Tune In: Exonerees on Dr. Phil and America’s Most Wanted

Illinois exoneree Dean Cage will appear on “Dr. Phil” tomorrow, March 11, in a third installment about wrongful convictions.  The host will be checking in with Cage and the victim who misidentified him over a decade ago.  She first identified Cage as her attacker after the police department created a sketch of the perpetrator and then brought Cage to a grocery store so the victim could identify him.  Officers then conducted another lineup at the police station, where the victim identified Cage by the sound of his voice. The show united them on-air last month for the first time since he was wrongfully convicted of a rape he didn’t commit in 1986.  Cage, an Innocence Project client, spent nearly 12 years in prison and was exonerated on May 27, 2008. “Dr. Phil” is a syndicated program; please check your local listings for the station and time.

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For more information on the “Dr. Phil” program,

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New York exoneree Steven Barnes will be featured on “America’s Most Wanted” this Saturday, March 13.  The program focuses on searching for the real perpetrator in the rape and murder of Kimberly Simon, for which Barnes was wrongfully convicted in 1989. His conviction was the result of eyewitness misidentification and unvalidated forensic science.  The supervising criminalist testified that she conducted a photographic overlay of Simon’s jeans and an imprint on Barnes’ truck and determined the patterns were similar. She also testified that two hairs collected from the truck were similar to the victim’s hairs.  The lab compared soil samples taken from his vehicle with dirt samples from the crime scene a year after the murder and stated that they had similar characteristics.  Fabric print analysis, microscopic hair analysis and soil comparison and have not been scientifically validated. Represented by the Innocence Project, Barnes was exonerated 20 years later on January 9, 2009.  The segment will include interviews with Barnes and his mother, details about his exoneration and information about the unsolved crime.  “Americas Most Wanted” airs Saturday night at 9 p.m. on FOX.

Read more about Steven Barnes case here

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For more information on the program,

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Eyewitness misidentification is the single greatest cause of wrongful convictions nationwide, playing a role in more than 75% of convictions overturned through DNA testing.

Learn about eyewitness identification reform here

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Unvalidated or improper forensic science is a leading cause of wrongful convictions. In approximately 50% of the DNA exonerations nationwide, unvalidated or improper forensic science contributed to the underlying wrongful conviction.

Learn about unvalidated or improper forensic science here

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