Sunday, April 20, 2025

Michelle Taylor: Florida: From our 'And justice for all?' department: "She was accused of setting a fire that killed her son for insurance money — even though the arson evidence didn’t hold up." Now, facing life in prison based on shoddy 'arson' evidence, this Florida Mother has made a deal, as Liliana Segura, a consummate reporter on America's criminal justice system, reported in 'The Intercept,' noting that: "The key arson evidence had been dismantled, with several top scientists saying that the forensics did not hold up. But prosecutors refused to drop the charges, instead giving Taylor’s lawyer a deadline. According to defense attorney John Rockwell, if she did not take a plea deal by her next court hearing, all future offers were off the table. After several sleepless nights, Taylor walked into the St. Johns County Courthouse on April 2 and entered a plea: no contest to manslaughter. “She was up there for maybe three minutes,” said Megan Wallace, Taylor’s fiercest advocate, who watched in the gallery alongside Taylor’s mother. Six-and-a-half years after the fire destroyed Taylor’s home and upended her life, the conviction happened in the blink of an eye."…But the gasoline was the only direct evidence of arson — and eventually that evidence began to fall apart. Veteran fire scientist John Lentini first raised alarm in January 2024, writing in a defense report that the gasoline findings were based on a misinterpretation of chromatographic data from a state lab that “routinely identified gasoline where it does not exist.” Lentini, who had filed a complaint against the lab nearly a decade earlier, leading to a temporary suspension of its professional accreditation, said it was the sixth case he had seen in which a person was falsely accused of arson based on the lab’s faulty gasoline analysis."


PASSAGE OF THE DAY: "On the morning of the hearing, Rockwell met Taylor, her mother, and Wallace at the courthouse in St. Augustine, where he went over the plea deal one more time. In exchange for the no-contest plea, the state had agreed to drop the arson charge at Taylor’s sentencing, which was scheduled for May 30. Seventh Judicial Circuit Court Judge Lee Smith would then have a range of sentencing options, from three to 13 years. With credit for the nearly three years Taylor spent in the local jail, Taylor could serve as little as a few months in prison. “I think she made the right decision,” Rockwell told me, reemphasizing that Taylor maintains her innocence. Now he plans to present his experts’ opinions at the sentencing hearing, where he will address the flawed forensics, the amended report, and the disturbing history of the state fire marshal’s lab. “They’re still doing the exact same thing,” he said. “Without any punishment or sanctions or anything. And that’s horrifying. Because that can affect somebody for the rest of their life."

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STORY: "Facing Life in Prison Based on Shoddy Evidence, a Florida Mother Makes a Deal," by Liliana Segura, published by The Intercept, on April 18, 2025.   (Liliana Segura is an award-winning investigative journalist covering the U.S. criminal justice system, with a longtime focus on harsh sentencing, the death penalty, and wrongful convictions. She was previously an associate editor at the Nation Magazine, where she edited a number of award-winning stories and earned a 2014 Media for a Just Society Award for her writing on prison profiteering. While at The Intercept, Segura has received the Texas Gavel Award in 2016 and the 2017 Innocence Network Journalism Award for her investigations into convictions in Arizona and Ohio. In 2019 she was honored in the Abolitionist category of the Frederick Douglass 200, a recognition given by the Frederick Douglass Family Initiatives and the Antiracist Research and Policy Center at American University. Segura has appeared on NPR, MSNBC, CNN International, Democracy Now!, and numerous other outlets. Her speaking engagements have included public interviews with authors such as Michelle Alexander and Bryan Stevenson. Her writing has appeared in the Washington Post and Colorlines, and has been reprinted in outlets ranging from prison magazines to the anthologies "The Best American Legal Writing" and "Against Equality: Prisons Will Not Protect You.” She lives in Nashville, Tennessee.")

SUB-HEADING: "Michelle Taylor was accused of setting a fire that killed her son for insurance money — even though the arson evidence didn’t hold up." 


GIST: TWO MONTHS BEFORE she was supposed to go on trial for killing her child, Michelle Taylor stood before a Florida judge and listened quietly as the prosecutor recited the allegations against her. Taylor, 41, had long insisted she was not what the state made her out to be: a mother who set fire to her home to collect insurance money, killing her 11-year-old son David in the process. Now there was proof she’d been telling the truth. The key arson evidence had been dismantled, with several top scientists saying that the forensics did not hold up.

