Evidence preservation in Alabama raises more questions about death row case

Posted: August 19, 2008 12:45 pm

After years of denying DNA testing to Thomas Arthur, who faces execution for a murder he says he didn’t commit, Alabama’s Attorney General now claims that the evidence in the case is missing. Last week the Innocence Project wrote a letter to Gov. Bob Riley calling on him to intervene with a thorough search and inventory of all the agencies that may have been in possession of the evidence at some time.

The Tuscaloosa News reports that there are individual agencies in Alabama that have procedures and protocols for preserving evidence, filling the gap left by lack of a state law and providing plenty of places to look for evidence in Arthur’s case.

Although Alabama has no criminal statute that specifically addresses the issue, Rules of Appellate Procedure authorized by the state Supreme Court require circuit clerks to keep all evidence used during a trial and an index in the court file indicating where the evidence is stored.

Individual law enforcement agencies also have taken matters into their own hands.

Investigators with the Tuscaloosa County Metro Homicide Unit document any pieces of evidence they collect, and document what it is and where it was collected before handing it over to the department's evidence custodian. The custodian enters the evidence into a computer, then prints a bar code and uses it to tag the evidence. Using this system, the custodian is able to find out where a piece of evidence is stored, when it is moved and when it is turned over to the court system.

The Innocence Project maintains that the state Attorney General’s office has not conducted a thorough search for evidence in Arthur’s case. In an affidavit filed several weeks ago, the Attorney General’s office said it started looking for the evidence just six months ago – even though Arthur first requested DNA testing six years ago. The Attorney General’s office made a couple of phone calls to ask agencies if they had the evidence, then deemed it “missing” based on those phone calls. Apparently, no attempt has been made to find documentation of the evidence whereabouts or to access the index described in the Tuscaloosa News’ reporting.

Read the Tuscaloosa News article.

Read more about Thomas Arthur’s case.

Does your state have a law on evidence preservation? Find out on our interactive map.

Tags: Alabama, Evidence Preservation, Access to DNA Testing, Tommy Arthur

 

Texas State Forensic Science Commission to review case of possible wrongful execution

Posted: August 18, 2008 5:00 pm

The Texas State Forensic Science Commission agreed Friday to investigate possible negligence or misconduct in the Cameron Todd Willingham case. Willingham was executed in 2004 for allegedly murdering his three young children by setting his Corsicana home on fire in 1991. An independent panel of arson experts subsequently found that the fire was not arson. In May 2006, the Innocence Project formally submitted a request to the Commission to review arson convictions statewide—particularly in the Willingham case. The Commission’s investigation marks the first time that a state has reviewed a possible wrongful execution.

Read the Houston Chronicle article about the investigation here.
Read the Associated Press article here.
Read additional coverage here and here.

Tags: Texas

 

The week in review

Posted: August 15, 2008 11:07 am

It was a big week for reform. Follow the links below for stories this week on measures, meetings and commentary around the country aimed at preventing future injustice. Meanwhile, prosecutors in Florida and Alabama spoke out against defendants seeking to prove their innocence, and a Mississippi man got a trial date for murders that sent two innocent men to prison for 15 years each.

In Texas today, the Innocence Project is calling on the state Forensic Science Commission to investigate the case of Cameron Todd Willingham, who was executed for three murders he said he didn’t commit, and Ernest Willis, who was convicted on the same faulty arson science as Willingham and later freed. The Texas Court of Criminal Appeals also held the first meeting of its new Criminal Justice Integrity Unit. The blog Grits for Breakfast reports on the meeting here.
 
Prosecutors and law enforcement officers were in a “tug-of-war” this week over control of a new crime lab in Orange County, California. A DNA exoneration in Orange County highlighted the need for independent crime labs, after the prosecutor unsuccessfully pressed forensic analysts to alter their reports on testing that exonerated a wrongfully convicted man.

The New York Times’ Adam Liptak questioned why expert testimony in criminal trials must come from the opposing sides of the courtroom – a practice fairly unique in the world. Two op-eds argued that funding for defense experts would level the playing field for defendants.

Evidence preservation continued to garner headlines this week, a Reno column today says “the cause of justice must be upheld and preserved. And this means preservation of physical evidence.”

Canada’s highest court affirmed the exoneration of an Ontario man and pointed to the “frailties of eyewitness identification.”

Defendants and prosecutors in Alabama and Florida continued to stand at odds this week. William Dillon’s lawyers in Florida said prosecutors were delaying meetings to keep their innocent client in prison, and the prosecutor responded by saying “File your damn motions and stop being a cry baby.” The Attorney General of Alabama called on the State Supreme Court of lift its stay of Tommy Arthur’s execution, saying the stay was “wrong as a matter of law and fact.” The Innocence Project has consulted with Arthur’s attorneys on the case, and Innocence Project supporters continued this week to send emails to Alabama Gov. Bob Riley urging him to order DNA testing in Arthur’s case.

