The Mid-Atlantic Innocence Project is happy to announce that Aaron Michael Howard was released from prison on Tuesday evening after new evidence, uncovered by Howard’s attorneys nearly 20 years after his conviction, proved that he had not committed a murder for which he was serving a sentence of 21 years to life.  At a hearing last week, the newly discovered evidence had prompted led the lead prosecutor to withdraw from the case, stating that he could no longer defend the jury’s verdict against Howard.  The parties subsequently reached an agreement by which Howard would accept a manslaughter conviction in exchange for immediate release from prison.   

"The agreement … is not perfect," Howard said in a written statement. "It is not perfect because, although it allows me to maintain my innocence, it requires me to accept a conviction for a crime I did not commit. That is not something I have done lightly, especially with all the evidence of my innocence that now exists. But I feel like I have little choice, because after 20 years in prison, the agreement gives me my freedom immediately." 

Mr. Howard was represented by D.C. criminal defense attorney Zack Rosenburg, who was appointed by the court, and by partner Seth Rosenthal and his team at the law firm of Venable LLP.  Rosenthal entered the case after Rosenburg asked the Mid-Atlantic Innocence Project for assistance. By referring the case to Rosenthal, the Project ensured that Howard would have the resources needed to fully investigate a 20-year-old crime. “By connecting me with Seth, the Mid-Atlantic Innocence Project played a vital role in securing Mike’s freedom," Rosenburg said. "It is exceedingly difficult to build the kind of case we built for Howard without the help of a firm like Venable, which has proven itself to be a role model for others."

Click on the following links to read the joint MAIP/Venable press release issued August 7, 2008; a written statement by Mr. Howard and to see a picture of Mr. Howard with his legal team.  We have also posted a fact sheet outlining the evidence of Mr. Howard's innocence and the Amended Motion to Vacate and supporting Memorandum of Law filed in D.C. Superior Court by Mr. Howard's legal team. 

An in-depth story about the case appeared in Washington's Legal Times.  The story was also covered by the Washington Times.  You can read that article here: http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2008/aug/18/innocence-project-wins-again/.

The story appeared on Fox 5 News and on NBC4 news at 11:00 p.m. on Thursday, August 7.  You can see the clips here:  Fox 5 video and NBC 4 video.

NBC 4 also covered the story on its web site.  You can read their story, along with comments from the community, here: http://www.nbc4.com/news/17121996/detail.html.

On July 15, 2008, MAIP hosted its first annual awards luncheon.  The winner of our Champion of Justice award was former Virginia Governor and current U.S. Senate candidate Mark Warner.  MAIP honored Governor Warner for his extraordinary contribution to the cause of justice.  In 2005, after DNA evidence retained by a former state forensic examiner cleared five men of rape, Governor Warner ordered the Virginia crime lab to perform DNA tests in more than 1,000 old cases in which biological evidence was saved.  This unprecedented review , which is currently in process, is the first of its kind in any state.  Governor Warner was introduced by Marvin Anderson, a Virginia man whom he had pardoned when DNA evidence found in the state lab proved that he had not committed the rape of which he had been convicted.  The event was also attended by exonerees Beverly Monroe, Willie Davidson, and Julius Ruffin. 

In addition to the exonerees, the event was attended by more than 200 lawyers, law students, and other members of the community.  It raised nearly $100,000 for the Mid-Atlantic Innocence Project.  We are grateful to our generous sponsors for making the event such a success.   

It is with great sadness that MAIP announces the death of Larry Fowlkes in his prison cell on Saturday, May 10, 2008.  Mr. Fowlkes died, apparently of natural causes, after waiting four long years for Governor Warner, then Governor Kaine, to act on his clemency petition, filed on his behalf on May 18, 2004, by lawyers recruited by the Mid-Atlantic Innocence Project (“MAIP”).    

