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.

            It was discovered last month that lab technicians in Baltimore City had been inadvertently contaminating crime scene evidence.  The Baltimore lab failed to catalogue its employee's DNA, a precaution that is considered standard by industry experts.  Without the safeguard of an employee catalogue, DNA profiles left by employees are categorized as "unknown" rather than being properly identified.             Defense attorneys are outraged at the oversight, arguing that this is just the latest in a series of quality assurance lapses that have plagued the lab.  To read the Baltimore Sun's piece on the lab and the government's response, click here.

The Baltimore Sun ran a lengthy piece on the recent efforts in Maryland's State Legislature to repeal the death penalty.             On September 5th, the Maryland Commission on Capital Punishment convened its final public hearing.  The Commission, created by Governor O'Malley, is charged with determining whether the state's moratorium on the death penalty should be lifted or made permanent.

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…

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…

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…