Justin Albert Johnson is set for trial in Mississippi on September 8 for the murders of two three-year-old girls in the early 1990s. Innocence Project clients Kennedy Brewer and Levon Brooks each spent 15 years in prison for these murders – Brewer was on death row – before they were exonerated earlier this year.
 

Tags: Kennedy Brewer

 

Op-eds: Fairness in forensics

Posted: August 14, 2008 5:40 pm

In an article Slate.com this week, forensic expert Roger Koppl and Reason Magazine editor Radley Balko lay out a list of reforms needed to improve the fairness of forensic science in American courtrooms.

And an op-ed in the Olympia, WA Olympian by Koppl and forensic expert Dan Krane argues that defendants should have the right  – and funding – to hire their own forensic experts to analyze evidence used in their trials.

In today's "CSI" world, forensic scientists, like the television character Gil Grissom, may have overtaken lawyers as the most influential players in courtroom dramas. The evidence they analyze and present as part of the prosecution team is often the deciding factor in whether a defendant is found guilty or innocent.

But research indicates that forensic evidence is often flawed. So, in fairness, defendants should have a right to forensic expertise, just as they have a right to an attorney.… The right to forensic expertise also would create the kind of checks and balances that will improve forensics. Here is how: In most criminal cases one side or the other will want the forensic evidence reviewed. That side will have an incentive to document forensic science's shortcomings and bring them to the attention of the court whenever it is strategically appropriate. Slowly, case by case, the system will improve.

Read the full op-ed here. (Olympian, 08/12/08)

Read more about forensic oversight here.

Tags: Crime Lab Oversight

 

Virginia DNA tests point to real perpetrator and could clear a wrongful conviction

Posted: August 13, 2008 1:10 pm

New DNA tests could posthumously exonerate Curtis Jasper Moore, who was convicted in 1978 of killing and raping an 88-year-old Virginia woman three years earlier. Moore, who suffered from schizophrenia, was committed to a state mental hospital for three years, until he was released when his conviction was overturned on appeal due to law enforcement officers’ failure to properly advise Moore of his rights before interrogating him. Prosecutors never retried him. Moore died of natural causes four years ago.

New DNA tests, conducted as part of a thorough review of hundreds of Virginia cases in which DNA testing could overturn wrongful convictions, have pointed to the involvement of another man, Thomas Pope, Jr., who has now been arrested and charged with rape and murder in connection with the case.

Moore was arrested shortly after the crime in 1975 after police received complaints about his “suspicious behavior.” Three police officers questioned Moore for some time, promising that he could go home if he told them what had happened at the murder scene. Police brought Moore to the victim’s home, and he allegedly made statements incriminating himself in the crime. A federal court reviewed the record and determined that Moore’s conviction, based on illegally-obtained admissions of guilt, must be vacated.

A Virginia spokesperson said the state is reinvestigating the crime to determine if Moore may have had a role.

Read more:

Richmond Times-Dispatch: New DNA test leads to arrest in ’75 rape, slaying (8/12/08)

Richmond Times-Dispatch: Man not cleared despite DNA test (8/13/08)

The ongoing review of hundreds of DNA cases in Virginia was ordered over two years ago by then-Gov. Mark Warner. The process has its roots in the 2002 exoneration of Innocence Project client Marvin Anderson. After officials declared that evidence in Anderson’s case had been destroyed, samples of evidence were found preserved in the notebook of a lab technician, along with samples from hundreds of other cases. After DNA testing on this evidence led to the exonerations of Anderson and two other men (Julius Earl Ruffin in 2003 and Arthur Lee Whitfield in 2004), the Innocence Project urged officials to conduct a broader review of cases. Gov. Warner ordered a review of a 10 percent sample of the 300-plus cases in which the technician had saved evidence. Two more men (Phillip Thurman and Willie Davidson) were proven innocent by this review and Gov. Warner ordered a systematic review of all convictions with biological evidence.

The review came under fire last year for not moving quickly enough because testing had not been completed on even 30 cases. The Washington Post now reports that lab workers have gone through 534,000 case files and sent thousands of relevant samples for testing. 

Last week, Virginia officials announced that they would notify defendants by certified mail if biological material was found in their file, rather than using pro bono attorneys to track down and contact the defendants.

Tags: Virginia, False Confessions

 

Robert McClendon freed in Ohio

Posted: August 13, 2008 1:06 pm

After 18 years in prison for a rape he didn’t commit, Robert McClendon was freed Monday night due to DNA evidence of his innocence. McClendon’s attorneys at the Ohio Innocence Project said they expected prosecutors to formally drop charges within two weeks. Testing in his case was obtained as part of a joint project between the Columbus Dispatch and the Ohio Innocence Project. An Ohio lab provided DNA testing pro bono.