In 1995, Mr. Fowlkes was convicted of murder, attempted murder, and robbery, and was sentenced to 45 years in prison.  No physical evidence or eyewitness connected Mr. Fowlkes to the crime.  Moreover, thirteen witnesses – including a minister and police officer – placed him at church, many miles from the crime scene, during the attacks. 

Mr. Fowlkes was convicted based on the testimony of a snitch, Sheila Barbour Stokes.  Ms. Stokes claimed that she overheard Mr. Fowlkes planning the crime and later helped him clean blood out of his car.  Ms. Stokes is a career criminal with so many felony offenses on her record involving deception and fraud that she has been barred from Lunenberg County, Virginia except for court appearances.  The government dropped a felony uttering charge against Ms. Stokes shortly after she testified at Mr. Fowlkes' first trial.   

Testimony from witnesses like Ms. Stokes – criminals who only testify in exchange for favorable treatment – is notoriously unreliable.  Despite that red flag, police and prosecutors continued pursuing Mr. Fowlkes, and Mr. Fowlkes' trial lawyer failed to discover evidence that could have led to his acquittal.  Subsequent evidence – including forensic reports, business records, and her own recantation – has discredited Ms. Stokes’s testimony.  Unfortunately, no jury or court has ever considered that evidence because of mistakes made by his trial counsel and because of restrictive post-trial remedies in Virginia.  Clemency was the only option left for Mr. Fowlkes, whose health steadily and seriously deteriorated from the time he entered prison.   

Lawyers recruited by MAIP filed a clemency petition on May 18, 2004, based upon innocence and, alternatively, on humanitarian grounds, citing Mr. Fowlkes' poor health.  Governor Warner’s staff met with the attorneys on two occasions to discuss the petition, but Warner failed to act before leaving office.  Since Governor Kaine’s election, lawyers tried repeatedly to schedule a meeting with his staff, to no avail.  Mr. Fowlkes had many supporters, including the foreman of the jury that convicted him, who urged wrote a letter to Governor Kaine in which he stated that he would not have voted to convict Mr. Fowlkes if he had known what he knows today.  He urged the Governor to grant Mr. Fowlkes' clemency petition.  To read this letter, click here.  A group of former prosecutors also wrote to Governor Kaine in support of the petition.  To read this letter, click here.To read an Executive Summary of the clemency petition filed on behalf of Mr. Fowlkes, click here.  For a sample letter that you can send to Governor Kaine on behalf of Mr. Fowlkes, click here. 

Prior to his arrest, Mr. Fowlkes had worked on the grounds of the United Methodist Assembly Center in Crewe, Virginia, where he helped care for a magnificent rose garden.  It had been his dream since his arrest to return to that garden, where he would have been welcomed back into the community by his former employer and by his large and loving family.  Mr. Fowlkes never gave up that dream.  He used to tell his lawyers that giving up shows a lack of faith, and that he would never lose his faith.  In the end, it wasn’t the courts, or the governors, or the Innocence Project that freed Larry Fowlkes.  It was his faith, his God, who finally called him home. 

Mr. Fowlkes was 52 years old.  He is survived by a large and affectionate family, including his wife, Annie, his mother, his grandfather, six children, and twenty grand-children.

On April 22, 2004, former prosecutor and current University of Richmond School of Law professor Corinna Lain published a column in the Richmond Times-Dispatch urging the release of the Norfolk Four.  Drawing from her own experience in unwittingly persuading an innocent defendant to plead guilty to a crime he had not committed, Ms. Lain asks not only that the Norfolk Four be released, but that we as a society learn from their experience and implement reforms, such as the videotaping of police interrogations, designed to reduce the possibility of wrongful convictions.  To read the piece, click here.  

On April 13, 2008, the Washington Post ran a lengthy article discussing the progress of Virginia's Old Case Testing Project.  MAIP Executive Director Shawn Armbrust is quoted in the article.  To read it, click here.

On July 15, MAIP will host its first annual Awards Luncheon, at which we will honor former Virginia Governor and current Senate candidate Mark Warner for his extraordinary contribution to the cause of justice.  We hope to see you there!

