Friday roundup

It’s time for this week’s roundup of news on wrongful convictions and forensic science we missed this week. It was a busy week for the Innocence Project – with

Steven Phillips cleared in Dallas

, rogue medical examiner

Steven Hayne fired

in Mississippi and a

joint filing for DNA testing in Austin

on behalf of a man in prison and the family of a murder victim – so there’s a lot to cover:

Evidence preservation was in the public eye and on the radio this week:

Innocence Project Policy Analyst Rebecca Brown told Oregon Public Radio that states in the Northwest U.S. are lacking in guidelines for law enforcement evidence preservation, which can help exonerate the innocent and solve cold cases.

Listen here

.

USA Today ran a

front page story

on the state of evidence preservation around the country, and a

Las Vegas Sun editorial today

called on Nevada lawmakers to pass an evidence preservation law.

View our map

to see what your state does with crime scene evidence.

Our colleagues around the country are busy as well. This week, the Mid-Atlantic Innocence Project, an

Innocence Network

member, announced that their client

Aaron Michael Howard was released

from prison after serving nearly 20 years for a murder he didn’t commit.

The group is also working with state officials to

review thousands of cases

in which DNA evidence could be tested on appeal. And a feature checked in with students at the

University of British Columbia Law School Innocence Project

.

The causes of wrongful conviction continue to be examined by experts, the press and the public. An In These Times article focused on the role of

snitch testimony in wrongful death sentences

and a

new book asks if bad science is corrupting criminal justice

.