by Aaron Aguas-Rao
On April 7, nearly 600 exonerees and innocence advocates descended upon San Antonio, Texas for the 2016 Annual Innocence Network Conference. Among them were a contingent of 13 NCIP attorneys, staff and exonerees, whose considerable involvement was felt throughout the three-day event.
NCIP Legal Director Linda Starr speaks at the Innocence Network Conference. Photo: Jaclyn Gioiosa
The conference is the largest annual gathering of innocence advocates in the world. It is a unique opportunity for attorneys, forensic scientists, exonerees, and other advocates to come together, compare strategies, and share knowledge.
For professionals, the conference offered sessions on investigation, conviction integrity units, forensics such as DNA and fingerprints, and several in-depth workshops about race and its impact on innocence work.
NCIP staff and attorneys presented, moderated, and spoke on panels for many of the sessions. Legal Director Linda Starr spoke on several panels, sharing information about utilizing experts in cases, working with pro bono partners and optimizing an innocence clinic. Policy Director Lucy Salcido Carter planned and moderated a panel about conviction review units, and Assistant Legal Director Maitreya Badami and Linda Starr spoke on a panel about issues around child sexual assault cases.
NCIP Policy Director Lucy Salcido Carter presents at the Innocence Network conference. Photo: Jaclyn Gioiosa
As one presenter analogized, “innocence work is often like the game Chutes and Ladders: a few good steps forward, followed by a quick tumble down.” Hearing stories of how others have dealt with the tumbles can often help someone else put a case on the right path.
For exonerees, the conference offered multiple sessions where they could openly talk about their experiences. Such sessions are extremely powerful for new exonerees, who are just learning to share their experience and find their place in the world. One long-time exoneree expressed that becoming an activist in the innocence movement helped her make peace with her wrongful conviction. She noted that people are finally listening to her story, unlike when she was first accused, and her ability to speak about her experiences has been a way for her to find some meaning to all that happened to her.
During an evening program, the nearly 130 exonerees in attendance were welcomed to the stage. As the audience’s applause came to a close, the final number was projected on the screen – these exonerees had spent 2,351 years wrongfully imprisoned. The moment served as a celebration of their freedom, an acknowledgment of all they had endured – and a reminder that there is still much work to do.
Exonerations in February, March and April 2016*
In the three-month period between February and April 2016, 19 people in 11 states were exonerated. The following is a list of their cases taken from the National Registry of Exonerations.
Darryl Pinkins
State: IN
Date of Exoneration: 4/22/2016
In 1991, Darryl Pinkins was convicted of rape and robbery in Lake County, Indiana and sentenced to 65 years in prison. He was exonerated in April 2016 by DNA tests that excluded him from involvement in the crime.
Eddie Bolden
State: IL
Date of Exoneration: 4/19/2016
In 1996, Eddie Bolden was convicted of two murders and an attempted murder and sentenced to life in prison without parole. He was exonerated in 2016 when witnesses testified Bolden was inside a nearby restaurant at the time of the shootings.
Antonio West
State: F-IL
Date of Exoneration: 4/12/2016
In 2013, Antonio West, a mentally disabled man from Chicago with an IQ of 73, was sentenced to 15 years in federal prison for possessing a rifle that belonged to his dead father. In 2016, his conviction was dismissed because the trial judge excluded expert evidence on West’s mental disabilities.
Keith Harward
State: VA
Date of Exoneration: 4/7/2016
In 1986, Keith Harward, a member of the U.S. Navy, was convicted of murder and rape and sentenced to life in prison in Newport News, Virginia. He was exonerated in 2016 by DNA tests which identified the real criminal who by then was deceased.
Mario Casciaro
State: IL
Date of Exoneration: 3/30/2016
In 2013, Mario Casciaro was sentenced to 26 years in prison for murder in McHenry County, Illinois. In 2014, the chief witness against him recanted; in 2016, the murder conviction was vacated and the case was dismissed. (Photo of Mario Casciaro by Sarah Hader/Northwest Herald)
G’Cobra Smith
State: TX
Date of Exoneration: 3/28/2016
In November 2014, 17-year-old g’Cobra Smith pled guilty to attempted possession of liquid codeine and was sentenced to 180 days in jail. He was exonerated in 2016 after lab tests were negative for any controlled substance.