On March 24, 2008, the New York times published an article about the difficulties inherent in calculating the wrongful conviction rate in the United States.  As the article points out, there is no accepted methodology for calculating the rate at which defendants have been wrongfully convicted.  Those who attempt to make such a calculation differ widely in their results.  On one side of the spectrum is Justice Scalia, who once divided the number of exonerated prisoners by the total of all felony convictions and reached a wrongful conviction rate of .027 percent.  On the other side are those who look at the number of wrongful convictions in Virginia, as proven by re-testing of DNA samples maintained by the state laboratory.  A comparison of that number against all the Virginia cases in which results could be determined yields a wrongful conviction rate of closer to 9 percent. 

MAIP Executive Director Shawn Armbrust is quoted in the article.  To read the article, click here. 

Jon Gould, a professor at George Mason University Law School and chair of the innocence Commission for Virginia, recently published a fascinating book on the creation and work of the Innocence Commission.  The book, called The Innocence Commission: Preventing Wrongful Convictions and Restoring the Criminal Justice System, received a rave review in last week's Legal Times newspaper.  Reviewer Steve Weinberg describes the book as a unique "combination of legal theory and details from real-life wrongful conviction cases" that has "spawned a number of new thoughts about wrongful convictions." To read the Legal Times review, click here.

The book also received a favorable write-up in the Law and Politics Book Review.  As described by author Priscilla H. M. Zotti, a professor in the Department of Political Science at the United States Naval Academy, the book "provides the reader with both the practical advice of creating and establishing reform as well as a very intersting discussion of errors and workable solutions to minimize them."  To read the entire review, click here.

The Mid-Atlantic Innocence Project was a key participant in the Innocence Commission's work.   

To learn more about the ICVA and to read its report, you can visit its web site at www.icva.us.   

Mid-Atlantic Innocence Project Seeks Program Assistant/Development Associate

  The Mid-Atlantic Innocence Project (MAIP) is a small non-profit corporation dedicated to the correction and prevention of wrongful convictions in District of Columbia, Maryland, and Virginia.  MAIP is seeking a full-time Program Assistant/Development Associate with a demonstrated passion for social justice issues and an interest in facilitating the growth of a small organization. 

The Program Assistant/Development Associate will be an integral part of MAIP’s staff, with several fundraising and administrative duties that are critical to the smooth functioning of the organization.   Specific duties may include:

  Working to raise funds, which will include planning fundraising events, managing the annual end-of-year newsletter, working with other staff to complete grant applications, and conducting other activities designed to reach out to new donors. 

• Keeping the Project’s website up to date with important articles about wrongful convictions, profiles of exonerees, blog entries, and any necessary changes.
• Reading letters from prisoners seeking our help, evaluating those letters, and appropriately responding their requests.
• Managing telephone communications and relationships with family members of prisoners.
• Reaching out to prisoners convicted in the District of Columbia, who are incarcerated all over the country, by seeking ways to let the prisoners and their families know about MAIP.
• Helping to supervise college interns, who are responsible for maintaining files and sending mail to prisoners.
• Overseeing the general functioning of the office, including bill payment, database management, and organization.
• Other tasks, as needed, to ensure the effective fulfillment of our mission.

  Qualifications:  

• Strong organizational skills.
• Ability to juggle multiple tasks.
• Ability to communicate with a diverse group of people, including prisoners and donors.
• Ability to work independently.
• Excellent writing skills.
• Knowledge of Spanish a plus but not required.

  Salary: Commensurate with experience. 

Education: Bachelor’s Degree (B.S, B.A., or equivalent)

  Application Deadline: Open until filled. 

