Category Archives: Events

From the Salt Lake Tribune:

Call it “Out of Jailhouse Rock.”

Five musicians who were sent to prison for crimes they didn’t commit — later exonerated and freed — will perform together at a Sunday benefit concert in Salt Lake City.

Produced by local musician Kate MacLeod, the unusual fundraiser will benefit the Rocky Mountain Innocence Center, a local nonprofit organization working to correct and prevent the wrongful conviction of innocent people in Utah, Nevada and Wyoming.

“Despite the challenges of the years taken from these musicians by a system, their spirits prevailed, and the music takes on an urgency that makes their performances especially vital,” MacLeod said. “Their musicianship often exceeds the quality of more famous touring musicians, taking the audience by surprise Continue reading →

From the Salt Lake Tribune:

The group of musicians performing at the Rose Wagner Performing Arts Center June 10 not only share a love for music but also share a similar life experience.

The band members all spent years in prison for crimes they did not commit and were later exonerated and freed by DNA evidence. They will play to benefit the Rocky Mountain Innocence Center, which works to exonerate people wrongly convicted of crimes.

“This is a very special group of musicians. Their stories are amazing, and they absolutely bring down the house with their original songs and soulful performances,” MacLeod said. “I am excited to bring them to my home town.”

The musicians include Eddie Lowery, Raymond Towler, Darby Tillis, William Dillon and Antione Day.

Squatters Pub will host a pre-concert party.

The concert will help raise money for Utah’s Rocky Mountain Innocence Center, which is based in Salt Lake City and investigates innocence claims in Utah, Nevada and Wyoming using DNA tests, or non-DNA cases with old-fashioned detective work. The nonprofit receives about 20 requests from inmates claiming innocence each month.

This is me speaking today about the international innocence movement to the Constitutional Tribunal of the Republic Poland (Constitutional Court is highest court, equivalent of U.S. Supreme Court, on constitutional matters) and lawyers and judges from the Warsaw area.  Seated at the center of the table is the moderater, Wojciech Hermelinski, one of the 15 justices.

I’ll post some in the coming weeks about my experiences in Poland.  Among those posts will be a highlight of the excellent work being done by Maria Ejchart and the Innocence Clinic in Warsaw, connected to local law schools and supported by the Helsinki Foundation.  I’ll also comment about the reactions of some prosecutors and judges to the movement in Poland….

Now it’s off the Czech Republic for 3 speeches in 2 days……

Courtesy of Professor Makoto Ibusuki (Seijo University, Japan).

There will be an international conference on investigative interviewing in May in Toronto, Canada, hosted by a worldwide network for investigative interviewing professionals (iIIRG).  Details here.

A masterclass will be held on 22^nd and 23^rd of May, which will focus on suspect interviewing Continue reading →