Media
Welcome to our media center. Browse news, videos, and articles.
News
Wrongfully Imprisoned 29 Years, Stanley Wrice Wins Second Chance
After maintaining his innocence for 29 years, an Illinois man has earned the right to a hearing on his actual innocence claim. Stanley Wrice was convicted in 1982 after falsely confessing to Chicago Police for a brutal sexual assault. Wrice’s case is set to be heard before the Illinois Supreme Court. Read more about the
Scientific Advances Cloud Past Arson Cases
A recent Pittsburgh Tribune-Review article published states that advances in arson investigation could now make past evidence outdated, and because of this, several convictions in Pennsylvania are now being challenged. Currently, questionable arson convictions are also under review in other states including Texas, Massachusetts, and here in Arizona. From the article:
Justice: Prosecute Prosecutors?
In Virginia, Bennett Barbour served countless years on a sentence for a rape conviction that was based on eyewitness testimony, the least reliable of all the forms of evidence used in courts today. The police learned that, through testing of DNA material, Mr. Barbour was excluded as being the perpetrator in this
Man Wins Supreme Court Appeal For New Trial
In a ruling by the U.S. Supreme Court, a Louisiana man has won the right to a new trial after a major Brady Rule violation in his case has come to light. Juan Smith was convicted with for an armed robbery in which only one piece of evidence was used to
Death Sentence in Delaware Overturned
A man is once again free after serving 20 years on Delaware’s Death Row. Jermaine Wright’s sentence was overturned after his attorneys proved that, even with a videotaped confession, the evidence against him was not sufficient enough to prove beyond a reasonable doubt that Mr. Wright was indeed guilty. According to an article in
Perry v. New Hampshire and Eyewitness Testimony
In a case that was recently argued before the Supreme Court, questions have arisen regarding the reliability of eyewitness testimony. In Perry v. New Hampshire, the State Supreme Court ruled that a trial judge “cannot exclude witness identification based on suggestive circumstances, unless there was improper police manipulation of the
Videos
Articles
Bitten by Experts via The Intercept
An article in the The Intercept takes a detailed look at the flawed science of bite mark analysis and the case of Bill Richards, a California man who was convicted in 1997 of murdering his wife, Pamela. […] As numerous cases like Richards’ have emerged over the years, some odontologists
The Arizona Justice Project and Amazon Smile
What is Amazon Smile? It is another way you can help the Arizona Justice Project! To Join: http://smile.amazon.com/
The staggering number of wrongful convictions in America
Picture: Susan Mellen is exonerated of murder by Superior Court Judge Mark Arnold in Torrance, Calif. At right, her attorney Deirdre O’Connor. (Brad Graverson/Associated Press) Sam Gross, the editor of the Registry, reflects on wrongful convictions in an Oped: ” We can do better, of course — for misdemeanors, for
Hurry Up and Wait for Justice: The Struggles of Innocent Prisoners
By Lorenzo Johnson When people hear about wrongfully convicted prisoners, they often ask why these individuals end up spending so much time in prison before they are exonerated. For the wrongfully convicted, the judicial system has failed twice – once in winning the wrongful conviction, but also in intentionally delaying
A high-ranking Obama official just called for the “eradication” of bite mark evidence
By Radley Balko This week, the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) is sponsoring a conference in Arlington, Va., called the “International Symposium on Forensic Science Error Management – Detection, Measurement and Mitigation.” NIST is the government agency that’s attempting to carve out some standards and best practices for the
This Friday – Scottsdale Center for the Performing Arts – Carlos Arzate and the Kind Souls
We hope you can join us this Friday at the Scottsdale Center for the Performing Arts to see Carlos Arzate and the Kind Souls play. As you may know, Carlos Arzate wrote a powerful song about Louis Taylor after Louis’s release and Lesley Hoyt-Croft created an incredibly moving music video