The New York Times supports access to DNA testing

Yesterday, the New York Times published an editorial to accompany their article on prosecutors' reluctance to grant DNA testing. The editorial called for states to pass laws granting access to DNA testing. Forty-six out of 50 states have such laws today, with the remaining four being Maryland, Alabama, Alaska and Oklahoma.

An excerpt from the Op-Ed, that sounds a lot like yesterday's article:

The Supreme Court ruled unanimously in 2006 that defendants have a constitutional right to introduce evidence of this sort of “third-party guilt” — the suggestion someone else committed the crime. Prosecutors often say they oppose DNA testing because it is burdensome, but testing requests are not that common. In many cases, prosecutors seem to be motivated by a desire to avoid having their work second-guessed by objective science.

The comments on the article from yesterday were surprisingly civil and one-sided. Most reflected outrage and disappointment at prosecutors' general refusal. This particular reader put it better than I could have:

It is absolutely amazing that the same prosecutors who want to collect DNA from everyone who comes into contact with the courts, including traffic law violators, refuse to use that same test to verify their convictions. Apparently prosecutors view DNA evidence as a great tool to fish for perpretrators and get convictions, but don't want it used to question their convict at all costs prosecutions. It is sad that prosecutors believe the judicial system is about closing cases instead of justice and truth.
— darter1, Columbus, Ohio (emphasis added)

SimpleJustice also has a great commentary on the article,

The excuses offered are silly, easily undermined by basic arguments, facts and the science itself. There is no good reason to refuse a convicted prisoner access to DNA testing. Even the slippery slope, that if they let one prisoner do it, every prisoner will want to if for no better reason than to take a shot in the dark. After all, they can't do worse than they already have. But this doesn't pan out either, both because there are so few DNA cases to begin with, and because it involves DNA testing on old cases, since new cases are having it done already as a matter of routine. Assuming the worst, it's just not much of a burden.

And so we get down to the bottom line of the issue squarely framed in the Times' article, yet wholly ignored. Who cares what the prosecutors have to say. Why aren't judges ordering these DNA tests? (emphasis added)

That's a good question, and totally unaddressed, as he said. Now, I do wonder that...

The value of finality

One of the systemic problems contributing to the problem of wrongful incarceration – besides wrongful convictions in the first place – is a fierce reluctance by the system and its constituents to overturn previous convictions. This is what we casually refer to as the value of finality. Courts are afraid of getting 'bogged down' with every claim of innocence or procedural error, so much so that they create daunting procedural hurdles to having an appeal heard. Add to that the resistance from prosecutors and DAs who are afraid of losing face when it is revealed that they had convicted the wrong person. A picture of the difficulty facing innocent imprisoned now beings to take shape.

Two articles came out just now, in the New York Times and USA Today that are related to this attitude that stands in the way of justice post-conviction. The New York Times' A1 story discusses prosecutors' reluctance to grant DNA testing:

A recent analysis of 225 DNA exonerations by Brandon L. Garrett, a professor at the University of Virginia School of Law, found that prosecutors opposed DNA testing in almost one out of five cases. In many of the others, they initially opposed testing but ultimately agreed to it. In 98 of those 225 cases, the DNA test identified the real culprit.

I find this particularly insulting:

In Illinois, prosecutors have opposed a DNA test for Johnnie Lee Savory, convicted of committing a double murder when he was 14, on the grounds that a jury was convinced of his guilt without DNA and that the 175 convicts already exonerated by DNA were “statistically insignificant.” (emphasis mine)

Says the New York Times, "Defense lawyers also say the arguments ignore the proven power of DNA to refute almost every other type of evidence." I'm not sure what the "almost" refers to, unless it is, say, an autographed and notarized picture of the defendant committing the crime.

Also today, USA Today ran a story on A3 about Troy Davis. Davis has been on death row for 18 years, though the case against him has since collapsed. Simply put, the State is unwilling to grant Davis a new trial just because he has already been convicted once.

Davis' attorneys and advocates for the wrongfully convicted say his case, set for another U.S. Supreme Court appeal this week, represents one of possibly dozens in which courts are reluctant to consider evidence discovered after conviction that might exonerate inmates on death row.

Davis' stay of execution ran out on Saturday. You can visit Amnesty International's page on Davis here.

Paul House exonerated in Tennessee!

From the New York Times:

Prosecutors dropped charges against a former Tennessee inmate who spent 22 years on death row before new evidence cast doubt on his guilt. The district attorney said DNA tests presented “a reasonable doubt” about whether the former inmate, Paul House, 48, acted alone in the murder of a woman near Knoxville in 1985. “This is the day we’ve been waiting for 24 years,” said Joyce House, his mother. “The tears have been flowing, and I’ve been dancing.” In 2006, the United States Supreme Court ruled that Mr. House was entitled to a new trial. He was released from prison in July and placed on house arrest. DNA from key evidence, including semen on the victim’s clothing and blood beneath her fingernails, does not match Mr. House. Prosecutors said in a petition that they still suspected Mr. House of murder, possibly with accomplices, but a judge accepted their request to drop the charges.

