Is prosecutor unfairly targeting the Innocence Project?

Northwestern University's Innocence Project has helped free 11 men who were wrongly convicted. It's actually a class in the journalism school there. Students reinvestigate cases where they believe someone might have been sent to prison for something they didn't do, then present their results. The project's work has been very influential. Back in 2000, Illinois' then-Gov. George Ryan put a hold on the state's executions based largely on their reporting.

But they've hit a snag with their latest investigation. Cook County's prosecutor has agree to reopen the case against a convicted murderer, but he's seeking notes and information about the Innocence Project that goes beyond what they post online. He wants the students' grades, off-the-record interviews, emails, etc. The school is fighting the subpoena, and because Illinois has a shield law for journalists, they have a fighting chance of succeeding.

The prosecutor says he wants all of this background to make sure the students didn't have a bias -- that they weren't simply trying to prove the man innocent, even if he wasn't, because they simply wanted a good grade. Their instructor says that's beyond the point -- he says the project's findings are merely a starting point. The prosecutor still has to go back and interview the same people they did.

Hat Tip: Many thanks, Keith G in PV!

Two wrongly convicted men set free in Texas

Claude Simmons Jr., 54, and Christopher Scott, 39, were serving life senteces for the 1997 Dallas murder of Alfonso Aguilar. That is until Alonzo Hardy, 49, confessed to the crime last summer.

Simmons and Scott, who were convicted 12 years ago of capital murder, were set free today.

| Bob Cronkleton

N.C. jails wrong man for 1 week

Jesse Ray Hardy Jr. of Greenville was thrown in jail for a week because he has the same name and hometown of a man wanted by the law. Only Hardy is 44, and the police were looking for a 21-year-old. They eventually freed him, but he didn't have a way home. Instead of, you know, DRIVING him there, the court took up a collection of $58 for a bus ticket and dinner at Hardee's. Mmm, Hardee's.

For pity's sake, don't get arrested in Dallas

Meet Richard Miles, who was sentenced to 40 years for a 1994 murder and shooting. He's about to be released, though, after his advocates learned that police failed to turn over evidence that could have helped clear him. He'll be the sixth man in two years to be freed in Dallas County because of authorities withholding evidence. This is on top of the many, many men who've been exonerated thanks to new DNA tests in Dallas County.

$287K grant for local Innocence Project

From Tony Rizzo: A federal justice grant of more than $287,000 has been awarded to the Midwestern Innocence Project. The non-profit organization covers a six-state region and said it will use most of the money to pay for two full-time paralegals over a two-year period.

New Texas law making millionaires out of those wrongly convicted

The new compensation law provides DNA exonerees $80,000 for every year they spent in prison. There is also lifetime annuity payments that for most are worth between $40,000 and $50,000 a year.

The compensation includes social services such as job training, tuition credits and access to medical and dental treatment.

| Bob Cronkleton

26 years later, judge overturns Cali man's conviction

The Los Angeles Times has a piece here about Bruce Lisker, who was convicted of his adoptive mother's 1983 murder. Following a newspaper investigation, though, a judge has ruled that Lisker was sent away on false evidence. And his original lawyer wasn't effective either. Lisker had confessed a couple of times -- but the judge believes they were attempts to get paroled because he didn't provide details from the crime. It isn't clear if the authorities will seek another trial.

Hat Tip: Many thanks, Keith G in PV!

(AP Photo/Robert Durelll)

Exonerated man sues MO county, former sheriff

Josh Kezer spent about 16 years in prison for the murder of Angela Mischelle Lawless -- a crime that he didn't commit. He was freed back in February after a court decided that, not only was evidence hidden from the defense, new information undermined the case against him, the Southeast Missourian reports.

Now? He's suing Scott County, as well as the former sheriff and one of his deputies, saying they acted in bad faith and withheld evidence. (The sheriff and deputy now have a process-server business.) It's not clear how much he's seeking. But the county's insurance is good for $2.4 million.

The other intesting bit here? The plaintiffs won't say why their suit didn't include Kenny Hulshof, who acted as prosecutor in the original trial.

From The AP: Former inmate Joshua Kezer, 34, right, talks with Scott County Sheriff Rick Walter after being released Wednesday, Feb. 18, 2009, from the Jefferson City Correctional Center in Jefferson City, Mo. Kezer had been imprisoned in 1992 for the murder of a college student. In 2006, Walter reopened the case.

