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U.S. Court of Appeals ruling extends prosecutorial immunity

A prosecutor’s Brady obligation to disclose exculpatory evidence remains until a case is final even if the prosecutor is no longer the lead attorney. The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit ruled on February 28 that this and … Continue reading

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Let’s Talk About FINGERPRINTS

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Fingerprints, more technically known as “friction ridge analysis”, have been around for well over 100 years; at least since Francis Galton published his seminal work simply titled “Finger Prints” in London in 1892.  In fact, fingerprints are still analyzed according … Continue reading

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New Brady Decision from SCOTUS Today….

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The United States Supreme Court decided a new Brady case today, Wetzel v. Lambert, 565 U.S. ___ (2012), which might be relevant to innocence lawyers litigating the failure of the state to disclose impeachment material.  In Lambert, SCOTUS overturned the 3rd Circuit’s … Continue reading

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The SBS Wars

SBS – Shaken Baby Syndrome SBS (now officially renamed Abusive Head Trauma – AHT – by the American Academy of Pediatrics) is defined as a condition in infants and small children characterized by a combination of three symptoms: 1)  Subdural … Continue reading

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Wrongful Conviction in a Financial Crimes Case?

It appears there may have been a wrongful conviction in a U.S. federal financial crimes case involving a Goldman Sachs computer programmer.  You don’t see claims of wrongful conviction too often in financial crime cases.  The 2nd Circuit federal appellate … Continue reading

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The (Sorry) State of Forensics in the US [and perhaps the world]

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In 2009, The National Academies of Science of the United States published it’s Congressionally commissioned report:  “Strengthening Forensic Science in the United States – A Path Forward.”  Chapter 5 of the report presents a review of a number of forensic … Continue reading

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Japan: DNA Mistake and Possible Retrial in Mainali’s Case?

Mainali was convicted and is serving time in Japan for a 1997 robbery-murder. His lawyers have recently submitted proof that the DNA samples taken from the murder victim’s clothes do not in fact match Mainali’s. Mainali has consistently protested his … Continue reading

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The First Latin American Conference on Innocence Work to Take Place July 5th and 6th in Santiago, Chile

The movement to free the innocent is coming to Latin America.  Currently there are efforts to establish projects in Argentina, Bolivia, Chile, and Puerto Rico. Join us for the inaugural Inter-American conference on Innocence Projects, to be held July 5 … Continue reading

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Tipping Point: Is America finally saying no to prosecutorial overreach?

This week Texas Supreme Court Chief Justice Wallace Jefferson ordered a special “court of inquiry” into former Williamson County District Attorney Ken Anderson’s alleged misconduct in his prosecution of Michael Morton, proven innocent of murdering his wife after he served … Continue reading

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Trial by Jury: Is It About Time for Nigeria?

Nigeria’s adversarial justice system, pitches the prosecutor against the defense, in a fierce evidential ‘duel’ as to the guilt or otherwise of an accused person. That leaves a stand-alone bench to determine – on the basis of the weight of … Continue reading

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Innocence Project Founded in Taiwan on Dec.17, 2011

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Prof. Wang Jaw-Perng On Dec. 17, 2011, National Taiwan University law professor Wang Jaw-Perng and three local attorneys announced the establishment of Taiwan Innocence Project. Besides the above-mentioned four initiators, 33 people working in the fields of culture, medicine, religion and social … Continue reading

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American Indian Injustice

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American Indian reservations are, to a certain extent, a world unto themselves. Tribal councils, rather than the U.S. government or state governments, generally control what happens on America’s 300-plus reservations on which many native Americans still live. But not when … Continue reading

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Singapore: DNA-testing Mistake

In January 2012, the Singapore Attorney General’s Chambers (AGC) issued a media release acknowledging the occurence of faulty DNA-testing at the Health Sciences Authority. This has led to public debate on post-conviction DNA-testing. While the governmental agencies involved have proactively … Continue reading

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New Zealand considers alternatives to jury trial

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The Law Commission of New Zealand have announce an online public consultation looking at alternatives to the jury trial: Alternative models for prosecuting and trying criminal cases.  Some of the ‘alternatives’ posited include lone judges sitting with ‘semi-professional’ jurors. Some … Continue reading

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New Wrongful Convictions Textbook….

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. …Congrats to contributing editor Justin Brooks on the publication of his new textbook on Wrongful Convictions…..details and ordering information here.  Surprisingly, I believe this is the first textbook on the subject…

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Forensic Odontologists Finally Begin to Take First Steps to Introduce Science into their Field

In the wake of the (US) National Academy of Sciences report on the state of forensics in the US, the field of “forensic odontology” is apparently responding.  Forensic odontology can be classified as one of the most questionable of forensic … Continue reading

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The Conviction Integrity Unit: Refining the Model

Since 1992, the Innocence Project—by identifying and reversing wrongful convictions—has been a watchdog for the U.S. criminal justice system. In light of nearly 300 wrongful convictions, should the justice system create its own self-correcting process? New York County District Attorney … Continue reading