The Baltimore Sun published an article concerning a Baltimore judge who has ordered the city police to search for DNA evidence from a 1975 rape case or face a fine. In January, Circuit Judge Wanda K. Heard ordered the Baltimore police department to search storage facilities for any DNA evidence remaining from John Williams Simms' 1977 trial. Judge Heard gave the prosecutor and police 90 days to submit a written report detailing their efforts. To date, no report has been filed.

The Mid-Atlantic Innocence Project (MAIP) has lent its support to the District of Columbia’s proposed Eyewitness Identification and Procedures Act of 2008. The act, which is intended to help prevent wrongful convictions, would require DC Police to use double-blind, sequential identification procedures. Under these procedures, photo arrays and live lineups are conducted by police officers who do not know which participant is the suspect under investigation. In addition, potential suspects are shown to the witness one at a time, rather than grouped together. "The existing safeguards, [such as] tenacious defense attorneys, careful prosecutors, [and] thorough courts…are not sufficient to prevent…

On October 16, 2008, James L. Owens became the seventh man in Maryland history to be exonerated by DNA evidence. Owens served more than 20 years for the brutal stabbing and strangling of a 24-year-old woman from Southeast Baltimore. At his 1988 trial, the prosecution alleged that Owens and another man, James Thompson, had attempted to burglarize the home of victim Colleen Williar. Thompson testified that he was present when Owens raped and murdered Williar in her bed. While Owens was never found guilty of rape, he was convicted of the murder. He became the first man to be sentenced under Maryland’s life…

The Virginia Crime Commission (VCC) will investigate better methods for notifying defendants in Virginia’s Old Case Retesting Project after discovering the current method fell short of expectations. In February, the General Assembly passed a budget amendment that delegated the notification process to the Forensic Science Board (FSB). FSB decided in August to notify defendants by certified mail. Only 23 percent of the intended recipients of the first mailing confirmed receipt. Several of the delegates and Senators who passed the budget amendment serve on the VCC and were frustrated with the lack of progress.

On October 9th, the Richmond Times-Dispatch ran an article discussing the Virginia Forensic Science Board's request to the General Assembly for assistance with finding people who were affected by the recent DNA-testing project. Since the start of Virginia's DNA-testing project, more than 600 persons have been sent letters notifying them that biological material has been found in their case files that may be suitable for DNA testing.

The Capital News Service ran an article on October 3rd that explored the effects of Maryland’s DNA collection law. Prior to the passage of this law, DNA samples were only collected from those convicted of violent crimes. Beginning January 1, 2009 samples will be collected from persons charged with committing or attempting to commit those crimes.

In September, the University of Virginia Law School launched its innocence clinic. Led by Deirde Enright, the clinic will consist of 12 law students. Throughout the year students will participate in investigations and help gather evidence to support an exoneration. Much of their initial case load has been referred to them by The Mid-Atlantic Innocence Project. Click here to read more about the UVA Innocence Clinic and its members.

The Richmond Times Dispatch ran an article on September 14 discussing questionable police interrogation methods that led a mentally impaired man to give a false confession. In 1975, Curtis Jasper Moore was questioned about, and subsequently convicted of, the rape and murder of Eva King Jones, an 88-year-old woman. Steven A. Drizin, a professor at Northwestern University Law School and an expert on false confessions, believes that the police "broke every rule in the book" during the interrogation, leading Moore to confess to a crime he did not commit.