"It's hard to imagine enduring the injustice that Dupree suffered -- he served three decades in prison, only to be released on parole this summer, two weeks before DNA testing would prove him innocent. His story, however, is far too common these days.
When Texas' highest court makes his exoneration official, Dupree will be the 266th DNA exoneree nationwide and the 41st in Texas, which has seen more convictions overturned through DNA testing than any other state. And while wrongful convictions can have countless causes, there's one culprit that simply keeps popping up: eyewitness misidentification.
MATT KELLEY: CRIMINAL JUSTICE; Matt Kelley is the Online Communications Manager at the Innocence Project and a graduate of the Medill School of Journalism at Northwestern University."
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"Cornelius Dupree waited three decades for this day to come," the Criminal Justice story by reporter Matt Kelley published on January 4, 2011 begins, under the heading, "Texas Man Exonerated After Three Decades Behind Bars."
"After serving 30 years in Texas prisons for a carjacking and rape DNA tests prove he didn't commit, Dupree was finally cleared today when a Texas judge declared him innocent." the story continues.
"The Innocence Project, where I work when I'm not blogging here, helped Dupree obtain access to the DNA tests that proved his innocence. At left are Innocence Project Co-Director Barry Scheck, Dupree and Innocence Project Senior Staff Attorney Nina Morrison.
It's hard to imagine enduring the injustice that Dupree suffered -- he served three decades in prison, only to be released on parole this summer, two weeks before DNA testing would prove him innocent. His story, however, is far too common these days.
When Texas' highest court makes his exoneration official, Dupree will be the 266th DNA exoneree nationwide and the 41st in Texas, which has seen more convictions overturned through DNA testing than any other state. And while wrongful convictions can have countless causes, there's one culprit that simply keeps popping up: eyewitness misidentification.
In three-quarters of the wrongful convictions overturned through DNA testing across the U.S., at least one witness misidentified the defendant. In Dupree's case, one of the two victims identified both him and another innocent man in a photo lineup, while the second victim looked at the same photos and didn't identify anyone. Mostly on the strength of one identification, Dupree was sentenced to 75 years in prison.
We need to race to find all of the Cornelius Duprees in prison across the country, and that's some of the work we're doing at the Innocence Project. But we also have the opportunity to prevent misidentification and wrongful convictions by changing simple procedures like the standard police lineup. Simple changes to identification procedures have been proven for years to prevent misidentifications, but some states and jurisdictions are dragging their heels.
A bill to require improvements across Texas got stuck in the state legislature's last session, but it could come back when lawmakers return next week. It doesn't take statewide action to fix identification procedures, however. Your local police department can decide to change its ways. Some departments -- like Northampton, Mass., and Santa Clara, California, have led the way, while others have lagged."
The story can be found at:
http://criminaljustice.change.org/blog/view/texas_man_exonerated_after_three_decades_behind_bars
PUBLISHER'S NOTE: 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 accessed at:
http://www.thestar.com/topic/charlessmith
For a breakdown of some of the cases, issues and controversies this Blog is currently following, please turn to:
http://www.blogger.com/post-edit.g?blogID=120008354894645705&postID=8369513443994476774
Harold Levy: Publisher; The Charles Smith Blog; hlevy15@gmail.com;
