Friday Roundup: A Big Week

It was a big week for freedom. On Wednesday,

Kenneth Ireland

was freed in Connecticut. On Thursday, three Virginia men were pardoned, and today Innocence Project client

Ernest Sonnier

walked out of a Texas courtroom a free man for the first time in 23 years.

The three sailors pardoned yesterday in the Norfolk Four case

were also freed from prison today

.

Time Magazine

and

CNN

investigated the questionable science behind dog scent evidence, and

Florida exoneree Bill Dillon discussed the role of a police dog in his wrongful conviction on Detroit’s WCSX radio

.

A new interview with Anthony Steel

surfaced on the web this week

, two years after his death. Steel spent spent more than two decades in a British prison for murder before evidence of his innocence led to his release. He never spoke publicly about the case while alive.

The Detroit Metro Times ran a feature this week on Deshawn and Marvin Reed

, who were freed from prison after eight years with the help of the new University of Michigan Innocence Clinic.

A hearing is set for Monday for a judge to review DNA test results in the case of Tommy Arthur

, who is on Alabama’s death row for a crime he says he didn’t commit.

Innocence Project Policy Director Stephen Saloom spoke with the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette about

the need for improvements in evidence handling and preservation

.