Dog sends innocent man to prison for 26 years

John Preston and his scent-tracking dog were supposed to be "infallible." I guess "untrustworthy" might have been a better adjective. More here from Reason's Hit & Run blog.

Hat Tip: Many thanks, Keith G in PV!

I'm sorry we ruined your life, pal -- here's $200K

An Illinois man, 30, has been cleared of a murder after spending something like 17 years in prison. That's right -- he was sentenced to prison at age 13. Now, prosecutors say somebody else did it. As a parting gift, the state will pay him $200K.

Should this man be compensated?

In Florida, a man named William Dillon spent 27 years in prison after he was wrongly convicted for murder. The state, however, won't be paying him anything for his trouble. One of their rules states that recipients can't have any other convictions on their record, and Dillon does.

Was Dale Helmig really guilty?

Dale Helmig is serving a life sentence in Cameron for the murder of his mother, Norma, who was pulled from the Osage River back in 1993, a cinder block tied to her body. This weekend, "America's Most Wanted" is going to devote their entire hour to his case -- because they believe that he didn't kill his mother. This is another case that Kenny Hulshof prosecuted, and Helmig's supporters argue that it wasn't fair to him.

But, prosecutors went a step further: they elicited testimony from Missouri State Trooper Robert Westfall that contradicted his own written report:

Mr. Hulshof: Sir…did Dale Helmig ever deny killing Norma Helmig to you?

Trooper Westfall: No, sir, he did not.

That statement, according to Westfall’s own report, was wrong, and the defense never challenged it.

Critics also say that investigators ignored another, more logical suspect, and they say Helmig's trial attorney didn't do a good job defending him.

More here at TV Barn ...

DNA frees yet another person wrongly convicted in Dallas

This is No. 21. Jerry Lee Evans has spent about 23 years in prison for a sexual assault that he didn't commit.

Some people just belong behind bars

Laura Bauer has a good story this morning about inmates who insist on DNA tests to prove their innocence ... only to learn the tests have confirmed they are, in fact, guilty. Loved this quote:

“We’re obviously not going to put out a press release when we ask for DNA tests for somebody and it comes back nailing them,” said Rob Warden, executive director of the Center on Wrongful Convictions at Chicago’s Northwestern University School of Law. “It’s not news when the criminal justice system operates the way it’s supposed to.”

DNA clears Connecticut man who was behind bars for 20 years

For allegedly killing his pregnant girlfriend.

Ted White

Mark Morris has more about the case of Ted White, a Lee's Summit man who spent five years behind bars for a crime that he didn't commit. He won a $16 million lawsuit against a former LS police detective, Richard McKinley:

He contended that McKinley conspired to violate his right to a fair trial by hiding his affair with White’s then-wife and not producing a child’s diary that could have contained important evidence.

Now? The judge has ordered McKinley to pay another $1.57 million in legal fees and expenses to White's attorneys.

Is one year of wrongful incarceration worth $25K? $80K?

The AP has a piece here about Texas and how it treats prisoners who were wrongly convicted. Right now, they get about $25K for every year of incarceration, but they say they go through the money very quickly because they can't get jobs. (Partly because they don't have job skills or socialization, partly because of their past records.) A group of them have got a lawyer, and they're pushing the legislature to up the payment to $80K per year.

Wrongly convicted man freed after 27 years -- and is immediately hit by taxi

Story is from the UK.

Hat Tip: Many thanks, Keith G in PV!

How much can we trust eyewitnesses?

"60 Minutes" had a piece last night about the case of Ronald Cotton, who was convicted after a rape victim positively identified him in a police lineup. Only he didn't do it. (In face, a second related victim did NOT pick him out of a lineup, but the jury never heard that.)

It took 11 years before DNA tests showed a different man was responsible for the rapes. From the victim, Jennifer Thompson-Cannino:

"The minute he forgave me, it's like my heart physically started to heal. And I thought, 'This is what grace and mercy is all about. This is what they teach you in church that none of us ever get.' And here was this man that I had hated.

"I mean, I used to pray every day of my life during those eleven years that he would die. That he would be raped in prison and someone would kill him in prison. That was my prayer to God. And here was this man who with grace and mercy just forgave me," Thompson told Stahl. "How wrong I was, and how good he is."

The two of them have actually written about their case, "Picking Cotton." The back half of the "60 Minutes" story consists of psychologists and other experts explaining why it's so easy to make this kind of mistake. The report says something like 75 percent of the wrongly convicted in America had previously been ID'd by eyewitnesses.

