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…
Texas Solicitor General Jonathan Mitchell told a nine-member panel of the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals that death row inmate Hank Skinner’s request for DNA testing that could exonerate him was a “frivolous” attempt to delay his execution. Skinner, 50,…
CBS aired a piece last night about NCIP exoneree Maurice Caldwell and the need for law enforcement to use best practices in their eyewitness identification procedures. This could help reduce the number of wrongful convictions like Maurice’s. To watch the…
Robert Dewey, 51, was freed last week after a joint motion to reverse his conviction was granted by a Mesa County, Colorado judge. A re-examination of DNA evidence in the rape and murder case exonerated Dewey and pointed to another…
James Curtis Williams and Raymond Jackson were released last Monday after being wrongfully convicted in a 30-year-old rape and shooting. Williams and Jackson had been convicted of aggravated sexual assault in 1983 but were exonerated through DNA testing. Judge Susan…
Fingerprint analysis, once thought of as a gold standard of forensic science, is coming under increasing scrutiny by scientific experts. In 2004, neuroscientist Itiel Dror studied the process of fingerprint analysis. Dror argues that even competent experts can be swayed…
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…
Veritas researchers found that from 2004-2008, Arizona courts found prosecutorial misconduct in 20 cases. Fifteen of the cases were deemed harmless, meaning the court ruled the misconduct would not have affected the outcome of the case. Only three prosecutors were…
Frank O’Connell, incarcerated the last 27 years for a murder he always maintained he didn’t commit, will likely be released from prison after a judge granted him bail last Friday. O’Connell, 54, a former Glendora High School football star, always…
