In an article to be published in an upcoming issue of the Journal of Criminal Law and Criminology, D. Michael Risinger concludes that at least 3.3% of defendants sentenced to death in rape-murder cases in the 1980's were factually innocent of the charges.   Risinger reaches this shocking conclusion by comparing the number of DNA exonerations in rape-murder cases during this period with the number of capital rape-murder convictions where usable DNA connected to the perpetrator was found to be available when requested for testing. 

While Risinger stops short of deriving a universal wrongful conviction rate from this information, he notes persuasively that there is little reason to believe that this rate would be any lower when considering many kinds of less serious crimes and sentences.  He uses his conclusion to argue for reforms, such as those advocated by MAIP in the area of eyewitness identication procedures, that would cost society little, yet ensure that fewer innocent defendants are convicted of serious crimes.   

The article is well worth reading for anyone interested in the subject of wrongful convictions. 

 We are currently looking for the following types of volunteers:

Administrative/Secretarial Support. We are looking for someone to help us manage the high volume of mail that we receive from prisoners seeking our help.  We hope to find a volunteer who can commit 15-20 hours per week to reading and responding to prisoner correspondence as directed by our Assistant Director.  This work must be done in our office at the Washington College of Law.  Our ideal candidate is someone with strong writing and organizational skills, excellent attention to detail, and the ability to work independently.  We will consider college students, retirees, and other interested members of the community.  Legal experience is helpful but not required.

Driver And Reader.  Finally, we are looking for a member of the community who is willing to drive to courthouses around our region to retrieve and evaluate transcripts for innocence issues.  Travel will be within the states of Maryland and Virginia.  Unfortunately, we are unable to reimburse for mileage, though we do have a budget for case-related costs such as photocopying.  Familiarity with legal documents and innocence issues is useful, but we are prepared to train an otherwise outstanding candidate.  We would expect a volunteer to devote an average of at least two days a month to this project.    

If you are interested in any of these volunteer oppotunities, please e-mail a resume and cover letter to MAIP's Assistant Director, Eily Raman, at ERaman@wcl.american.edu.  Thank you! 

We are very excited to report that a Virginia man was finally freed after spending six years in prison for a robbery that he did not commit.  Teddy Thompson, 24, walked out of prison as a free man on September 10.  Under his sentence, he would have served 11 more years before being released.  

Mr. Thompson had been convicted of the robbery based on an eyewitness identification by the victim.  He was convicted despite the fact that (1) he had an alibi for time of the robbery, and (2) a second victim believed that he was not the perpetrator.  "A year or two" ago, according to Mr. Thompson's attorney, the first victim came to realize that he had implicated the wrong person.  However, he did not act on that information immediately.  More recently, he learned that someone else had actually been talking about having robbed him.  He confronted that person, who confessed to the robbery and apologized.  At that point, the victim alerted law enforcement personnel, who interviewed him and believed that he was telling the truth.  In light of this evidence, the Commonwealth's Attorney did not oppose Mr. Thompson's release.

We are thrilled that justice has been done in this case.  We are also thrilled that the Virginia court system worked successfully to produce an exoneration, particularly in a case where the defendant's proof of innocence was a witness recantation rather than DNA evidence.  We hope to be able to report more such Virginia exonerations soon.    

To read a news account of Mr. Thompson's case, click here. 

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.  You can access these new laws by clicking on the links below.   

HB 1625 (eyewitness ID): *Signed 8/23/07
http://www.ncga.state.nc.us/Sessions/2007/Bills/House/PDF/H1625v5.pdf

HB 1626 (recording of interrogations): *Signed 8/23/07
http://www.ncga.state.nc.us/Sessions/2007/Bills/House/PDF/H1626v5.pdf

HB 1500 (DNA access/preservation of evidence): *Signed 8/31/07

http://www.ncga.state.nc.us/Sessions/2007/Bills/House/PDF/H1500v5.pdf

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."  

To read a news account about this case, click here. 

To read the prosecutor's comments, click here.