. Meanwhile, another local judge recently denied testing to Kentucky inmate, William Virgil, though such testing could exonerate him as the perpetrator of a 1987 rape and murder.
“HB 41 will ensure wrongly convicted Kentuckians have fairer access to DNA testing,” said Joe Blaney, Director of State Legislative Reform at the Innocence Project. Blaney also credited Kentucky’s leadership with helping win final approval of the bill. “This effort would not have succeeded without the support of Speaker Greg Stumbo and Senate President Robert Stivers and the strong support of Commonwealth Attorney Thomas Wine and former Commonwealth Attorney David Stengel. We also commend the Commonwealth Attorneys Association for its cooperation in finding a compromise that allowed this bill to pass.”
Though HB 41 is a major improvement over current law, the final bill was amended to exclude those who pled guilty from accessing testing. However, of the 303 people to be exonerated by DNA testing nationwide, just under 10 percent pled guilty to the crime of which they were convicted. “Though it might be hard to understand why an innocent person would plead guilty to a crime they did not commit, it isn’t all that uncommon,” Blaney said, noting innocent people pled guilty in many instances in order to avoid a harsher sentence. “We hope the legislature will revisit this issue in the future.”
Since the advent of DNA testing in forensic investigation in the late 1980s, DNA testing has evolved into a powerful tool for helping to establish guilt or innocence in criminal cases. Nationwide, 303 people have been exonerated through DNA testing. In about half of those instances, the real perpetrator was subsequently identified. With the exception of Oklahoma, every state in the nation has passed laws allowing for post-conviction DNA testing.
Since 2000, 14 people have been wrongfully convicted of serious felony offenses in Kentucky, the most recent being Kerry Porter exonerated in December 2011 after 14 years in prison. These individuals spent an average of 8 years in prison before they were released from custody.
The Innocence Project, which is affiliated with Cardozo School of Law, is a national litigation and public policy organization dedicated to exonerating wrongfully convicted individuals through DNA testing and reforming the criminal justice system to prevent future injustices. For more information on the Innocence Project, visit www.innocenceproject.org.
Monday, March 11, 2013
NIJ - Understanding What Happens in an Erroneous Conviction
From the National Institute of Justice -
Why are innocent people wrongfully convicted in certain cases yet acquitted in others? Research is starting to uncover what happens. A new study, "Predicting Erroneous Convictions: A Social Science Approach to Miscarriages of Justice" compared cases where innocent defendants were wrongfully convicted to "near misses" – cases in which an innocent defendant was acquitted or had charges dismissed before trial. They found 10 significant facts that could lead to a wrongful conviction:
- A younger defendant
- A defendant with a criminal history
- A weak prosecution case
- Prosecution withheld evidence
- Lying by a non-eyewitness
- Unintentional witness misidentification
- Misinterpreting forensic evidence at trial
- A weak defense
- Defendant offered a family witness
- A "punitive" state culture
Read the full study (434 pages)
Watch a video interview with lead researcher Dr. Jon Gould
Wednesday, July 11, 2012
Justice Department to review forensic evidence used in thousands of cases - Washington Post
The Justice Department and the FBI have launched a review of thousands of criminal cases to determine whether any defendants were wrongly convicted or deserve a new trial because of flawed forensic evidence, officials said Tuesday.
The undertaking is the largest post-conviction review ever done by the FBI. It will include cases conducted by all FBI Laboratory hair and fiber examiners since at least 1985 and may reach earlier if records are available, people familiar with the process said. Such FBI examinations have taken place in federal and local cases across the country, often in violent crimes, such as rape, murder and robbery.
The review comes after The Washington Post reported in April that Justice Department officials had known for years that flawed forensic work might have led to the convictions of potentially innocent people but had not performed a thorough review of the cases. In addition, prosecutors did not notify defendants or their attorneys even in many cases they knew were troubled.
Read the complete story
Monday, May 21, 2012
New National Registry of Exonerations
The Center on Wrongful Convictions and University Michigan Law School tonight launched the National Registry of Exonerations—a comprehensive database containing extensive searchable information on the cases of nearly 900 men and women who have been exonerated in the U.S. since 1989 after being convicted of felonies they did not commit.
In addition to the cases in the registry, more than 1,100 defendants have been exonerated following convictions stemming from 13 separate police corruption scandals (such as the drug task force scandal in Tulia, Texas, and the Rampart scandal in Los Angeles). Thus, the total number of defendants exonerated during the 23-year period totals roughly 2,000—an average of about one a week.
Below are the Kentucky cases listed -
| |||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Chandler | Edwin | Kentucky | 1995 | 2009 | Mistaken Witness ID, False Confession | ||||
| Gregory | William | Kentucky | 1993 | 2000 | Y | Mistaken Witness ID, False or Misleading Forensic Evidence, Official Misconduct | |||
| Kiper | Ben | Kentucky | 2000 | 2006 | Perjury or False Accusation | ||||
| Porter | Kerry | Kentucky | 1998 | 2011 | Y | * | Mistaken Witness ID, Perjury or False Accusation | ||
| Smith | Timothy | Kentucky | 2001 | 2006 | Perjury or False Accusation, Inadequate Legal Defense | ||||
| VonAllmen | Michael | Kentucky | 1982 | 2010 | Mistaken Witness ID |
Monday, February 27, 2012
Preventing False Confessions - NY Times Op-Ed
Why Do Innocent People Confess?