But prosecutors refused to drop the charges, instead giving Taylor’s lawyer a deadline. According to defense attorney John Rockwell, if she did not take a plea deal by her next court hearing, all future offers were off the table. After several sleepless nights, Taylor walked into the St. Johns County Courthouse on April 2 and entered a plea: no contest to manslaughter.

“She was up there for maybe three minutes,” said Megan Wallace, Taylor’s fiercest advocate, who watched in the gallery alongside Taylor’s mother. Six-and-a-half years after the fire destroyed Taylor’s home and upended her life, the conviction happened in the blink of an eye.

The Arson Evidence Doesn’t Hold Up. Florida Is About to Convict Her for Murder Anyway.


I examined Taylor’s case in an in-depth story published by The Intercept last month. It described how she was accused of arson after escaping a nighttime fire that broke out in her St. Augustine home on October 23, 2018. Witnesses described her panic as she screamed that her son was inside, trying repeatedly to reenter the house. Taylor swore she had no idea how the fire started or why David did not make it out. The two had been watching TV in her bedroom that night, Taylor told investigators, when she heard smoke detectors go off and encountered thick black smoke outside her door. She and her 18-year-old daughter Bailey escaped through a window, Taylor said, but David turned to look for the family dog and never emerged.

Authorities became suspicious after an accelerant-detecting canine alerted in different parts of the house, prompting investigators to collect five fire debris samples from the scene. The samples were sent to the State Fire Marshal’s Bureau of Forensic Services lab, which reported three of them positive for gasoline. Subsequent samples also revealed gasoline, according to the lab — proof positive of arson. Detectives also found red flags in Taylor’s financial history, pointing to a possible motive, including evidence that she and her husband were behind in their mortgage and that she had fraudulently solicited donations from area churches.


But the gasoline was the only direct evidence of arson — and eventually that evidence began to fall apart. Veteran fire scientist John Lentini first raised alarm in January 2024, writing in a defense report that the gasoline findings were based on a misinterpretation of chromatographic data from a state lab that “routinely identified gasoline where it does not exist.” Lentini, who had filed a complaint against the lab nearly a decade earlier, leading to a temporary suspension of its professional accreditation, said it was the sixth case he had seen in which a person was falsely accused of arson based on the lab’s faulty gasoline analysis.

It was the sixth case he had seen in which a person was falsely accused of arson based on the lab’s faulty gasoline analysis.


Lentini’s report was shared with the state’s lead fire investigator, a special agent with the federal Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives, who immediately emailed it to two ATF chemists. During depositions in April 2024, those experts agreed that the data shown in his report did not show evidence of gasoline. As the case approached trial, two more forensic chemists reexamined the evidence. One looked at the lab data; another, veteran chemist Laurel Mason of Analytical Forensic Associates, examined the carbon strips used to test the fire debris samples in 2018. Like Lentini, those experts concluded that there was no evidence of gasoline.

Rockwell, a private defense attorney in Jacksonville who started representing Taylor last year, had just disclosed Mason’s analysis of the carbon strips in February when prosecutors revealed a new report of their own. The chemist who tested the fire debris samples in 2018 issued an amended lab report in the case, backtracking on her earlier findings. Of the three positive samples that first set the case into motion, only one actually contained gasoline, she wrote. In total, four fire debris samples she first said contained gasoline were changed to report no evidence of an accelerant.

Rockwell, a former prosecutor, described the amended report as “mind-blowing.” As he wrote in a subsequent court filing, the state’s report “appears to have been suspiciously back-dated” to January, to make it look like it was submitted before Mason’s expert report — a hasty attempt to rehabilitate the state’s forensic evidence in the face of his experts’ findings. “I’ve never seen that in any case in my life,” he told me.

But Rockwell also knew the danger Taylor faced if she went to trial. Although the discredited evidence severely undermined the case the state hoped to present to the jury, prosecutors did not actually have to prove how the fire started in order to win a conviction. They only had to convince jurors that Taylor had committed arson in order to collect insurance money, which they planned to do by relying on circumstantial evidence of fraud. In Florida, a guilty verdict on a first-degree felony murder charge means a mandatory life sentence. Rockwell pursued what he believed to be the least risky option for his client, negotiating the best deal possible, then convincing her to take it.

