There was never any physical evidence linking Kevin Harrington or George Clark to the 2002 killing of Michael Martin, but both were convicted of the murder. Now, after long journeys through a hostile criminal justice system, both men have been freed.They've entered a...
Wrongful Convictions
Bad forensic evidence convicted him. Now he’s out on parole.
Joe Bryan has not been exonerated, but there is good reason to believe he was wrongfully convicted of the 1985 murder of his wife, Mickey. Bryan was convicted twice despite having been at a conference 120 miles away at the time of the murder. He has served 33 years in...
Mistaken eyewitness IDs occurred in nearly 70% of exonerations
According to U.S. Supreme Court Justice Sonia Sotomayor, evidence from eyewitnesses is "a unique threat to the fairness of trial." She cited research that found eyewitness misidentifications to be the "single greatest cause" of wrongful convictions in the United...
‘Perfect storm’ of injustice overturned in wrongful conviction
"Theophalis Wilson, you are free to go," said a Philadelphia judge recently. She was releasing a man who has been exonerated of the three 1989 killings he was convicted of as a teenager.According to the Philadelphia District Attorney's Office, the case was a "perfect...
What should prosecutors do when they know an officer lies?
It's a controversial subject, but we live in a harsh world. Some police officers lie. Some have a documented history of misconduct, including lying or other acts that call their truthfulness into question. If they do, this history should be available to the defense so...
Wisconsin woman says she was railroaded into arson conviction
In February 2013, a house in the small town of Quincy, Wisconsin, burned nearly to the ground. Its owner was Brenda Jones, a 51-year-old woman with cancer. She was legally disabled and disability insurance was her only source of income. She wasn't home at the time of...
Genetic genealogy database leads to exoneration of Idaho man
We've discussed on this blog how genealogy databases like GEDmatch warehouse the DNA results of huge numbers of people who have taken part in genetic testing for genealogy purposes.GEDmatch and similar databases collect DNA profiles from 23andMe, Ancestry.com and...
Forensic overstatements a leading cause of false convictions
Time and again on this blog, we've discussed the serious -- sometimes fundamental -- problems with many forensic science techniques. We've mentioned the 2009 National Academy of Sciences and 2016 President's Council of Advisors on Science and Technology reports that...
2018’s exonerees lost 1,639 years to wrongful convictions
According to the National Registry of Exonerations' annual report, 151 people were exonerated in the U.S. in 2018. Together, they spent 1,639 years behind bars for crimes they didn't commit -- an average of about 11 years each.Unfortunately, that was a record. The...
SCOTUS: Can prosecutors withhold evidence before guilty pleas?
In 1963, the U.S. Supreme Court held in Brady v. Maryland that police and prosecutors are legally bound to turn over so-called "exculpatory" evidence to the defense before trial. Exculpatory evidence is most anything favorable to the defense. It can be evidence that...