If you have never been tortured, or locked up and verbally threatened, you may find it hard to believe that anyone would confess to something he had not done. Intuition holds that the innocent do not make false confessions. What on earth could be the motive? To stop the abuse? To curry favor with the interrogator? To follow some fragile thread of imaginary hope that cooperation will bring freedom?
Yes, all of the above. Psychological studies of confessions that have proved false show an overrepresentation of children, the mentally ill and mentally retarded, and suspects who are drunk or high. They are susceptible to suggestion, eager to please authority figures, disconnected from reality or unable to defer gratification. Children often think, as Felix did, that they will be jailed if they keep up their denials and will get to go home if they go along with interrogators. Mature adults of normal intelligence have also confessed falsely after being manipulated.
False confessions have figured in 24 percent of the approximately 289 convictions reversed by DNA evidence, according to the Innocence Project. Considering that DNA is available in just a fraction of all crimes, a much larger universe of erroneous convictions — and false confessions — surely exists.
Tuesday, February 7, 2012
Op-Ed about DNA Bill
Allow more DNA testing - Lexington Herald-Leader
It's telling that the prosecutor who oversees more criminal cases than anyone in Kentucky recently testified in favor of expanding the availability of post-conviction DNA testing.
We don't usually expect prosecutors to help convicts get out of jail. But when the wrong person is locked up, the individual who actually committed a violent crime is not held accountable and our system of justice has failed.
Everyone has a stake in getting it right, which is why Jefferson Commonwealth's Attorney Dave Stengel of Louisville urged the approval of House Bill 178.
Monday, December 19, 2011
Kerry Porter - Kentucky Innocence Project Client Exonerated and Released
Kerry Porter, imprisoned for murder, is exonerated, freed after 14 years - Louisville Courier Journal
After serving 14 years behind bars for a
murder he insisted he didn’t commit, a
stunned Kerry Porter learned Monday that
he was exonerated and hours later was
released from prison.
“He was virtually speechless,” said Melanie
Lowe, who won Porter’s exoneration after a
five-year battle.
“He said it was a lot to take in … and that
he was a little nervous” about returning to
the real world, she said. “He’s never held a
cell phone or seen a flat-screen TV.”
Jefferson Circuit Judge Irv Maze signed an
order dismissing Porter’s conviction and
ordering him released “immediately and
without delay” in the 1996 murder of
Tyrone Camp.
Thursday, October 27, 2011
Spark of Truth: Can Science Bring Justice to Arson Trials? - Discover Magazine
Also see the related article, "Seven Myths About Arson."
On a rainy spring morning in eastern Kentucky, Greg Gorbett prepares to commit arson. His target is a tidy but cheerless one-bedroom apartment with the kind of mauve-colored carpet, couches, tables, and lamps you would find in a cheap motel. Gorbett is not the only one eager to see the place burn. A handful of other fire scientists and grad students from Eastern Kentucky University (EKU) are checking equipment in the test room as well. They have gathered at the EKU fire lab, a concrete structure in an open meadow as close to nowhere as possible, to document in exacting detail the life cycle of a blaze.
Gorbett scans the setup one last time. A foil-covered wire studded with metal probes—a thermocouple array—crosses the ceiling and hangs down the center of the space; it will measure the temperature at one-foot intervals every two seconds. A radiometer shaped like a soup can will detect changes in radiant energy. Bundles of yellow wires will carry the data to a computer-equipped truck sitting out back. There is also a man lying on the floor: James Pharr, a former fire investigator from Charlotte, North Carolina, wearing a fire-resistant suit and oxygen mask, who will record the event with a thermal-???imaging camera.
Wednesday, September 28, 2011
WAVE TV story on Kentucky Innocence Project client Kerry Porter
LMPD detective looks into inmate's innocence claims
Porter will tell anyone who will listen that he's "actually innocent," which doesn't make him any different from most inmates at the Eastern Kentucky Correctional complex except that since 2006, Porter has the Kentucky Innocence Project working his case.
"They believed in me pretty much from the very beginning," Porter said. "You can kind of see when people believe in you and support what you're saying."
The Innocence Project and the Department of Public Advocacy have a pretty good working relationship with Louisville Metro Police Department detective, Sergeant Denny Butler.
"Their credibility is sort of on the line too," Butler said. "They're not going to call us every day saying, 'Hey we've got another person claiming they're innocent.'"
Wednesday, September 7, 2011
Lexington Herald Leader - Reform Urgent to Protect Innocent
We hope that by the time you read this, Kerry R. Porter will be a free man, after serving 14 years in prison for a murder he did not commit.
Wednesday, August 17, 2011
"Getting it Right" Videos from The Innocence Project
The Innocence Project today launched a new multimedia resource on the central causes of wrongful convictions and proven reforms to prevent injustice. "Getting it Right" features videos, case studies and in-depth research on forensics, false confessions, eyewitness identification, informant testimony, defense representation and conduct by police and prosecutors.
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