“They’re still doing the exact same thing. Without any punishment or sanctions or anything. And that’s horrifying. Because that can affect somebody for the rest of their life.”


On the morning of the hearing, Rockwell met Taylor, her mother, and Wallace at the courthouse in St. Augustine, where he went over the plea deal one more time. In exchange for the no-contest plea, the state had agreed to drop the arson charge at Taylor’s sentencing, which was scheduled for May 30. Seventh Judicial Circuit Court Judge Lee Smith would then have a range of sentencing options, from three to 13 years. With credit for the nearly three years Taylor spent in the local jail, Taylor could serve as little as a few months in prison.



“I think she made the right decision,” Rockwell told me, reemphasizing that Taylor maintains her innocence. Now he plans to present his experts’ opinions at the sentencing hearing, where he will address the flawed forensics, the amended report, and the disturbing history of the state fire marshal’s lab. “They’re still doing the exact same thing,” he said. “Without any punishment or sanctions or anything. And that’s horrifying. Because that can affect somebody for the rest of their life.”

In an email, Bryan Shorstein, executive director of the Seventh Judicial Circuit state attorney’s office, declined to comment about the plea deal “since it is still an active case.”

A spokesperson representing the fire marshal’s office declined to comment.

A week after the court hearing, Wallace accompanied Taylor to the local Dollar Tree to buy Easter supplies for Taylor’s nieces and for Wallace’s daughter. In a text, Wallace sent a photo: a neat row of pastel baskets placed high on a closet shelf, with candy and bunny ears peeking over the side.

The holidays have been painful for Taylor, who has been out on bond for almost a year. As the sentencing approaches, she worries about her mother and one of her sisters, both of whom have terminal cancer, according to Wallace. Even a short prison sentence could keep her away from them when they need her most. Meanwhile, on Facebook, a local news story about the plea deal put Taylor’s mugshot back in circulation, along with outraged comments calling her a murderer who is getting off easy.

But for now Taylor can’t worry about what other people think, only about her sentencing, where she will finally speak for herself. She is trying to hold onto hope that the judge, who has presided over her case for years, will see the case clearly, Wallace said, and believe what she has said all along: “That she’s innocent.""

The entire story can be read at: 


https://theintercept.com/2025/04/18/michelle-taylor-florida-arson-fire-plea-deal/


PUBLISHER'S NOTE:  I am monitoring this case/issue/resource. Keep your eye on the Charles Smith Blog for reports on developments. The Toronto Star, my previous employer for more than twenty incredible years, has put considerable effort into exposing the harm caused by Dr. Charles Smith and his protectors - and into pushing for reform of Ontario's forensic pediatric pathology system. The Star has a "topic"  section which focuses on recent stories related to Dr. Charles Smith. It can be found at: http://www.thestar.com/topic/charlessmith. Information on "The Charles Smith Blog Award"- and its nomination process - can be found at: http://smithforensic.blogspot.com/2011/05/charles-smith-blog-award-nominations.html Please send any comments or information on other cases and issues of interest to the readers of this blog to: hlevy15@gmail.com.  Harold Levy: Publisher: The Charles Smith Blog.

SEE BREAKDOWN OF  SOME OF THE ON-GOING INTERNATIONAL CASES (OUTSIDE OF THE CONTINENTAL USA) THAT I AM FOLLOWING ON THIS BLOG,  AT THE LINK BELOW:  HL:


https://www.blogger.com/blog/post/edit/120008354894645705/4704913685758792985


———————————————————————————————


FINAL WORD:  (Applicable to all of our wrongful conviction cases):  "Whenever there is a wrongful conviction, it exposes errors in our criminal legal system, and we hope that this case — and lessons from it — can prevent future injustices."

Lawyer Radha Natarajan:

Executive Director: New England Innocence Project;


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FINAL, FINAL WORD: "Since its inception, the Innocence Project has pushed the criminal legal system to confront and correct the laws and policies that cause and contribute to wrongful convictions.   They never shied away from the hard cases — the ones involving eyewitness identifications, confessions, and bite marks. Instead, in the course of presenting scientific evidence of innocence, they've exposed the unreliability of evidence that was, for centuries, deemed untouchable." So true!


