Pennsylvania Innocence Project Calls for Philadelphia Case Review

One week after a Philadelphia judge dismissed the murder convictions of two men serving life sentences because of problems with the eyewitness testimony, the

Pennsylvania Innocence Project

wants Philadelphia prosecutors to launch an internal review of cases with similar innocence claims. The Associated Press reported that last week’s double dismissal capped off a year of overturned murder convictions, including one death sentence.

“ ‘I think there was just a really great pressure at that time to clear cases,’ said Marissa Boyers Bluestine, legal director of the Pennsylvania Innocence Project. ‘Now, there’s certainly pressure to clear cases, but I think there’s a much greater appreciation for clearing cases with the right guy.’ ”

Although reforms have been put into place to safeguard the justice system, Bluestine said more should be done to fix the injustices of the past.

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