Professor D. Michael Risinger of Seton Hall University School of Law recently engaged in an empirical study to determine the factual wrongful conviction rate for capital rape-murder cases in the 1980′s. His conclusion was that 3.3% of all defendants in such cases were actually innocent of the crimes for which they were sentenced to death.

MAIP currently has an urgent need for several volunteers. We can particularly use law students or other individuals with some legal training and people who can provide high-quality administrative/secretarial support for several hours a week in our office. For details, please click on the link to our blog entry below.

A Virginia man was set free this week after spending six years in prison for a robbery that he did not commit. The case did not involve DNA evidence. Instead, Teddy Thompson, now 24, was able to demonstrate his innocence to authorities when the primary witness against him recanted his identification of Mr. Thompson as the perpetrator. Congratulations to Mr. Thompson and to attorney Charles Haden!

The Governor of North Carolina recently signed into law three bills that aim to prevent wrongful convictions. The laws implement procedures that MAIP has long advocated, including a requirement that in-person lineups and photo arrays be conducted by a neutral administrator who does not know which participant is the suspect. The bills also require the recording of custodial interrogations in homicide cases and the preservation of evidentiary material that could contain DNA.

On August 28, Dwayne Allen Dail of North Carolina became the 207th man to be exonerated by DNA. His 1978 rape conviction was the product of both a mistaken eyewitness identification by a 12-year-old girl and of hair analysis that was given more credibility than the science deserved. The responsible prosecutor has now called Mr. Dail’s conviction “a nightmare.”