Christina Swarns: Executive Director: The Innocence Project;

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Saturday, April 19, 2025

Barton McNeil: Illinois: Major (Unwelcome) Development: His latest attempt to overturn his decades-old conviction for killing his daughter has been denied by a trio of appellate judges on Friday. WMBS (Reporter Andy Kravetz) reports noting that: "McNeil, 65, has been serving a virtual life sentence after being convicted for the suffocation death of his daughter Christina in 1998. Since then, McNeil has maintained no wrongdoing, claiming his ex-girlfriend did it and has continued to fight for a new trial. McNeil is being represented by both the Innocence Project and the Exoneration Project. He’s battled his conviction on both the appellate court level and in the trial courts with post-conviction petitions."


PASSAGE OF THE DAY: "Following the decision, McNeil released the following statement: "Misook’s killing of my daughter has been covered up since I first dialed 911.  Innocence does not matter in McLean County, and if you are a child murdering serial killer the local criminal justice system will accommodate you at the expense of the innocent.  Folks should ask themselves what is it that Misook Nowlin was previously involved in to account for this protective umbrella that has followed her every move since getting away with my daughter’s killing?  Just as my life has been completely unjustly taken now for nearly 30-years, so too did Linda Tyda predictably pay the ultimate price for Nowlin’s child murder get away now granted more permanency."

Barton McNeil: 

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STORY: "Judges deny McNeil’s appeal in 1998 murder of his daughter," by Reporter Andy Krevetz, published  by WMBD on April 19, 2025.

GIST: " The latest attempt by Barton McNeil to overturn his decades-old conviction for killing his daughter was denied by a trio of appellate judges on Friday.


McNeil, 65, has been serving a virtual life sentence after being convicted for the suffocation death of his daughter Christina in 1998. Since then, McNeil has maintained no wrongdoing, claiming his ex-girlfriend did it and has continued to fight for a new trial.


McNeil is being represented by both the Innocence Project and the Exoneration Project. He’s battled his conviction on both the appellate court level and in the trial courts with post-conviction petitions.

It’s that last form of appeal that was denied by the judges from the 4th District Appellate Court who heard his case last month during a special “on the road” session at the Illinois State University campus.

He had asked appellate judges James Knecht, Amy Lannerd and Peter Cavanagh to overturn a Feb. 1, 2024, ruling by McLean County Circuit Judge William Yoder who said evidence that McNeil wanted to use at a possible new trial wouldn’t have been legally allowed and beyond that, it’s wasn’t likely to tip the scales at that new trial.

McNeil argued he had new evidence that could show he didn’t do it. He has consistently pointed to his ex-girlfriend Misook Nowlin, who now goes by Misook Wang, as the one who killed her. Wang was convicted and sentenced to 55 years in prison in 2013 for killing her mother-in-law.

McNeil claims Wang confessed to killing the little girl. However, the person she allegedly confessed to denied that such a statement was made, according to court records and that made things sticky.

But Yoder refused to allow what McNeil wanted, saying it wasn’t admissible. The appellate judges agreed.

In 32-page unanimous order penned by Knecht, the judges said Yoder’s analysis was on point and necessary. Also, they noted that Wang’s refusal to testify, invoking her Fifth Amendment right was not an adverse reaction.

“At the time of the evidentiary hearing, (Wang) had a pending postconviction appeal in her own criminal case. As noted by the trial court, her answers at defendant’s hearing could be used against her in future proceedings, which would include her own postconviction proceeding,” they wrote. “This fact alone provides a sufficient reason as to why (Wang) refused to testify after receiving advice from her public defender.”

The judges also noted that Wang “willingly testified at the March 1999 offer of proof hearing, even after being admonished of her right to remain silent, and when she knew defendant wanted to accuse her of C.M.’s (Christina McNeil’s) murder at his trial.”

Yoder’s ruling came in the post-conviction process. That form of appeal goes through the trial court, not the appellate court. There are three stages.

The first stage falls on a judge to “determine whether the petition is frivolous or patently without merit in that it fails to state the gist of a constitutional claim,” according to the state act outlining the process.

If the matter goes past the first stage, then a judge could appoint an attorney to help with the petition. At a third-stage hearing, a judge would hear evidence of newly discovered materials or claims of constitutional right violations that a defendant thinks would lead to a different outcome.

It’s possible that McNeil could now appeal Yoder’s decision to the Illinois Supreme Court in Springfield.