Clarissa Glenn
State: IL
Date of Exoneration: 3/23/2016
In 2005, Clarissa Glenn and her husband Ben Baker pled guilty to possession of cocaine in Chicago. She was sentenced to probation and he to four years in prison. They were exonerated in 2016 after a police officer who framed them was sent to prison.
Randolph Williams
State: NY
Date of Exoneration: 3/15/2016
In 2008, Randolph Williams was sentenced to 25 years to life in prison for a murder in Brooklyn, New York. He was acquitted at a retrial in 2016 after witnesses admitted they were coerced by police to falsely identify Williams as the gunman.
Heidi Haischer
State: F-NV
Date of Exoneration: 3/14/2016
In 2012, Heidi Haischer was convicted of conspiracy and fraud for signing fraudulent mortgage loan documents and was sentenced to 15 months in prison. She was acquitted at a retrial in 2016 based on evidence that her boyfriend refused to take her to get medical treatment for severe injuries until she signed the documents.
Johnny Adams
State: TX
Date of Exoneration: 3/11/2016
In 2009, 52-year-old Johnny Adams pled guilty to possession of cocaine and was sentenced to 90 days in jail in Harris County, Texas. He was exonerated in 2016 based on a lab test that found no illegal drugs in the material seized from him.
Andre Hatchett
State: NY
Date of Exoneration: 3/10/2016
In 1992, Andre Hatchett was convicted in Brooklyn, New York, of second-degree murder and sentenced to 25 years to life in prison. He was exonerated in 2016 following investigations by the Innocence Project and the Brooklyn District Attorney’s Conviction Review Unit.
Yassin Yusuf
State: F-TN
Date of Exoneration: 3/10/2016
In 2012, Idris Fahra, Andrew Kayachith and Yassin Yusuf were convicted in federal court in Nashville, Tennessee, of sex trafficking a 13-year-old girl. The convictions were vacated and dismissed because the girl was at least 18 – too old for the sex trafficking statute, and her testimony was questioned as false.
Jerome Petty
State: TX
Date of Exoneration: 3/4/2016
In April 2009, 33-year-old Jerome Petty pled guilty to possession of cocaine and was sentenced to 90 days in jail in Harris County, Texas. He was exonerated in 2016 based on lab tests that found no controlled substance
Joseph Crochon
State: TX
Date of Exoneration: 2/25/2016
In 2014, 60-year-old Joseph Crochon pled guilty to possession of cocaine in Houston, Texas and was sentenced to 30 days in jail. He was exonerated in 2016 after a lab test on the seized substance was negative for cocaine.
Vanessa Gathers
State: NY
Date of Exoneration: 2/23/2016
In 1998, Vanessa Gathers was sentenced to 5 to 15 years in prison for manslaughter in Brooklyn, New York. She was exonerated in 2016 after the Brooklyn District Attorney’s Conviction Review Unit concluded she had falsely confessed to disgraced former detective Louis Scarcella.
Derrick Bunkley
State: MI
Date of Exoneration: 2/19/2016
In 2014, Derrick Bunkley was sentenced to 17 to 32 years in prison for an attempted murder in Detroit, Michigan. He was exonerated in 2016 when cell phone records showed he was miles away at the time of the crime.
Luther Jones, Jr.
State: CA
Date of Exoneration: 2/17/2016
In 1998, in Lake County, California, Luther Jones, Jr. was sentenced to 27 years in prison for sexually assaulting his ex-girlfriend’s 10-year-old daughter. He was exonerated in 2016 when the complainant admitted that her mother forced her to lie about the assault in order to keep Jones from getting custody of a child he and the mother had together.
Timothy Bridges
State: NC
Date of Exoneration: 2/16/2016
In 1991, Timothy Bridges was convicted of rape in Charlotte, North Carolina, based on erroneous hair analysis and sentenced to life in prison. He was exonerated in 2016 after DNA tests on a jacket found at the scene excluded him from the crime.
Gene Graham
State: OK
Date of Exoneration: 2/5/2016
In 2012, Gene Graham was sentenced to 13 years in prison for fondling an eight-year-old girl in a swimming pool. The conviction was reversed because he was not allowed to present evidence in his defense, and the case was dismissed in 2016.
Source: http://www.law.umich.edu/special/exoneration/Pages/featured.aspx