More on the case from "Frontline." And Cotton and Thompson-Cannino did a segment for NPR's "This I Believe" -- theirs is about forgiveness.

Hat Tip: Many thanks, Mikeybackwards and Keith G in PV!

Wrongly convicted man's life is perfect!

Uh, actually ... CNN interviews Tim Masters, a Colorado man who was wrongly convicted in 1999 and freed just last year. (Never mind that he's actually been a suspect since 1987, when the murder occurred.) Masters says he's struggling to stay afloat financially, and that's not counting the bitterness and paranoia. Snip:

CNN: You spent some prime years of your life -- late 20s, early 30s -- in jail for a crime you didn't commit. What do you think you missed most by not being a free man in those years?

Masters: There's so much. Right off the top, I'd say having a family. I think they're very much responsible for me not having a family right now, a wife and kids. But it goes back further than just them arresting me. It goes all the way back to my high school days when they labeled me a murder suspect among all my peers and my teachers and everything. It goes back a long time.

Think about that: This case has haunted him most of his life. And even though he's a free man, he's never going to be free of that.   

Joshua Kezer

From Midtown Miscreant, who served time himself, to the Missouri man who was recently freed from a wrongful conviction:

In a few weeks, once Kezer has had his fill of food and whatever else he missed for 17 years, reality is going to set in. Reality is not your friend.

The reality is he will find it near impossible to find a job. The market is flooded with square-world folk who have never so much as jaywalked. A guy like me with a criminal history will never win out over someone equally qualified sans a criminal history. I can't say that is an unfair fact of life, it isn't, it's just a fact. Even though Kezer was found to be innocent, he has a 17-year lapse, no work history, 17 years where he didn't exist. Good luck with that.

Sheriff Rick Walter

Over the last few days, we've had a few stories about Josh Kezer, a Missouri man who was wrongly convicted of murdering a woman near Cape back in the early 90s. One of the people who helped push for a reinvestigation was Sheriff Rick Walter -- ironically, one of the first people to find the victim's body all those years ago.

This AP piece says that Walter's actions were fairly uncommon. Law enforcement, as a rule, doesn't usually dig much into old cases where there might have been a false conviction.

Joshua Kezer's first day out

The Southeast Missourian has a story here about Joshua Kezer, a wrongly convicted man who was set free yesterday. In the video clip, he describes himself as "happily terrified." Snip:

"You know what's absolutely insane? We can stop at any point on this road, and I can get out if I want," Kezer said while riding in the backseat of a Ford Expedition rented by the Williamses.

(One interesting sidebar from the article: Kezer is friends with Ryan Ferguson, a Columbia man serving time for the murder of a Tribune sports editor. Ferguson, too, is fighting to have his conviction overturned.)

UPDATE: Wrongly convicted man freed in MO

From The AP:

A southeast Missouri man who spent half of his life in prison for the 1992 slaying of a college student was to be released today after a prosecutor said there was no way to get enough evidence to retry the case.

Cole County Circuit Judge Richard Callahan ruled Tuesday that Joshua Kezer, who was 17 at the time of the crime, was wrongly convicted in the death of 19-year-old Angela Mischelle Lawless. She was found in her car on the Interstate 55 exit ramp near Benton, Mo., with the motor still running.

Callahan ordered that Kezer — convicted of second-degree murder and sentenced to 60 years — be set free from the Jefferson City Correctional Center within 10 days, unless Scott County prosecutor Paul Boyd seeks a retrial.

Judge says MO man was wrongly convicted

And -- just as big -- accused former prosecutor Kenny Hulshof of withholding evidence from defense attorneys representing Joshua Kezer, who was wrongly convicted of a college student's murder about 15 years ago. The Southeast Missourian has been doggedly following this story for months. Snip:

"There is little about this case which recommends our criminal justice system. The system failed in the investigative and charging stage, it failed at trial, it failed at post-trial review and it failed during the appellate process," Callahan said.

Callahan ordered that Kezer be set free from the Jefferson City Correctional Center within 10 days, unless Scott County Prosecutor Paul Boyd seeks a retrial. Boyd did not immediately respond to a request for comment Tuesday.

Be sure to read the whole thing. It's pretty amazing, the weight of how much bad evidence there was. There's a gob of related material at the Missourian's site.

Ben Poston, now a Milwaukee Journal Sentinel reporter, did some important writing about the case early on. You can view it at his blog here.

Or better yet, read Poston's new piece here ...