Following the decision, McNeil released the following statement:

Misook’s killing of my daughter has been covered up since I first dialed 911.  Innocence does not matter in McLean County, and if you are a child murdering serial killer the local criminal justice system will accommodate you at the expense of the innocent.  Folks should ask themselves what is it that Misook Nowlin was previously involved in to account for this protective umbrella that has followed her every move since getting away with my daughter’s killing?  Just as my life has been completely unjustly taken now for nearly 30-years, so too did Linda Tyda predictably pay the ultimate price for Nowlin’s child murder get away now granted more permanency.

Barton McNeil."

The entire story can be read at: 

https://search.app/UPxuFFuiENxZsP9T9

PUBLISHER'S NOTE:  I am monitoring this case/issue/resource. Keep your eye on the Charles Smith Blog for reports on developments. The Toronto Star, my previous employer for more than twenty incredible years, has put considerable effort into exposing the harm caused by Dr. Charles Smith and his protectors - and into pushing for reform of Ontario's forensic pediatric pathology system. The Star has a "topic"  section which focuses on recent stories related to Dr. Charles Smith. It can be found at: http://www.thestar.com/topic/charlessmith. Information on "The Charles Smith Blog Award"- and its nomination process - can be found at: http://smithforensic.blogspot.com/2011/05/charles-smith-blog-award-nominations.html Please send any comments or information on other cases and issues of interest to the readers of this blog to: hlevy15@gmail.com.  Harold Levy: Publisher: The Charles Smith Blog.

SEE BREAKDOWN OF  SOME OF THE ON-GOING INTERNATIONAL CASES (OUTSIDE OF THE CONTINENTAL USA) THAT I AM FOLLOWING ON THIS BLOG,  AT THE LINK BELOW:  HL:


https://www.blogger.com/blog/post/edit/120008354894645705/4704913685758792985


———————————————————————————————


FINAL WORD:  (Applicable to all of our wrongful conviction cases):  "Whenever there is a wrongful conviction, it exposes errors in our criminal legal system, and we hope that this case — and lessons from it — can prevent future injustices."

Lawyer Radha Natarajan:

Executive Director: New England Innocence Project;


—————————————————————————————————


FINAL, FINAL WORD: "Since its inception, the Innocence Project has pushed the criminal legal system to confront and correct the laws and policies that cause and contribute to wrongful convictions.   They never shied away from the hard cases — the ones involving eyewitness identifications, confessions, and bite marks. Instead, in the course of presenting scientific evidence of innocence, they've exposed the unreliability of evidence that was, for centuries, deemed untouchable." So true!


Christina Swarns: Executive Director: The Innocence Project;

--------------------------------------------------------------

Friday, April 18, 2025

Jamie Snow: Illinois: Major (Unwelcome) Development: An appelate court has denied his request for more evidence testing (WGLT) Reporter Ryan Denham) reports, noting that: Snow was convicted of fatally shooting gas station employee Billy Little and is serving life in prison. He’s been fighting that conviction for over 20 years. Snow took his case to the Fourth District Appellate Court for oral arguments last month in Normal, after a trial court denied his request for testing on blood and fingerprints found at the scene, plus bullets and clothing recovered from Little’s body. In a decision released Tuesday, the appellate justices upheld that decision."


PUBLISHER'S NOTE:  "WORDS TO HEED: FROM OUR POST ON KEVIN COOPER'S  APPLICATION FOR POST-CONVICTION DNA TESTING; CALIFORNIA: (Applicable wherever a state resists DNA testing): "Blogger/extraordinaire Jeff Gamso's blunt, unequivocal, unforgettable message to the powers that be in California: "JUST TEST THE FUCKING DNA." (Oh yes, Gamso raises, as he does in many of his posts, an important philosophical question: This post is headed: "What is truth, said jesting Pilate."...Says Gamso: "So what's the harm? What, exactly, are they scared of? Don't we want the truth?") 



PASSAGE OF THE DAY: "Snow was arrested eight years after the crime took place, with a case primarily built on eyewitness testimony and jailhouse informants claiming Snow admitted to killing Little. Many who identified Snow as the suspect in the 1991 robbery have since recanted their testimony or been deemed unreliable by the defense.  Snow has argued there’s no forensic evidence connecting him to Little’s murder and that more testing could point to the real killer. In an earlier round of testing, in 2009, results showed a human DNA profile in the blood matched Little and excluded Snow.  Snow and his lawyers have argued there was a struggle between Little and his killer, and that another human DNA profile could be found in the blood with more testing.