Congratulations to the Innocence Project in New York for their hard work.

Palm Beach Post coverage of Dillon speaking event

The Palm Beach Post has an article today on Bill Dillon's speaking engagement at the Rotary Club in Wellington, Florida that took place Friday.

William Dillon to Speak at Rotary Club Event in West Palm Beach, Florida

William Dillon to Speak at Rotary Club Event in West Palm Beach, Florida
Mr. Dillon Spent 27 Years in Prison Before DNA Testing Proved His Innocence

William Dillon, who was wrongfully convicted of a 1981 murder and served 27 years behind bars before DNA evidence demonstrated his innocence, will be speaking at a Rotary Club event in Wellington, Florida, on Thursday, April 30. In November 2008, The Innocence Project of Florida (IPF) worked to obtain DNA testing that proved Mr. Dillon’s innocence. Since his exoneration, Mr. Dillon has become an advocate for criminal justice reforms and has spoken on previous occasions about the harrowing experience of serving out his wrongful incarceration.

“Mr. Dillon is being awfully brave by sharing his story with other people,” said Seth Miller, Esq., Executive Director of IPF. “You can see when he speaks that it’s not easy for him. It is a traumatizing experience to be locked up for so long for something you know you didn’t do.”

When DNA testing showed that Mr. Dillon could not have contributed the DNA found on a crucial piece of physical evidence, his murder conviction was overturned. One month later, the State announced they would drop the charges against Mr. Dillon. Mr. Dillon’s 27 years in prison equals the longest time served before a DNA exoneration.

IPF worked with Mr. Dillon’s public defender, Michael Pirollo, Esq., to obtain DNA testing. Ms. Montle, a Staff Attorney for IPF who worked on Mr. Dillon’s case, will be joining him at the event.

“I’m really proud of Bill for coming out and doing something like this,” said Ms. Montle. “He knows how important it is to reform the system to prevent wrongful convictions from happening. Since he was released, he has been tirelessly working to help solve this tragic problem in America’s criminal justice system.”

The Innocence Project of Florida (IPF) is a 501(c)(3) organization dedicated to finding and freeing innocent people in Florida prisons.

Visit IPF's Website by clicking here; sign up to volunteer by clicking here; contribute to our work by clicking here.

Download the press release by clicking here.

# # #

More Information About the Event:

April 30th, 6:30 PM

Binks Forest Golf Club
400 Binks Forest Dr
Wellington, FL

Innocence Project in the St. Pete Times: A lifeline for imprisoned innocent

[Mark Wallheiser, Special to the St. Petersburg Times] Innocence Project of Florida executive director Seth Miller and lawyer Bobbi Madonna meet with associates on potential cases. In the background is the whiteboard used in weekly lectures given to law school interns.

The Innocence Project of Florida received some press today in the St. Petersburg Times, Florida's largest newspaper, that explores the arduous process we go through to select our cases.

The process is a lot like sifting for gold. Of the 3,000 inmates who have asked for help since the office opened six years ago, 90 percent have received rejection letters. Rarely do the lawyers find someone like Wilton Dedge or Alan Crotzer, both wrongly convicted of rape.

Ironic turn of phrase – since we certainly don't want to compare innocent people in prison to gold, being a good thing in any way, but sifting and deciphering and contemplating are all appropriate ways of imagining the process.

The entire article is worth a read, and it is somewhat brief.

Update: Our story is on A1 in the St. Pete Times today! Here is a PDF of the front page.

American Heritage School to “Bowl for the Innocent”

American Heritage School to “Bowl for the Innocent”
Innocence Project of Florida Plans to Attend Event

On Friday, April 24, American Heritage School will host “Bowl for the Innocent,” an event planned to raise funds for innocent people who have been released from Florida prisons. The Executive Director of the Innocence Project of Florida, Seth Miller, Esq., plans to attend. This is the second year in a row the school has helped victims of wrongful incarceration.

“This event is just one way we try to reach out to the community and spread awareness about wrongful convictions,” said Miller. “The fact that this was organized by a couple of students is really remarkable, and we’re impressed by their passion for this cause.”

Students will “Bowl for the Innocent” at AMF Davie Lanes in Davie, Florida, near Fort Lauderdale. Plans include an afternoon of bowling and refreshments, including pizza, soda and cake.

“This issue is something that matters to everyone,” added Miller. “The more people hear about innocent people in prison, the closer we get to reforming the system to prevent wrongful convictions. This event – even though it’s light-hearted and fun – is an important contribution to the cause.”