News coverage of McClendon’s release:

NBC4 Columbus, Ohio – with photos and video: McClendon’s first taste of freedom

Columbus Dispatch: Hello freedom: Robert McClendon rejoins his family as a free man

Five-part Columbus Dispatch Investigation: Test of Convictions

Associated Press: Judge frees convicted Ohio rapist after DNA test

 

Today at 5 pm ET - live radio interview with Innocence Project Policy Director

Posted: August 12, 2008 4:19 pm

Listen online today at 5 pm ET as Innocence Project Policy Director Stephen Saloom joins host Al Butler on Philadelphia’s WURD AM900.

Click here to listen online, and call 866-361-0900 to ask Stephen a question.
 

 

Fourth anniversary of Florida exoneration

Posted: August 12, 2008 4:05 pm

When Wilton Dedge was arrested for a December 1981 rape, he weighed 125 pounds and stood at 5’5” — not at all like the tall, muscular, 160-pound man the victim had originally described to the police. Despite the mismatched between her description and Dedge, she identified him as her attacker. Due to the misidentification and other unreliable evidence, Dedge would serve 22 years for a crime he didn’t commit. Finally exonerated on August 11, 2004, he marks the fourth anniversary of his exoneration today.

Dedge’s case underscores not only the fallibility of eyewitness identification, but also the importance of granting access to DNA testing when it can prove innocence and overturn a wrongful conviction. Once the tests are conducted, state laws must also ensure that the new evidence can be heard in court.

It took Dedge five years to obtain access to the DNA testing that proved his innocence, but then It took three more years for his release. Prosecutors argued that the test results were not permissible in court because they had been obtained before a new DNA access law was in place. According to the law, they argued, he had proven his innocence too early.

Seven states still don’t have a law guaranteeing inmate access to postconviction DNA testing—meaning more inmates could suffer the same injustices as Dedge. Click here to learn if your state allows access to testing.

Help us ensure DNA access for inmates across the country by signing our petition for DNA testing access today.

Dedge’s case is featured in the award-winning documentary “After Innocence.” Buy a copy of the film today from Amazon.com (a portion of proceeds benefits the Innocence Project) or rent it from Netflix.

Other exoneration anniversaries this week:

Thursday: Gary Dotson, Illinois (Served 10  years, Exonerated 08/14/89 )
Roy Criner, Texas (Served 10 years, Exonerated 08/15/2000)

Friday: Eduardo Velasquez, Massachusetts (Served 12.5 years, Exonerated 08/15/01)
 

 

Tags: Roy Criner, Wilton Dedge, Gary Dotson, Eduardo Velasquez

 

Ohio man to be released tonight

Posted: August 11, 2008 5:10 pm

Robert McClendon will be released from prison this evening in Ohio after DNA tests proved he didn’t commit the rape he was convicted of in 1991 according to news reports. McClendon served 18 years in prison before a joint investigation by the Columbus Dispatch and the Ohio Innocence Project identified his case as a candidate for DNA testing. He first filed for testing in 2004, but never got a decision from the judge.

An Ohio lab agreed to conduct DNA testing pro bono in 30 cases identified by the Ohio Innocence Project and the Dispatch. McClendon’s is the first case to end with test results, and the results exonerated him. He is represented by the Ohio Innocence Project, a member of the Innocence Network.

He was granted a new trial today by a Franklin County judge, who agreed for him to be released on his own recognizance. Prosecutors will now decide whether to retry McClendon or dismiss charges against him, which would officially exonerate him.

Read the full story here.

Read the Dispatch’s five-part series “Test of Convictions” here.

 

The role of race in misidentification

Posted: August 11, 2008 4:02 pm

Social science research has shown that eyewitness misidentifications are more likely to happen when the perpetrator and witness are of different racial backgrounds. And statistics on the 218 wrongful convictions overturned by DNA testing to date support the evidence. More than one-third of these wrongful convictions were caused by a cross-racial identification.



Jennifer Thompson-Cannino (above) knows first-hand how a misidentification can happen. When an African-American attacker broke into her home and raped her in 1984, she made a conscious effort to note the perpetrator’s features so she could identify him later. Thompson-Cannino, who is white, helped police draw up a composite sketch, and then she viewed photographs and identified Ronald Cotton as the rapist. She told the jury she was certain, and Cotton was sentenced to life. But she was wrong.

DNA testing exonerated Cotton after he had served more than a decade in prison. Eyewitness misidentification played a role in more than three-quarters of wrongful convictions overturned by DNA testing, and Thompson-Cannino and Cotton now travel the country telling audiences how it can happen. And she has written a book with Cotton, scheduled for release early next year, about wrongful convictions and their unusual partnership to address the causes of this injustice and reforms to prevent it from happening again.

Read an Associated Press Sunday feature story on cross-racial identifications here.

Read more about Thompson-Cannino and Cotton here.

Tags: Ronald Cotton, Eyewitness Identification, Eyewitness Misidentification