USA Today: DNA tests fuel urgency to free the innocent

Charles Chatman is adjusting to his newfound freedom after 27 years in the Texas prison system. Each of the six rooms in his new apartment – including the bathroom – is bigger than his prison cell. Last month, he traveled to Washington last month to join Innocence Project Co-Director Peter Neufeld in calling for better federal support for DNA testing and oversight of crime labs. Now, he is thinking about going to college.

A USA Today article today chronicles Chatman’s case and examines the role of the innocence movement nationwide in reshaping America’s criminal justice system. 

As DNA technology and investigations identify a mounting number of wrongful convictions, the urgency to find others like Chatman is increasing. From Virginia to California, local prosecutors, law students and defense attorneys are combing through hundreds of thousands of old files in search of flawed convictions.

 


Read the full story here

. (USA Today, 2/19/08)

Read more about Chatman’s case here

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