The Mid-Atlantic Innocence Project is excited to announce that our Third Annual Awards Luncheon will be held at the Ritz Carlton in Washington D.C. on July 14, 2010.

We will be presenting our Defender of Innocence award to the team of attorneys who earned the release of the Norfolk Four, led by Desmond Hogan, George Kendall, Steve Northup, Donald Salzman and Tony Troy.  Hogan, a partner at Hogan Lovells, Kendall, Of Counsel at Squire Sanders and previously Holland and Knight, Northup and Troy, partners at Troutman Sanders, and Salzman, Pro Bono Counsel at Skadden Arps represent Derek Tice, Joe Dick, Eric Wilson and Danial Williams, respectively, members of the Norfolk Four.  Dick, Tice and Williams spent 11 years in prison for a brutal rape and murder they did not commit; Wilson served 8 ½ years for the rape, which he did not commit.  Thanks to the work of these five attorneys and their extended legal teams and firms, Dick, Tice and Williams received a conditional pardon from Virginia Governor Timothy Kaine on August 6, 2009. 

We are hoping to have Dick, Tice, Williams and Wilson join other men and women who have been released after being convicted of crimes they did not commit onstage to share their stories.

We invite you to join us in sponsoring this exciting event.        

Individual tickets are $100 and are good for one seat at this exciting event.

 If you have any questions or would like to attend as an individual or group,

contact Rachel Cicurel

(202)895-4519

RCicurel@exonerate.org

or click here 

Three people with unique involvements in overturning a wrongful conviction sat on a panel last week discussing a case they were all involved in. Aaron Michael Howard joined one of his attorneys, Moxila Upadhyaya of Venable LLP and former Metropolitan Police Department Detective James Trainum in discussing his case.

The panel was moderated by MAIP Executive Director Shawn Armbrust and hosted by the Washington College of Law.

You can watch the panel here.

Seven months after he was cleared of one of the three rapes he was convicted of, MAIP client Thomas Haynesworth now has the opportunity to prove yet again that he is innocent of a rape he was acquitted of nearly three decades ago.

A Richmond Circuit Court judge ordered the testing of DNA evidence found in the 1984 case, which remains unsolved.  Haynesworth was arrested in connection with a series of five rapes that occurred in Richmond during that time and was ultimately convicted of three and sentenced to 74-years in prison.  Haynesworth has always maintained his innocence in all five crimes, and suggested that notorious local serial rapist Leon Davis actually committed them. (more…)

The Georgetown Voice today published an article about MAIP's outreach efforts in the District of Columbia.  People convicted in Washington D.C. are incarcerated around the country in the Federal Bureau of Prisons, and have a more difficult time learning about MAIP's services.  In order to educate people about MAIP's work, staff members and volunteers have spoken at community meetings around Southeast and Southwest D.C. and held a clinic at Matthews Memorial Baptist Church on November 12.  

To read the article, click here

A little more than two decades after DNA testing was first used to clear the name of a wrongfully convicted American, Freddie Peacock became the 250th person to prove his innocence based on DNA testing Thursday, which was conducted thanks to the work of the Innocence Project.

Peacock, 60, was convicted in Rochester, New York of a 1976 of a rape he did not commit.  Though he was released on parole in 1982, it has taken 28 years since his release to have the crime taken off his record, longer than any other exoneree who proved his innocence based on DNA testing.

Peacock was implicated based on a questionable identification by the victim, who lived in his apartment building.  After a long interrogation, Peacock, who suffers from mental illness, gave a confession that strongly conflicted with the facts of the case. Witness mis-identifications and false confessions are two of the leading causes of wrongful convictions. (more…)

Thanks to the work of attorneys at the Florida Innocence Project, James Bain was exonerated Thursday after serving 35 years behind bars for a rape that he did not commit.

Not only did Bain become the 248th person exonerated thanks to DNA testing, but he also spent more time in prison than any of the other DNA exonerees.  It took Bain eight years to have his DNA tested by the state.  As soon as the results were fully analyzed, Polk County prosecutors and the judge agreed that the conviction should be vacated.
(more…)

A day after DNA evidence led to Donald Gates being released from prison, MAIP Exeuctive Director Shawn Armbrust spoke to Fox 5 News in Washington D.C. about the case, the factors that led to Gates' wrongful conviction and the work that MAIP does.

Click here to watch the video.

Nearly three decades after he was convicted of brutal rape and murder that he did not commit, Donald Gates was freed Tuesday by a D.C. Superior Court Judge after DNA evidence proved that another man committed the crime.

Mr. Gates has always maintained his innocence.  Now, thanks to the hard work of Parisa Deghani-Tafti and others from the Public Defender Service for the District of Columbia, he finally has regained his freedom.  

Judge Fred Ugast’s ruling frees Gates, but it does not exonerate him.  Prosecutors requested additional testing to verify the results, and a separate hearing next week to make a final determination.
(more…)

Aaron Michael Howard, who was released from prison in 2008 after serving 18 years in prison for a murder he did not commit, joined community members at a church in Southeast Washington D.C. for the Mid-Atlantic Innocence Project’s first ever legal clinic last week.  

Residents of the Southeast and Southwestern quadrants of the District of Columbia, as well as Prince George’s County, Maryland, attended the clinic at Matthews Memorial Baptist Church. Those in attendance learned more about MAIP’s work to correct wrongful convictions and had the opportunity to tell MAIP staff members and law students from the Innocence Project at Catholic University of America about their loved ones’ cases.

After the intake, Howard spoke to the crowd. He discussed his conviction, his time in prison, the work that his legal team did to prove his innocence, and his time since his release.  He then fielded questions from those in attendance.

The clinic was part of MAIP’s efforts to expand awareness of its work in the District of Columbia.  Because people convicted in Washington DC are sent around the country to facilities managed by the Federal Bureau of Prisons, it is more difficult for them to learn about and reach MAIP to investigate their wrongful convictions claims.

In the months leading up to the clinic, MAIP Board Member Gina Harps and Program Assistant Daniel Satin attended meetings of various Ward 7 and Ward 8 civic associations and meetings over the Advisory Neighborhood Council.  Harps and Satin plan on continuing their outreach and hope to have its next clinic in March.    

Click here to see more pictures of the event on MAIP’s Facebook page.