The Innocence Project of Florida (IPF) is a 501(c)(3) organization dedicated to finding and freeing innocent people in Florida prisons.

Click here to download the press release.

# # #

Where?

AMF Davie Lanes
8200 W State Road 84
Davie, FL

When?

Friday, April 24th, 2009

2:30-3:00 PM Students arrive at bowling alley, check-in
3:00-4:30 PM Bowling games
4:30-5:15 PM Announcements, Pictures, Pizza, Soda, and Cake
5:30 PM Bus departs

Footage from Wayne Tompkins' Vigil

We were sent this video by Unicorn 8 Productions of the vigil held outside the correctional institution in Raiford, Florida, on February 11, 2009, as Wayne Tompkins was executed. We posted extensively about Tompkins back in early February of this year. He was found guilty of murdering Lisa DeCarr in 1983, though serious doubts regarding his innocence persisted up to and after the day of his execution. The Innocence Project of Florida is working to obtain DNA testing in his case. Test results could show Tompkins to be the first person ever executed and then conclusively exonerated posthumously.

The Coverdell Grant Program for forensic science

The Innocence Project in New York recently released a report titled, "Investigating Forensic Problems in the United States: How the Government Can Strengthen Oversight through the Coverdell Grant Program." From the executive summary:

In 2004, Congress established an oversight mechanism within the Paul Coverdell Forensic Science Improvement Grant Program, which provides federal funds to help improve the quality and efficiency of state and local crime labs and other forensic facilities.

[...] Nearly five years after Congress passed legislation to help ensure that forensic negligence or misconduct is properly investigated, extensive independent reviews show that the law is largely being ignored and, as a result, serious problems in crime labs and other forensic facilities have not been remedied. In short, the U.S. Department of Justice’s Office of Justice Programs (OJP), which is responsible for the program, has failed to make sure that even the law’s most basic requirements are followed.

Yesterday, the blog for TheHill.com paraphrased some of the results of this study, and reiterated the Innocence Project's call for increased oversight or, rather, they called for the Obama administration to increasingly take advantage of the grant program that Congress created five years ago. One particularly egregious fact they quote is this: only 13% of designated oversight entities meet the federal law’s forensic oversight requirements. If you were a defendant, would you want to take a 1-in-8 chance that the forensic lab that processed the evidence in your trial was subject to proper oversight?

Finally, "Under new leadership, the Department of Justice can – and should – make sure crime lab problems are properly addressed, which will enhance the public safety and help prevent wrongful convictions." Remember, working to correct problems in order to preclude wrongful convictions is cheaper than housing wrongfully incarcerated individuals.


No sooner had The Hill run this post than Grits for Breakfast published some presentations from the public meetings held by the National Academy of Sciences, meetings held to address the problems plaguing forensic science labs around the country. They link to this presentation in particular that calls for forensic tests "to be as blind as possible, for as long as possible," and which contains the shocking graphic on common error rates linked above.

You'll notice that firearms and fingerprints, while among the most reliable forensic testing methods, still yield erroneous conclusions around 1-5% of the time. Some toolmark and bitemark tests, meanwhile, are reliable less than half of the time. That report also refers to several studies that found that, for example, when a scientist was provided with "context" for certain samples – context such as, "The suspect has already confessed, here's his hair and a hair from the crime scene" – that error rates were much higher. Those who conducted the psychological studies could induce false positives by giving false context, leading the forensic scientist to believe certain conclusions before they came to them independently.

All of these scientific studies point to the sad state of the crime labs in this country. Scientists might think so, but they are not immune to psychological tendencies – such as suggestibility – that afflict every human being. Independent oversight and common-sense reforms are the necessary solution to the problem.

Visit IPF's Website by clicking here; sign up to volunteer by clicking here; contribute to our work by clicking here.

Timothy Cole Exonerated in Texas

When Governor Bill Richardson abolished the death penalty in New Mexico, he called it the most difficult decision of his political career.

Now, Judge Charlie Baird in Texas has handed down a decision he has called "the most important of my judicial career." Timothy Cole was convicted in 1985 for the rape of Michelle Mallin and sentenced to 25 years in prison. Cole died in prison in 1999 for a crime that DNA evidence has since proven he didn't commit, and yesterday he was officially posthumously exonerated in Texas. Judge Baird's decision is available here.

Judge Baird said, unequivocally, "the evidence is crystal clear that Timothy Cole died in prison an innocent man, and I find to a 100 percent moral, legal, and factual certainty that he did not commit the crime of which he was convicted." Judge Baird also went on to fault police misconduct, including the deliberate misrepresentation and suppression of evidence for Cole's innocence during the investigation.

