Author name: tdhiland

According to a new study recently published by the RAND Corporation,  just providing an indigent defendant a lawyer is not enough to “obtain justice”. The issues that directly affect the outcome include: whether the lawyer assigned is screened for quality, whether they are trained to handle the client’s type of case, and whether they are paid […]

After spending 25 years in prison for a crime he did not commit, Michael Morton was exonerated last month in Texas through the use of DNA evidence. In their attempt to prove Mr. Morton’s innocence, attorneys found evidence in court records that the prosecutor from his original trial had withheld critical evidence that may have helped Mr.

Bob Bartels, faculty advisor for the Arizona Justice Project, takes the important issue of post-conviction review to the United States Supreme Court. – Question Presented: Whether a defendant in a state criminal case – who cannot raise an ineffective assistance of trial counsel claim (IATC) on direct appeal but must wait to raise it on

Below, you’ll find an interactive resource courtesy of the Innocence Project in New York about the causes of wrongful convictions: The Innocence Project has also released a chart on the DNA exonerations that have occurred throughout the nation in which convictions were obtained involving unvalidated or improper forensic testing. Read more about 166 of the first 225 DNA

Relying on Scientific Research on Memory and Identification, Court Says Standard Set by U.S. Supreme Court 30 Years Ago Must Be Revised Contact:  Paul Cates, 212-364-5346, cell 917-566-1294, pcates@innocenceproject.org (Trenton, NJ – August 24, 2011) — Today the New Jersey Supreme Court issued a landmark decision requiring major changes in the way courts are required

A story about Californian Herman Atkins and his exoneration after serving a decade of his 47 year sentence. He was convicted in 1988 even though two witnesses gave inconsistent identifications at trial. Herman’s case is one that is featured in the documentary After Innocence (2005). Read more about the case here.

A case out of Ohio gaining national attention is looking at reliability of testimony of experts in ‘shaken-baby syndrome’ cases and of ‘short-fall’ injuries.  Read more about the case here.

A second-degree murder charge has been withdrawn against an Ontario woman who spent more than 13 years in prison for the death of her toddler son following the faulty testimony of disgraced pathologist Charles Smith. The Crown told an Ontario justice Tuesday it does not wish to proceed with a new trial against 38-year-old Tammy Marquardt

Part One: Conviction Questioned They were dead before their bodies hit the ground. In the moonlight, the gunman stood over the two of them and delivered one more shot for each, right in the temple. It was 1962, and the area was still pure desert, creosote bushes and scrub grass that ran all the way

For all media inquiries please contact: Lindsay Herf • Arizona Justice Project  Lindsay.Herf@asu.edu For Immediate Release December 22, 2010 DNA Testing Proves Gilbert Man’s Innocence in 2003 Rape Phoenix, AZ – DNA testing proves that Arizona Justice Project client John Watkins did not commit the 2003 Gilbert rape for which he has served more than