Mystery and thriller writers tell the stories of the wrongfully convicted in new book. Anatomy of innocence highlights the stories of fifteen wrongfully convicted and imprisoned americans, all exonerated by the innocence project, a nonprofit legal group set up in myriad states, usually affiliated with a law school, with the goal of exonerating wrongfully convicted people. Innocence projects wrongful conviction reading guide. According to the innocence project, a national litigation and public policy organization dedicated to exonerating wrongfully convicted individuals, 342 people have been exonerated as a result of dna analysis as of july 31, 2016. The real rapist and murderer was steven cunningham. The innocence project brought on innocence project new orleans as local counsel, and the organizations sought dna testing of the hair evidence. Dna exonerations have shattered confidence in the criminal justice system. Dna evidence, wrongful convictions and wrongful acquittals.
The prosecution presented the evidence that clays dna was found in the rape kit. People have been wrongfully convicted in cases in which snitches are paid to testify or receive favors in return for their testimony. Garretts book explores reasons behind wrongful convictions. Overworked and underfunded defense lawyers lack the resources to vigorously test the prosecutions evidence at trial, and people who are wrongly convicted and imprisoned have no right to counsel after their cases are affirmed on direct appeal. Have you ever wondered what it takes to obtain dna testing in a postconviction case. When the three men first imprisoned for her murder were found to have been wrongfully convicted, it seemed that her killer would go unpunished. Since the late 1980s, dna testing has exonerated more than 250 wrongly convicted people, who. These factors are not the only causes of wrongful convictions.
When a wrongfully convicted person gets released from prison, it is a major news event. Since 1989, 273 people have been released from prison after dna evidence proved their innocence, according to the innocence project, a national organization whose primary goal is to help exonerate the wrongly convicted. The dna evidence exonerated me, yet i was convicted. Dna evidence exonerates a man of murder after 20 years in. Exonerated tells the story of the innocence movement. The innocence project alone has helped 43 wrongfully convicted personsone was actually on death row for 12 yearsgain their freedom, primarily through the use of new dna techniques, which can. Indeed, because the justice system is one of the corner. Exoneration statistics and databases innocence project. Innocence project in the pitfall of criminal justice system. Kirk noble bloodsworth born october 31, 1960 is a former maryland waterman and the first american sentenced to death to be exonerated postconviction by dna testing he had been convicted in 1985 of the 1984 rape and firstdegree murder of a nineyearold girl in rosedale, maryland. Two men exonerated by dna evidence in gang rape sue. Inadequate lawyers can cause wrongful convictions, too.
Bloodsworths story speaks for 159 others who were wrongly convicted and have since been released, and for the thousands still in prison waiting for dna testing. In the past 21 years, more than 250 convicted felons have been exonerated by dna evidence. Local television crews capture the first steps of freedom and. Wrongfully imprisoned, groundskeeper returns the new york times, march 28, 2018. When you finish this book you will bless the day that dna evidence came into existance and become thankful for those who never lose faith in a wrongly convicted. The wrongfully convicted in this book were exonerated through the use of dna evidence. Testimonies of the wrongfully convicted edited by laura caldwell 48th book read in 2020 i purchased this book used as i like thrillers saw it listed on goodreads and i was very interested in reading about people who where wrongfully convicted, this book was written by many well know arthours such as lee child, sara. The new york based innocence project is a legal attempt that is committed to exonerate wrongly convicted people through the use of dna testing and to reform the criminal justice system for. Dna evidence frees wrongly convicted ca criminal defense. The next section offers case studies on convictions that were wrongly obtained, followed by suggestions for changes in the criminal justice system, such as more active judges, an innocence commission to examine convictions, liberal use of dna evidence, and better training for lawyers. In 20, hair evidence recovered from the location where the rape took place was found at the jefferson parish sheriffs office crime lab.
Pinkins and glenn were wrongfully imprisoned for a 1989 rape and were both exonerated by dna evidence in 2016 and 2017, respectively. It is written, for the most part, in firstperson narratives with some small clarification and background by the authors sprinkled throughout each narrative. On one side, is fresh dna or other evidence to be used by the prosecution to mount an appeal against what is perceived to be a. Both sides to the dna evidence equation are live issues in the contemporary debate, federally and for the states. Wrongful convictions and the accuracy of the criminal justice system. Department of justices national institute of justice, and allowed the urban institute to follow up on a 2012 study where it had applied postconviction dna testing to a large set of convictions, regardless of any existing claims or evidence of wrongful convictions. There was additional dna present that was not identified due to the size of the sample.
These are mustread books, articles and media to expand your. Wrongfully convicted in california and new york awarded. Here are 25 wrongly convicted felons exonerated by dna evidence. Dna testing for the wrongfully convicted california. List of wrongful convictions in the united states wikipedia. Forensic dna evidence has been a gamechanger for law enforcement, but research shows it can contribute to miscarriages of justice. New york and california are two of only 15 states that pay damages to wrongfully convicted defendants. Edited by dave eggers and lola vollen with a foreword by scott turow.