Perhaps most tragic is that, since 1995, four years before Cole died in prison from complications from asthma, Jerry Johnson had been admitting his guilt for the rape of Michelle Mallin. From Judge Baird's decision:

Worse, however, was the attitude of the courts to [the actual rapist Jerry] Johnson’s claim of guilt. As early as 1995- four years before Tim Cole died- Johnson tried to clear Tim Cole and admit to the rape of Michelle Mallin. His letters were ignored, set aside, and thrown away until one was received by the family of Tim Cole and the Innocence Project of Texas.

You can read more about Timothy Cole's exoneration at Grits for Breakfast, Lubbock Online, or the Houston Chronicle.

We're glad that this sad story is coming to an end – that the family of Timothy Cole is receiving some sort of justice in the clearing of their son's name. We hope the criminal justice system can look to Timothy's case and ask itself, "What can be done to make sure this never happens again?"

Visit IPF's Website by clicking here; sign up to volunteer by clicking here; contribute to our work by clicking here.

DNA clears men in Virginia and Washington

Two reminders today about why the arrival of reliable DNA testing is quite possibly the most important advent in the history of criminal justice. The Richmond Times-Dispatch out of Virginia is reporting that a man found guilty of a rape in 1984 was wrongfully convicted and incarcerated. DNA testing showed the true perpetrator to be one of the area's most notorious rapists, Leon Davis. Thomas Haynesworth was the man wrongfully convicted.

Reached last week by telephone at the Greensville Correctional Center, Haynesworth said of Davis, "I knew all along he was the man. I told my lawyer. I told [police]. He lived right down the street from me."

"I told them: 'This man fit the description.' But nobody ever listened to me," he complained. "Everybody said we looked alike. Only difference between me and him, he is taller and weighed more," said Haynesworth.

And cheers to the Virginia Department of Forensic Science:

The recent DNA testing was performed as part of the Virginia Department of Forensic Science's post-conviction project aimed at clearing people who may have been wrongly convicted from 1973 through 1988, before forensic DNA testing was widely available.

Similar programs should be in place in every jurisdiction throughout the country, as citizens anywhere can be victims of wrongful incarceration.

Secondly, in Washington state, a man who was arrested and held for 17 days for the rape of an 11-year-old girl in 2007 has filed a federal lawsuit against the local police department alleging wrongful imprisonment. David Lynch was released from prison, his charges dropped, after DNA tests from the rape excluded him as a possible rapist.

There are always celebrations fanfare when a person is released after serving X years behind bars for a crime they didn't commit. Sometimes we might forget that the real reason we work hard to shed light on these abuses and reform the system is to prevent wrongful convictions from happening in the first place. Though spending 17 days wrongfully in jail is certainly a harrowing experience, it is far and away a better thing than spending 27 years behind bars for a crime you didn't commit.

Update: David Lynch's story is similar to two others that were reported in Florida very recently. The first, out of Tampa, is of Kenneth Robinson, who was arrested for a burglary he did not commit and released after DNA testing proved as much. The second is of Wade Jackson in Brevard county, Florida, who was released after spending 17 months in prison as a suspect for a murder he did not commit.

Visit IPF's Website here; sign up to volunteer here; contribute to our work here.

Friday Roundup

A busy week in the world of criminal justice. Let's see if we can cover the highlights succinctly.

• Today, New Mexico's Senate is discussing HB 825, which would abolish the death penalty in the state. The National Coalition to Abolish the Death Penalty (NCADP) will be liveblogging the event.
  
• Yesterday, South Dakota became the 45th state to enact legislation giving inmates the right to post-conviction DNA testing... And then there were five. (Alabama, Mississippi, Oklahoma, Massachusetts and Alaska remain.)
  
• The Obama administration for the first time in Federal court opposed the claims of torture victims at Guantanamo Bay in Cuba, claiming that aliens held at the camp had no due process rights. Not the move we would like to see from the President of Hope™ and Change™.
  
• Joeseph Fears became the eighth person in Ohio to be exonerated by DNA evidence and the 234th nationwhide. "[Ohio] State Sen. David Goodman introduced a bill yesterday seeking improved access to DNA testing, a requirement to record all interrogations and reforms to eyewitness identification procedures."
  
• From the Sentencing Project, Congressmen Steve Cohen (TN-09) and John Conyers (MI-14) have introduced legislation to study the racial disparities in the legal system:
  

  The advisory group would be responsible for gathering data on the presence, cause, and extent of racial and ethnic disparities at each stage of the criminal justice system. Each of the advisory groups would recommend a plan, specific to each district, to ensure progress towards racial and ethnic equality. The U.S. Attorney will consider the advisory group's recommendations, adopt a plan, and submit a report to the Attorney General. The Act requires the Attorney General to submit a comprehensive report to Congress at the end of the pilot program, outlining the results from all ten [pilot] districts and recommending best practices.

