Join Us in Congratulating Our Recent Exonerees

10.03.14

To mark yesterday’s first international Wrongful Conviction Day, the Innocence Project asked our online community members to take a minute to congratulate our two recent exonerees – Nathan Brown and Michelle Murphy – and send them best wishes for their future. Thanks to the many online supporters who took part by writing email messages to Nathan and Michelle. We know that they’ll be really excited to get them!

 

It’s not too late to send your message of support if you haven’t already. You can read a paragraph about each case below, then click the link to go to our Action Center, where you can send your message.

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Michelle Murphy was exonerated last month of the murder of her infant son based on new DNA evidence and other previously undisclosed evidence pointing to her innocence. Michelle was just 17 at the time of the murder and woke up one morning to any mother’s worst nightmare: Her 15-week-old son murdered in the kitchen of their apartment. That nightmare only became worse when police accused her of the crime, conducting a long interrogation while she was still in shock and coercing her into a false confession that she had killed her own son by accident after a confrontation with a neighbor. Michelle was exonerated last month after crime scene evidence identified blood from an unknown male just below blood from the victim on a curtain separating the kitchen and living room. Michelle’s lawyers also learned that the prosecution had falsely implied to the jury that blood recovered from the scene matched Michelle’s blood type.

 


Join us in congratulating Michelle on her exoneration and sending her best wishes for her future!

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When a white woman was attacked by a black man in Nathan Brown’s apartment complex, a security guard directed police to Nathan’s apartment, even though the victim stated she didn’t think her attacker lived in the complex. Although just minutes after the attack, police found Nathan in his bedroom wearing pajamas, rocking his young daughter to sleep, he was made to participate in a one-on-one “show-up,” a highly-suggestive identification procedure in which a single suspect is presented to the witness. The victim identified him as her assailant and Nathan was convicted and sentenced to 25 years for attempted rape, despite the fact that four of Nathan’s relatives testified at trial that he had been home with them at the time of the crime. Nathan was exonerated in June after DNA testing of the victim’s clothing uncovered the DNA of a black male with a felony record who was 17 and living within blocks of the complex when the crime occurred.

 


Join us in congratulating Nathan on his exoneration and sending him best wishes for his future!

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If you’d like to receive future actions like this in your email on the day we send them,

sign up for our online community email list here

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