The first american on death row exonerated by dna evidence, kirk bloodsworth serves an inspiration to many of those who feel they have been wrongly convicted. He became the 200th american to be cleared by dna evidence of a. Horace roberts, 60, was freed from a california prison this month after dna evidence showed that he had been wrongfully convicted of murder. Five days to execution and other dispatches from the wrongly convicted, by barry scheck. Brandon garrett studied the trial records of the first 250 people exonerated by dna tests. Dna evidence, wrongful convictions and wrongful acquittals executive summary the retention of dna and other forensic evidence following the completion of the trial process raises many issues for the criminal law. Contributors examine a broad range of issues, including the fallibility of eyewitness testimony, particularly in crossracial identifications. Bloodworth was convicted of the brutal rape and murder of a nineyear old girl. Testimonies of the wrongfully convicted allows 15 exonerees to tell their stories through compelling firstperson accounts as written up by prizewinning crime and mystery writers in gritty, filmnoir style.
I was incarcerated subsequent to the wrongful conviction. Young confessed that in 1998, he and an accomplice had raped a. Bloodworth was convicted of the brutal rape and murder of. The jury that convicted williams never heard about the dna evidence, and it is hard to imagine that if he was tried today that he would get a death sentence, given the new doubts about guilt. As we enter an era in which dna evidence is routinely used in criminal investigations, errors that led to wrongful convictionsincluding mistakes later corrected with dna testsmay seem to be. A dna exoneration is a case in which postconviction dna testing results were central to establishing the innocence of the wrongfully convicted individual, i. Philadelphia man freed after serving 11 years for murder he did not commit the new york times, may 16. Week after week, the story unfolds before our eyes. We are dedicated to exposing the contamination of dna evidence that sent an innocent man to prison. That is the experience of rickey jackson of cleveland, ohio, who was exonerated in 2014. The rcmp said three hair samples found in driskells van were harders, and that evidence convicted him. Deskovic was wrongfully convicted of rapemurder of his peekskill high school classmate. As we enter an era in which dna evidence is routinely used in criminal investigations, errors that led to wrongful convictionsincluding mistakes later corrected with. The innocence project lists six contributing causes for wrongful convictions.
Abundance of dna evidence not enough to prevent wrongful. Diane and her panel talk about the causes of wrongful convictions and ongoing efforts to free the innocent. He was exonerated with dna fingerprinting evidence. There were many more great books on the issue in the 2000s than we. If one action causes another, then they the work we do as forensic scientists and the conclusions we reach have lasting effects on peoples lives, so we must pursue every effort to understand and identify our weaknesses. In indiana, the wrongfully convicted are on their own. Dna exonerations in the united states innocence project. Although dna evidence is not available to prove the innocence of a wrongfully convicted person in most cases, the cases in which it has been used. Wrongfully convicted by linda greenhouse the new york. Mystery and thriller writers tell the stories of the. Only in recent years have eyewitness identification and testimony been forced to meet the test of dna. In 2006, a cold hit in the fbis combined dna index system, or codis, would lead police to donnie lamon young, a convicted felon. Jenkins spent 17 years in prison for a 1982 rape which dna evidence later proved he could not have committed. Dna testing is revolutionizing our system of criminal justice.
An exoneree shares his story of wrongful conviction. Indiana has been sluggish in implementing reforms that would assist innocent people who leave prison after years of. Wrongful convictions and the accuracy of the criminal. The problems involved in equating wrongful acquittals and wrongful convictions are discussed. One of the most common causes of wrongful convictions is faulty. I was wrongfully convicted for the brutal rape and murder of my high school classmate, angela correa, and spent sixteen years in prison from age seventeen to thirty three until i was finally exonerated by dna evidence. Jane mixers death and gary s life never had anything to do with each other. This book profiles people who have been wrongfully accused, convicted, incarcerated, and ultimately exonerated. Bad lawyering the failure of overworked lawyers to investigate, call witnesses, or prepare for trial has led to the conviction of innocent people. On november 12, 2017, based solely on the dna evidence, the jury convicted clay of firstdegree criminal sexual conduct. The state now agrees that woodard was wrongfully convicted in 1981 of killing a girl he had been dating. Top 10 books about miscarriages of justice books the guardian. The problems with dna evidence and testing the atlantic. Conversely, is such evidence to be used to prove the innocence of a wrongfully convicted person.
By the time an appeal based on the dna evidence was underway, his sentence had been commuted to two. Americas wrongfully convicted and exonerated presents oral histories of thirteen people from all walks of life, who, through a combination of alltoocommon factorsoverzealous prosecutors, inept defense lawyers, coercive interrogation tactics, eyewitness misidentificationfound themselves. Several of these innocents were convicted without dna evidence and mostly because someone thought they looked suspicious. Three crime scene hairs had the same dna profile that did not. In 2007, after decades of insisting he was innocent, miller was finally vindicated. Louisiana man exonerated by dna evidence after serving. These are firstperson case histories of wrongfully convicted innocents who were sent to prison because of faulty eyewitness testimony, incompetent counsel, and tunnelvision law enforcement attitudes.