  
  
• In a laudable move, the DA in Harris County, Texas (which contains Houston), has ordered DNA testing in every case where biological evidence is available. A solid step toward the prevention of wrongful convictions, even if there is still much to be done.
  
• Finally, Bernie Madoff is, as you know, going directly to jail without passing GO.

From a friend of Tompkins

Michael Lambrix has been on death row in Florida for 26 years. Today one of his journals is posted on the Death Row Journals blog here. He expresses sadness and disbelief over Wayne Tompkins' execution on February 11 of this year. Having known Tompkins personally, and referring to him by his Native American name "Grey Cloud," Lambrix explains that Tompkins' conviction was based entirely on circumstantial evidence, and he explains his more general misgivings over death sentences that are obtained all the time with such scant evidence. This was a particularly well-written section:

But nobody can deny that our judicial system is far less then perfect. In recent years at least 25 prisoners on Florida’s death row alone have been found to have been wrongfully convicted and then judicially exonerated and released from prison. Recently the ‘Innocence Project” has announced that just in the last decade they have proven the innocence of at least 200 men through DNA evidence. This undeniable virtual epidemic of injustice should compel any person of moral conscience to question the validity of any conviction based upon wholly circumstantial evidence. The fact is that as a civilized society we owe it to ourselves to insist that if we are going to put a person to death, there can not be any question of guilt. To allow any execution of a person whose guilt [is] in question will inevidently [sic] result in the execution of an innocent person.

The Maryland Senate took hesitant steps recently to assure that death sentences could only be handed down in cases where there was biological evidence, a taped confession, or a taped crime. That is a meaningful step, but it does not go far enough.

Eyewitness identification in the news

Sam Sommers is a psychologist at Tufts University in Massachusetts. Today on his blog on Psychology Today, he relates an anecdote about eyewitness IDs, told through an encounter with one of his students:

Not long ago, I had a meeting with an undergraduate from a large lecture course. It was the first time I had spoken with her outside of class, and she asked me what type of research I conduct. When I told her, she responded by saying that my work reminded her of a presentation she sat through during freshman orientation–a presentation concerning psychological perspectives on diversity conducted by two faculty members. From that point forward, our conversation took a surprising turn:

Me: "Right, I was one of those presenters."
Student: "No, there was a Black professor and a White professor, but the White guy was someone else."
Me: "Actually, that was me. Professor Maddox and I conduct diversity workshops, including that one at freshman orientation."
Student: "It was Professor Maddox, but the White professor was another guy."

That's all well and good, but imagine if a conviction had hung in the balance in this case, and that an eyewitness' memory was the only evidence against a suspect that the state could muster. Sommers quickly makes the same realization about the consequences of relying on eyewitness testimony.

Indeed, in the legal domain there are few types of evidence that a jury finds more persuasive than the eyewitness who can take the stand and point directly at the defendant while stating, "absolutely, that's the man I saw." But I just returned from the annual convention of the American Psychology-Law Society, where research presentation after research presentation demonstrated how surprisingly inaccurate and malleable eyewitness evidence can be. And the consequences for crime suspects as well as victims are far greater than the marginal ego blow suffered by the unrecognized professor who learns that he apparently nothing more than an average-looking, generic White guy.

The Innocence Project claims that in over 75% cases of wrongful conviction, mistaken eyewitness testimony is involved. In several of our cases, it was the only evidence against a suspect.

The issue has found its way back into the mainstream with the release of the book Picking Cotton, written by Jennifer Thompson and Ronald Cotton. Thompson, a rape victim, picked Cotton out of a lineup and testified against him at trial, leading to 11 years of wrongful incarceration. Since Cotton's exoneration, the two have reconciled and bonded. 60 Minutes also covered the release of the book in a piece recently, including interviews with Thompson and Cotton.

Of interest, KCBD TV station in Lubbock, Texas just performed an experiment of their own in which they staged a purse-snatching and then had students try to pick the perpetrator out of a lineup. Only 8% of them were successful. Again, imagine that only a handful of students – or one witness – had been present, and then the burden rested on him to pick the perpetrator out of a lineup...

The Innocence Project in New York suggests these policy reforms to undercut the problem of unreliable eyewitness identifications:

• Blind administration: Research and experience have shown that the risk of misidentification is sharply reduced if the police officer administering a photo or live lineup is not aware of who the suspect is.
  
• Lineup composition: "Fillers” (the non-suspects included in a lineup) should resemble the eyewitness' description of the perpetrator. The suspect should not stand out (for example, he should not be the only member of his race in the lineup, or the only one with facial hair). Eyewitnesses should not view multiple lineups with the same suspect.
  
• Instructions: The person viewing a lineup should be told that the perpetrator may not be in the lineup and that the investigation will continue regardless of the lineup result. They should also be told not to look to the administrator for guidance.
  
