Friday Roundup: DNA Evidence, Arson and Identification

The Texas Forensic Science Commission met in Dallas today to discuss its investigation into the conviction and execution of Cameron Todd Willingham. In the end,

the panel planned another meeting

for November to question arson experts on details of the case.

Read today’s live tweets for details on the meeting.

A new article in Texas Monthly

highlights how prosecutorial misconduct played a major role in a Texas man’s 1992 murder conviction and death sentence. 

The Innocence Project of Florida filed papers last week

calling for the release of a man

who has served 17 years in prison for a rape DNA now shows he didn’t commit.

The Connecticut Supreme Court recently ruled 4-3 to uphold a lower court’s decision

to exclude testimony from an eyewitness identification expert

. A review of cases handled by the Maryland Office of the Public Defender Innocence Project over the last decade determined that

the majority of post-conviction investigations were stalled by missing or destroyed evidence

.

John Grisham, who sits on the Innocence Project Board of Directors,

spoke to a full house at Wake Forest University

about wrongful convictions and the North Carolina Innocence Inquiry Commission on Tuesday.

A new book about modern racial profiling written by award-winning investigative reporter Joseph Collum

comes out today

.

Dennis Maher, who served nearly twenty years in prison for a crime he did not commit before DNA evidence proved his innocence,

was the featured speaker

at today’s reception following this year’s interfaith Red Mass in Portland, Maine.