Friday Roundup: Wrongful Conviction to be Overturned, New DNA Evidence and Prosecutorial Misconduct

09.24.10


A deaf man who has spent a decade in prison after being convicted of sexually assaulting a child is expected to be cleared of the crime at a hearing next Monday

. Although a fingerprint found at the crime scene matched a convicted sex offender, police were confident in their conviction.

Two years after Tim Masters was exonerated of a 1999 murder by DNA evidence,

new DNA evidence found in the case sparks hope in finding the real perpetrator

.

Ronald Cotton and Jennifer Thompson’s memoir, “Picking Cotton,” based on Thompson’s rape in 1984, in which she later misidentified Cotton as her attacker,

will be adapted into a film by Broadway director Kenny Leon of “Raisin in the Sun.”


A Michigan prosecutor has proposed changing the state’s court rules to prevent prisoners from presenting new evidence of their innocence after the first anniversary of their conviction

.




According to court records in Iowa,

prosecutorial misconduct in felony cases has resulted in reduced sentences, new trials and one acquittal

, despite judges saying it’s unusual for attorneys to mess up.

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