• Confidence statements: Immediately following the lineup procedure, the eyewitness should provide a statement, in his own words, articulating his the level of confidence in the identification.
  
• Recording: Identification procedures should be videotaped whenever possible – this protects innocent suspects from any misconduct by the lineup administrator, and it helps the prosecution by showing a jury that the procedure was legitimate.

You can read our page on eyewitness identification here.

LA Times asks for right to DNA testing in Osborne ruling

On Saturday, the Los Angeles Times published an editorial that began:

Contrary to what viewers of "CSI" might believe, not every criminal case can be resolved by DNA evidence. Even so, DNA testing has exonerated more than 200 convicted defendants. This week, the Supreme Court was asked to rule that access to DNA information is a constitutional right. The court must say yes.

Something that is at the heart of this matter is whether "a defendant convicted after a fair trial has a constitutional right to challenge that conviction on the grounds that he is innocent." It seems the answer ought to be yes. A mountain of procedure is in place that allows prisoners to challenge their sentence on technicalities or Constitutional violations, but they are in place as a means to securing a new trial, the object of which is to establish guilt or innocence. It seems to me that, if establishing guilt or innocence is the object of the criminal justice system – which it is – then it ought to be especially sensitive to claims of actual innocence, even after a jury has been convinced, and it is still extremely hard to obtain a new trial with "only" a claim of actual innocence.

Opening the flood gates is a serious concern in some circumstances, and the procedures in place were put in place to preempt just that possibility, by making sure that it's not every Tom, Dick and Harry that can make some noise to challenge their conviction. But, as the LA Times concludes, "The alternative is to say that a state may withhold evidence that could free a wrongly convicted person. That's an inconceivable interpretation of the Constitution's guarantee of due process of law."

Bill Dillon speaks publicly in Melbourne, Florida

On Saturday night, William Dillon spoke to a crowd at the Space Coast Progressive Alliance's "Audacity of Hope" event at the Florida Institution of Technology. Florida Today covered the event.

"Many years, I waited for something to happen," he said. "I wrote anyone I could; anybody that I thought would listen, and I got no replies. Nobody was listening."

He cited the manipulation of witnesses, the lack of DNA testing at the time and unreliable sources for his conviction and credited the Innocence Project of Florida for his freedom.

You can read about William Dillon's case on our website here.


The Innocence Project of Florida's Assistant Director, Toni Shrewsbury (right) was in attendance.

Update: Some coverage in the blog of John Simpson, an attendant at the Progressive Celebration event:

[Bill Dillon is] tall, maybe six-two, and speaks clearly and plainly in a laconic voice of his experiences behind bars and in the courtroom, of his life in general. His speech is marked by candor, not rancor. He does not appear to be bitter. He’s adapted readily to the use of cell phones, devices which didn’t exist (except in crazy inventors’ feverish imaginations) when he went in. At a restaurant or among a crowd of people, he’s always looking around, alert, amazed. That he can find his way around Brevard County, where he still lives, is another source of constant surprise: whole neighborhoods have sprung up in his absence; new shopping malls exist where, a quarter-century ago, the wind blew across empty fields and marshes.

What he’s been through (and how well he went through it) boggles the mind. That he’s nowhere near the first — and certainly not the last — to have gone through it feels, well, impossible.

Visit IPF's Website here; sign up to volunteer here; contribute to our work here.

Maryland Compromise on Capital Punishment

Maryland's much-storied recent efforts to abolish the death penalty have been tempered into compromise legislation that cleared the state Senate yesterday.

ANNAPOLIS — A legislative effort to repeal Maryland’s death penalty appears all but over for this year, as the Senate on Wednesday approved a compromise measure that preserves capital punishment but would impose strict evidentiary requirements before it could be handed down.

Under the amended bill, SB 279, the death penalty could be imposed only if the murderer’s conviction is based on DNA evidence; a videotaped, voluntary confession; or a video recording that conclusively links the defendant to the murder. The death penalty could not be imposed for convictions based solely on eyewitness testimony. A final vote on the bill is scheduled to be held on Thursday.

Following the Senate’s action, attention shifts to the House of Delegates, which will use the Senate measure as its starting-off point in considering the death penalty’s fate this year, said House Speaker Michael E. Busch, D-Anne Arundel. In light of the Senate’s actions, a repeal effort in the House will presumably not succeed this year, he said.

The bill is laudable for a few reasons. For one, the bill elevates DNA to its rightful place in policy making: serving as an ultimate probative test, with unparalleled certitude. Conversely, the bill dramatically undercuts the myth of witness identification accuracy: the Senate has admitted that enough doubt surrounds that form of evidence that a person's life should not rest on another's faulty memory. Third, it requires videotaping of confessions.

