"North Carolina is among a growing number of states taking steps to prevent and address wrongful convictions and grant greater access to biological evidence.
Until recently, that was largely the purview of the privately funded Innocence Project, which has been involved in 154 DNA exonerations in the USA since 1989, according the group's research director, Emily West."
REPORTER JON ONSTENDORFF; USA TODAY;
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"ASHEVILLE, N.C. — Kenneth Kagonyera had been in the county jail for 13 months when he finally gave in," the USA Today story by reporter Jon Ostendorff published on July 17, 2011 under the heading, "States look to right wrong convictions," begins.
"Prosecutors and investigators interrogated him repeatedly, he says, and told him he faced at least 25 years in prison for first degree murder, with life or a death sentence possible. So he pleaded guilty to second-degree murder in the 2000 slaying of Walter Rodney Bowman," the story continues.
""It just kind of wore down on me," he later told the commission investigating whether the justice system wrongly imprisoned him.
Kagonyera was sentenced to 15 years in prison, as was his co-defendant, Robert Wilcoxson. Both continue to maintain their innocence.
In September, the two men are scheduled to have a hearing before a three-judge panel that could free them. The hearing comes after the N.C. Innocence Inquiry Commission in April found enough evidence to indicate the men are innocent. That evidence includes the confession of another man and DNA testing that points to other suspects.
North Carolina is among a growing number of states taking steps to prevent and address wrongful convictions and grant greater access to biological evidence.
Until recently, that was largely the purview of the privately funded Innocence Project, which has been involved in 154 DNA exonerations in the USA since 1989, according the group's research director, Emily West.
Lawmakers in Massachusetts are considering a bill that would establish a right to post-conviction DNA testing. If it passes, Oklahoma would be the only state that doesn't have a law in this area, according to the Innocence Project.
In Texas, state leaders are awaiting a commission study on the effects of innocence-related laws on eyewitness identification, the recording of interrogations and post-conviction DNA testing, the Innocence Project says.
In Florida, a commission created to examine the causes of wrongful convictions delivered a report to the state Supreme Court on June 30 calling for police to follow state-issued guidelines on photo and live suspect line-ups.
Six other states — California, Connecticut, Illinois, New York, Pennsylvania and Wisconsin — have established commissions, the Innocence Project says. The commissions study the causes of wrongful convictions and make recommendations to lawmakers, police and the courts.
North Carolina has the nation's only investigative innocence commission. It investigates and evaluates post-conviction claims of factual innocence and can refer cases to a three-judge panel for a ruling.
The commission has heard three other cases, one of which resulted in the release of a man who served almost 17 years in prison for a murder he didn't commit. A three-judge panel found Greg Taylor innocent in February 2010.
District Attorney Ron Moore, the elected prosecutor who handled the Kagonyera and Wilcoxson case in North Carolina, has declined to discuss their pending hearing before the panel.
Kagonyera's criminal history prior to the 2000 murder charge included assault with a deadly weapon and cruelty to animals, according to North Carolina prison records. Wilcoxson had no prior convictions, according to prison records.
Stephen Saloom, Innocence Project policy director, says he expects more reform.
"We are seeing tremendous receptivity across the county to the fact that biological evidence needs to be preserved to assess claims of wrongful convictions and to solve the thousands and thousands of cold cases that can be aided by DNA testing years after the crimes are committed," he says.
Elsewhere:
•Johnny Pinchback became the 22nd person exonerated through DNA testing in Dallas County, Texas, when a judge released him on May 12. He spent 27 years in prison for the rape of two teenage girls before being cleared. The prosecutor didn't contest the finding.
•A judge in Arkansas recently ordered DNA testing for a man convicted of killing two people in 1987. The 60-year-old man has maintained his innocence during his entire time in prison.
• Four men in Chicago convicted of a 1994 rape and murder are asking to be released from prison after a DNA test points to another suspect. DNA tests at the time had excluded the men.
Prosecutors have opposed some efforts.
In North Carolina, a House bill supported by the state's Conference of District Attorneys would have kept people who pleaded guilty from asking for help from the N.C. Innocence Inquiry Commission.
Prosecutors wanted defendants who pleaded guilty to use existing procedures, such as motions for appropriate relief, to handle their claims. That part of the bill was dropped in a compromise. "It wasn't going to pass with it in it," said Peg Doer, executive director of the Conference of District Attorneys.
Twenty-eight percent of exonerations nationally have involved defendants who pleaded guilty, according to Saloom.
Contributing: The Associated Press."
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The story can be found at:
http://www.usatoday.com/news/nation/2011-07-17-dna-evidence-exonerates-innocent-prisoners-wrongful-convictions_n.htm
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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 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
Harold Levy: Publisher; The Charles Smith Blog; hlevy15@gmail.com;
