In an article written for the San Jose Mercury News, retired judge LaDoris Cordell writes about her experience with wrongful conviction. Bobby Herrera was 17 years old when he appeared in Cordell’s courtroom charged with murder. Faced with a possible…
The California State Bar has charged Santa Clara deputy district attorney Troy Benson with five counts of misconduct, including suppressing evidence and then lying to cover it up. The charges stem from a 2006 child molestation case in which Benson…
Advocates who want more protections against wrongful convictions are supporting legislation in New York making it harder to put innocent people behind bars. New York advocates are seeking to reform eyewitness identification procedures and require videotaping of all interrogations. These…
A new study conducted by the University of Michigan Law School and the Center for Wrongful Convictions at Northwestern Law School reports that more than 2,000 people have been wrongly convicted since 1989. The new archive lists 873 exonerated defendants…
Del Norte County District Attorney, Jon Alexander, is being investigated by the California State Bar for violating several rules of professional conduct. Alexander allegedly took a $6,000 loan from a defense attorney and then dismissed a case being handled by…
A New York appeals court called for a hearing into whether death threats against David Lou’s defense attorney during his 1992 murder trial caused Lou to receive ineffective assistance of counsel. Lou was convicted in 1992 of the shooting death…
After more than three decades, law enforcement is starting to implement the recommendations of more than 3,000 scientific studies, according to Gary Wells of Iowa State University who has been studying eyewitness identification problems for 35 years. According to a…
Dallas County District Attorney Craig Watkins has become a leader, not only in Texas but nationally, in the effort to exonerate wrongfully convicted prisoners. Watkins was elected District Attorney in 2006 with only 51% of the vote. He had lost…
Join NCIP at our May 9th Breakfast Briefing about Eyewitness Identification Reforms. A distinguished panel of law enforcement officers and prosecutors will discuss best practices and reform efforts in California. Don’t miss this important discussion! Register here: http://bit.ly/Jf7yVH www.ncip.scu.edu
In the aftermath of the wrongful rape conviction of Joe Jones and the mounting evidence that eyewitness misidentification is a widespread cause of wrongful conviction, the Topeka Police Department has instituted new policies for eyewitness identification. “Eyewitness identification has for…