Send application cover letter, resume, three references, and short writing sample via mail or email to:

Shawn Armbrust, Executive Director

Mid-Atlantic Innocence Project

4801 Massachusetts Ave., NW

Washington, D.C. 20016

innocenceproject@wcl.american.edu

The New York Times on Sunday published interviews and profiles of more than 130 of the nation’s 200 DNA exonerees.  Each profile contains a short description of the details of each exoneree’s conviction, the amount of time spent in prison, and the compensation received.  Some include a short written synopsis of the interview and some offer audio clips.  The audio clips provide a powerful recollection of the victim’s experiences, in their own voices, of their time in prison and after their release.

The exonerees share many common experiences.  Issues of blame and strained relations with family members seem prevalent.  Take, for example, the story of Jeffrey Deskovic, wrongfully convicted at age 17 for rape and murder.  Now, 34 years old, he describes his tenuous relationship with his mother, who he felt was too passive in assisting him with his appeals.  “Too much time has passed; we have no connection,” Mr. Deskovic said. “My relatives don’t know who I am.”  Some actually lose the chance to ever reconnect with their relatives.  Alan Crotzer, who spent 24 years in prison for rape, recalls. “My mother died in late August 2001, about a couple weeks before 9/11.  She was basically all I had.  That bothered me real bad.”  

Others have faced challenges with health.  Post-traumatic stress disorder is a common ailment.  William Gregory recalls the paranoia he still feels.  “I just get real depressed, and start crying, and can’t control it.  I just feel all alone.”  Mr. Deskovic details trying to balance school as a 34-year-old with his therapy sessions.  Richard Danziger, meanwhile, was severely beaten during his first year in prison and is now permanently disabled. 

Several exonerees detail their struggle to win just compensation for their time spent in prison.  Kevin Byrd received a woeful $30,190 from the state of Texas for spending 12 years in prison for rape.  His summary recounts how the money was divided up.  “About half went to his lawyers.  He gave $8,000 to a lifelong friend who had spent years trying to vindicate him, and $2,500 to a brother to pay back taxes on the family home.  Mr. Byrd put $4,500 down on a used truck.  The rest went to rent an apartment.  His compensation was gone.”  Ronald Cotton received only $110,000 for 11 years in prison.  If an exoneree receives anything at all, it is not uncommon to receive only thousands of dollars for decades of prison time, usually during the prime of their lives when their peers are attending school and starting families and careers.  Many received nothing. Financially, it is the little things that seem to take the biggest toll upon release.  Leo Waters explains how he had to have his father sign the loan to buy a car because he had no credit history.  “It’s like being a teenager and starting your life all over again,” he said. 

According to the article, approximately one third of exonerees are able to go on to live successful lives after prison.  Mr. Deskovic, for example, states that he plans to take law school entrance exams and aspires to one day practice as an attorney.  Christopher Ochoa, who spent 11 and a half years in prison, has passed the bar and started a legal career.  Kevin Green, who spent 16 years in Soledad prison for murder, has found success by gradually obtaining better and better jobs.  “I encourage everybody who’s getting out to establish themselves by having these transitional jobs that are going for upward mobility,” he says on his profile.  “Each job was for more money.”  For many, though, their time in prison continues to haunt them even with an exoneration.  As Douglas Echols, a former staff sergeant in the Army who spent 5 years in prison for rape, observes, “It’s mighty hard to find a job being a convicted felon – whether you’re exonerated or not.  It’s been since 2002, and we’re still being carried as kidnappers and rapists.” 

However, it is the continued optimism and hope of these men that is most striking.  Brandon Moon advises others wrongfully convicted that “It’s not going to do you any good running around being angry.  You will get more done if you’re not angry.”  Willie Raines concurs.  “Why go walking around angry?  People always ask me that.  ‘Aren’t you angry, Willie?’  No.  I can’t go around just mad.”

To read the New York Times articles and listen to the interviews, click the following links:

http://www.nytimes.com/2007/11/25/us/25jeffrey.html

http://www.nytimes.com/2007/11/25/us/25dna.html

http://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2007/11/25/nyregion/20071125_DNAI_FEATURE.html

http://www.nytimes.com/2007/11/25/us/25dna_method.html