Leading Mississippi Newspaper Supports Investigation of Steven Hayne

The Hattiesburg American published an editorial Sunday in support of the Innocence Project’s efforts to investigate misconduct by Mississippi pathologist Steven Hayne. The Innocence Project has called upon Mississippi state authorities to comply with Public Records Act requests for information on Hayne, who contributed to the wrongful convictions of Kennedy Brewer and Levon Brooks.

Even if it means that all of the cases that Hayne and West worked on come under review, the investigation should advance. Even if it costs thousands of dollars and thousands of hours, it will be worth it if even one person wrongly convicted is freed or wins a new trial.

Read the full editorial here.

(Hattiesburg American, 03/09/08)

The Innocence Project has sent letters to the state crime lab director and 22 district attorneys around the state in an effort to uncover information that might lead to additional evidence of wrongful convictions. Hayne conducts 80% of all criminal autopsies in the state and is not properly board-certified. The Innocence Project has also urged the Mississippi Department of Public Safety to fill the State Medical Examiner position that has been vacant for over a decade and provides critical oversight on the work of medical examiners in the state.

Read the Innocence Project press release here.

Read more about Brewer and Brooks cases here.