STORY: "Appellate court denies Jamie Snow's request for more evidence testing in 1991 Bloomington murder," by Reporter Ryan Denham, published by  WGLT on April 16, 2025.

GIST: "An appellate court has denied Jamie Snow's request for more evidence testing that he thinks will exonerate him in a 1991 Bloomington murder.

Snow was convicted of fatally shooting gas station employee Billy Little and is serving life in prison. He’s been fighting that conviction for over 20 years.  

Snow took his case to the Fourth District Appellate Court for oral arguments last month in Normal, after a trial court denied his request for testing on blood and fingerprints found at the scene, plus bullets and clothing recovered from Little’s body. 

In a decision released Tuesday, the appellate justices upheld that decision.  

As the trial court indicated, any identification from DNA or fingerprint testing would simply show a person at some point visited the gas station,” they wrote.
 “Given the evidence presented against defendant and the evidence defendant seeks to acquire through testing, we agree with the trial court’s assessment that defendant has not shown a favorable result of the testing would significantly advance his claim of actual innocence.” 

Snow was arrested eight years after the crime took place, with a case primarily built on eyewitness testimony and jailhouse informants claiming Snow admitted to killing Little. 

Many who identified Snow as the suspect in the 1991 robbery have since recanted their testimony or been deemed unreliable by the defense.  

Snow has argued there’s no forensic evidence connecting him to Little’s murder and that more testing could point to the real killer.

In an earlier round of testing, in 2009, results showed a human DNA profile in the blood matched Little and excluded Snow. 

 Snow and his lawyers have argued there was a struggle between Little and his killer, and that another human DNA profile could be found in the blood with more testing.  

But the appellate justices say “the evidence does not support (Snow’s) theory.” 

 “The evidence simply does not support (Snow’s) theory that there was a struggle between Little and the alleged perpetrator,” they wrote. “Because defendant has not shown additional DNA testing on the blood has the potential to produce more probative results than the previous testing to which it was subjected, we find the court did not err in denying his motion to the extent it requested said testing.”  

Snow is trying to use a state law that allows for postconviction forensic testing under certain conditions.  “There is no constitutional right to postconviction forensic testing; rather, access to it is a matter of legislative grace,” the appellate justices wrote. 

Snow may try to appeal next to the Illinois Supreme Court." 

The entire story can be read at: 


PUBLISHER'S NOTE:  I am monitoring this case/issue/resource. Keep your eye on the Charles Smith Blog for reports on developments. The Toronto Star, my previous employer for more than twenty incredible years, has put considerable effort into exposing the harm caused by Dr. Charles Smith and his protectors - and into pushing for reform of Ontario's forensic pediatric pathology system. The Star has a "topic"  section which focuses on recent stories related to Dr. Charles Smith. It can be found at: http://www.thestar.com/topic/charlessmith. Information on "The Charles Smith Blog Award"- and its nomination process - can be found at: http://smithforensic.blogspot.com/2011/05/charles-smith-blog-award-nominations.html Please send any comments or information on other cases and issues of interest to the readers of this blog to: hlevy15@gmail.com.  Harold Levy: Publisher: The Charles Smith Blog.

SEE BREAKDOWN OF  SOME OF THE ON-GOING INTERNATIONAL CASES (OUTSIDE OF THE CONTINENTAL USA) THAT I AM FOLLOWING ON THIS BLOG,  AT THE LINK BELOW:  HL:


https://www.blogger.com/blog/post/edit/120008354894645705/4704913685758792985


———————————————————————————————


FINAL WORD:  (Applicable to all of our wrongful conviction cases):  "Whenever there is a wrongful conviction, it exposes errors in our criminal legal system, and we hope that this case — and lessons from it — can prevent future injustices."

Lawyer Radha Natarajan:

Executive Director: New England Innocence Project;


—————————————————————————————————


FINAL, FINAL WORD: "Since its inception, the Innocence Project has pushed the criminal legal system to confront and correct the laws and policies that cause and contribute to wrongful convictions.   They never shied away from the hard cases — the ones involving eyewitness identifications, confessions, and bite marks. Instead, in the course of presenting scientific evidence of innocence, they've exposed the unreliability of evidence that was, for centuries, deemed untouchable." So true!


Christina Swarns: Executive Director: The Innocence Project;

---------------------------------------------------------------