Unfortunately, it looks unlikely that the death penalty will be abolished this year in the state, as had been hoped, but I am content with the progress represented by this bill.

See the Maryland Daily Record's article here.

Media coverage of Osborne

On Monday the Supreme Court heard oral arguments in the case of District Attorney's Office for the Third Judicial District, et al. v. Osborne out of Alaska. I have blogged before about Osborne; it's a hugely important case both for the work we do here freeing innocent people and for Americans in general, as it could affirm a Constitutional right for inmates to acquire DNA testing.

The case has received a mountain of media attention. Editorials have run in the New York Times, Anchorage Daily News, Alaska's largest newspaper. Articles have appeared on CNN's website and on Anderson Cooper's blog.

But some of the reports are less than promising. It is unfortunate that lawyers for the Obama administration, for example, have taken such a hardline stance against the right to DNA testing. (Some of that might be due to the fact that they have inherited the case from the previous administration.)

The new deputy Solicitor General for the Obama administration urged the Supreme Court today to go slow in giving prisoners a right to seek DNA testing that could free them.

"Our position is there is no constitutional right to DNA," Neal Katyal, a former Georgetown law professor, told the justices.

..."It is a no-cost proposition for the defendant," he said, and could "open the floodgates" to legal suits seeking new tests of old evidence.

An article in McClatchy paints a somewhat grim picture that makes it seem at least like this will be a serious nail-biter.

Supreme Court justices appeared closely divided Monday over claims by an Alaska inmate that the Constitution guarantees a right to post-conviction DNA testing.

The court's most conservative members are clearly aligned against inmate William Osborne, who was convicted of assaulting a prostitute known only as K.G. The court's most liberal members sounded sympathetic to expanded testing. At most, the odds appear to favor a narrow decision.

A decision is not due for months in the case, but we will continue to watch for developments.

Science Shows Jacksonville Man’s Innocence After 21 Years

For Immediate Release

Science Shows Jacksonville Man’s Innocence After 21 Years

Billy Joe Holton could become 2nd Man Exonerated from Duval County in Two Years

The Innocence Project of Florida (IPF) last week filed a Motion for a New Trial on behalf of Billy Joe Holton after DNA results revealed another man’s semen on the State’s key piece of evidence. If the motion is successful, Holton will become the nation’s 233rd DNA exoneree.

“These DNA results show that there was another man’s semen on the blanket used to cover the victim while she was raped,” said Seth Miller, Executive Director of IPF. “Since the victim said she had not had sex in six months and that she washed her blanket once a week, this means that the semen on the blanket could only come from the perpetrator.”

Holton and his former co-defendant Tim Smith were charged with raping a Jacksonville woman in the presence of her seven year-old son. The men became suspects after a jailhouse snitch implicated them in the crime. Holton was indicted with this crime despite the fact that the victim’s son repeatedly told police that Holton was not one of the perpetrators and that the victim told others she could not identify her attackers.

“The victim’s eventual photo ID of Holton was dubious considering that she was covered in the blanket throughout the attack, she had told her neighbor she did not get a good look at the men, and her own son told police that Holton was not the man who hurt his mom,” said IPF Staff Attorney Bobbi Madonna. “The DNA results from the blanket now prove what we suspected all along—Holton is actually innocent of this crime.”

On the eve of trial, the jailhouse snitch disappeared. The State, faced with having to drop the charges, offered Smith a sweetheart deal—testify against Holton and receive a reduced sentence. Smith, facing multiple life sentences if convicted, decided to take the deal.

“Smith had originally planned on putting on an alibi defense before agreeing to testify against Holton,” explained Miller. “Holton received three consecutive life sentences while Smith received time served. This is just another reason to trust science over testimony in a case where the witness has everything to gain.”

IPF called on the State Attorney’s office to work with them to see that justice is done. “We have exonerative DNA evidence, and it is our hope that the State will partner with us to bring an end to Mr. Holton’s wrongful incarceration,” said Miller.

The Innocence Project of Florida (IPF) is a 501(c)(3) organization dedicated to finding and freeing innocent people in Florida prisons. IPF and Jacksonville criminal defense attorney William Sheppard represented Billy Joe Holton to obtain his DNA testing and continue to represent him to achieve his release from prison.

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Visit IPF's Website here; sign up to volunteer here; contribute to our work here.

Wrongfully incarcerated, recently exonerated Brevard resident William Dillon to address public for the first time this Saturday

Brevard resident William Dillon, who served over 27 years for a crime he did not commit, will make his first address to the public since his exoneration in November 2008, joining the Innocence Project of Florida (IPF) on stage at the Gleason Center, Florida Tech campus, 6:00pm, Saturday, March 7, 2009 at the 5th Annual Progressive Celebration hosted by the Space Coast Progressive Alliance and co-sponsored by WFIT 89.5FM.

