Investigative Reporter Dies

Pete Shellem, a longtime investigative reporter for the Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, Patriot-News died unexpectedly over the weekend. Shellem covered countless wrongful conviction cases during his career and helped bring to light evidence of innocence that set at least four people free.

"He is a one-man Innocence Project,’’  Former Pennsylvania Attorney General Ernie Preate Jr., who was once investigated for fraud by Shellem, told American Journalism Review for a 2007 story. “The idea that a single, solitary newspaper reporter can accomplish all this is a remarkable story."

Shellem will be missed by people all over the country who work to overturn and prevent wrongful convictions, and by those whose lives are impacted by injustice. He is survived by a wife and two sons.

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. (Patriot-News, 10/26/09)