Dillon will join IPF Assistant Director Toni Shrewsbury during an award ceremony recognizing the work that IPF has done since their inception in 2003, resulting in the release of ten wrongfully incarcerated Floridians who, through DNA testing, were proven factually innocent of the crimes for which they were convicted. In addition to obtaining the freedom of these individuals, IPF's work has resulted in widespread recognition of the need to reform the state criminal justice system, where fundamental problems have been identified in the areas of eyewitness identification, false confessions, evidence preservation, crime lab oversight, access to DNA testing, and exoneree compensation. IPF has received over 2000 inquiries/requests for assistance in proving the innocence of individuals currently incarcerated.

Dillon's 27 years in jail represent the longest time served by any of the 232 individuals exonerated nationwide as a result of DNA test results. Dillon was exonerated when his innocence of a 1981 murder was proved by DNA evidence that came as a result of a 2007 motion filed by IPF and attorney Mike Pirolo. Dillon was subsequently released November 18, 2008.

The state's case against Dillon was based largely on the testimony of an admitted perjurer who had a sexual liaison with the case's lead investigator during the investigation, a fraudulent dog scent expert, a partially blind eyewitness and an individual whose own charges in a rape case were dropped in exchange for his testimony, which included numerous details at odds with known facts in the case.

Both Dillon and Shrewsbury will be joining Progressive Celebration attendees at a pre-event reception greeting Bob Edgar, President and CEO of Common Cause, a 400,000 member nonprofit, nonpartisan citizen lobby for reforms that make government at all levels more open, honest, and accountable, and re-engages citizens with civic responsibility. Edgar will then keynote the celebration with a talk addressing the challenges facing the Obama administration in meeting its promises for education, health care and energy policy. Edgar will specifically address key reforms that have taken hold in other states and how such reforms can be pursued in Florida. Celebration attendees will have the opportunity to question Edgar about Fair Districting, public campaign financing, and other fundamental reforms directed toward government accountability and the campaign/election process. Edgar's talk will follow a live music performance by Evan Greer, RiotFolk musician, performing original songs of citizen empowerment, sustainability and social justice. Concerned citizens of all ages are invited and urged to attend.

Doors open at 6pm to the event, which benefits both WFIT 89.5FM, a public radio station serving South Brevard and Indian River County, and the Space Coast Progressive Alliance, a local grassroots citizen lobby for progressive public policies.

Tickets are available from WFIT 89.5FM (321-674-8950 or www.wfit.org).

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Event Info
5th Annual Progressive Celebration
an evening of inspiration and information
hosted by Space Coast Progressive Alliance
co-sponsored by WFIT 89.5 FM

Saturday, March 7, 2009 on campus, Florida Institute of Technology, 150 W University Blvd, Melbourne FL 32901

5-6:30pm - Pre-event Party, Meet & Greet Reception in Hartley Room, Student Union Building. Limited attendance, tickets required.
6:00pm - Doors open at Gleason Performing Arts Center for Progressive Celebration
6:15pm - Live Music with Evan Greer, RiotFolk Music Collective
7:00pm - Welcome and Award Presentation to Innocence Project of Florida, followed by keynote speech by Bob Edgar, President & CEO of Common Cause
Presentation title: "The Audacity of Hope vs. Pay-to-Play Politics: Obama's Challenge
8:45pm - Edgar book signing, progressive information tabling, music resumes

Tickets available from WFIT (online at wfit.org or call 321-674-8950)
$20 advance / $25 at the door, if available
$10 students
$60 tickets

MEDIA welcome with press credentials/identity.

MORE EVENT INFO HERE

CONTACTS
ALL AVAILABLE FOR INTERVIEW

Innocence Project of Florida Assistant Director Toni Shrewsbury: 850-561-6767 or tshrewsbury@floridainnocence.org

Common Cause: Mary Boyle, VP Communications, via Mike Surrusco 202-736-5788 or msurrusco@commoncause.org, or John Briscoe, VP Development, 202-841-4507 or jbriscoe@commoncause.org

Common Cause Florida: Alex Chavez, 941-706-1877 or 941-737-1447, achavez@commoncause.org

Evan Greer, RiotFolk Musician: respectyourmama@gmail.com or evangreer@gmail.com or 978-852-6457

Local event co-chair: Cammie Donaldson, 321-917-1960 or cammiedonaldson@earthlink.net
Local event co-chair & pre-event reception chair: Susan Martin, 321-773-1276 or zulu2@cfl.rr.

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Space Coast Progressive Alliance (SCPA) is a Florida nonprofit corporation supported by membership dues, donations, and event ticket sales. Nonpartisan by strongly progressive and politically active, SCPA encourages citizen engagement in the political process and seeks to advance progressive public policy at the local, state and national level. Click here to visit their website.