Wrongful Convictions

Meet the Exonerated

David Protess | Posted 05.22.2012

Read More: Wrongful Convictions, Death Penalty, Innocence Project, The Exonerated, Exoneration, Death Row Exoneration, Exoneration Report, National Registry of Exonerations, Innocence, Criminal Exonerations, Chicago News

The next time you see an exoneree take his first steps to freedom, look past their smiles. Get pissed. Get involved. Make a difference.

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Daley To Answer Questions During Police Torture Trial

AP | Posted 04.10.2012

Read More: Wrongful Convictions, Jon Burge, Illinois Wrongful Convictions, Chicago Wrongful Convictions, Daley Flint Taylor Trial, Daley Police Torture, Mayor Daley, Richard M Daley, Daley Jon Burge, Flint Taylor, Chicago Police Department, Chicago Police Torture, Burge Police Torture, Chicago News

CHICAGO -- Former Chicago Mayor Richard M. Daley has agreed to answer questions under oath about allegations that he was part of a conspiracy to cover...

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Wrongfully Convicted Man Could Get $3.6 Million From City

Posted 03.14.2012

Read More: Wrongful Convictions, Chicago Wrongful Convictions, Chicago Wrongful Conviction Settlements, Chicago Wrongful Conviction Lawsuits, Robert Wilson, Chicago Police Department, Chicago Police Torture, Robert Wilson Chicago, Chicago News

Chicago's City Council Finance Committee on Monday approved a $3.6 million settlement for a man who served nearly a decade behind bars on an attempted...

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"The Pope of Humboldt Park" Case Tests State's Attorney's New Direction

David Protess | Posted 04.25.2012

Read More: Wrongful Convictions, Jailhouse Informants, Dna Evidence, Anita Alvarez, Francisco Vicente, Jailhouse Snitch, Chicago News

A troubling case provides a test of Ms. Alvarez's commitment to right wrongful convictions. It turns on an issue that cuts to the core of the criminal justice system: The procurement of false testimony by a jailhouse snitch.

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Police Torture Panel Strapped For Cash

AP | KAREN HAWKINS | Posted 04.08.2012

Read More: Illinois Budget, Wrongful Convictions, Video, Illinois Wrongful Convictions, Illinois Torture Panel, Pat Quinn, Illinois Torture Inquiry and Relief Commission, Job Burge, Chicago Police Department, Illinois Torture Panel Broke, Chicago Police Torture, Chicago News

CHICAGO — A commission created by Illinois Gov. Pat Quinn nearly two years ago with the ambitious goal of righting the wrongs of Chicago's polic...

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Wrongfully Imprisoned 29 Years, Stanley Wrice Wins Second Chance

David Protess | Posted 04.03.2012

Read More: Wrongful Convictions, Jon Burge, Chicago Blackhawks, False Confessions, Chicago Crime, Chicago Cubs, Chicago Police Torture, Chicago Bears, Chicago Bulls, Jon Burge Torture, Stanley Wrice Ruling, Chicago Police Brutality, Stanley Wrice Wrongful Conviction, Chicago News

The justices flatly rejected prosecutors' arguments that Stanley Wrice's conviction should stand even if he had been tortured by two of Jon Burge's cops. The language was a ringing victory for all police torture victims.

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Court Ruling Has Big Implications For Police Torture Victims

AP | KAREN HAWKINS | Posted 04.03.2012

Read More: Wrongful Convictions, Stanley Wrice Ruling, Jon Burge, Stanley Wrice Wrongful Conviction, Police Torture, Chicago Police Department, Chicago Police Torture, Stanley Wrice Police Torture, Chicago News

CHICAGO — An Illinois Supreme Court ruling that gave one inmate new hope for freedom Thursday also could revive appeals by more than a dozen oth...

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Wrongfully Convicted Man Awarded $25 Million In Damages

Posted 01.25.2012

Read More: Wrongful Convictions, Video, Thaddeus Jimenez Lawsuit, Illinois Wrongful Convictions, Chicago Wrongful Convictions, Thaddeus Jimenez Released, Thaddeus Jimenez Conviction, Thaddeus Jimenez, Chicago News

In what is believed to be one of the most substantial verdicts in the city's history, a federal jury on Tuesday awarded $25 million in damages to a ma...

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Comic Strip Censored for Honest Depiction of Race in Police Line-Ups

David Protess | Posted 03.20.2012

Read More: Chicago News, Wrongful Convictions, Eyewitness Misidentification, Cleveland, Race Relations, Comics, Non Sequitur, Chicago News

We can't pretend that cross-racial misidentification isn't a problem in criminal cases. False witness testimony is the greatest cause of wrongful convictions nationwide. Mostly, the mistaken witness was white and the suspect was black.

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Wrongfully Convicted Man Released After 2 Decades Behind Bars

Posted 01.07.2012

Read More: Juan Rivera, Wrongful Convictions, Video, Illinois Wrongful Convictions, Juan Rivera Case, Juan Rivera Wrongful Conviction, Holly Staker, Illinois Crime, Juan Rivera Trial, Chicago News

A man convicted three times of and sentenced to a life prison sentence in the 1992 stabbing death of an 11-year-old girl was released Friday after aut...

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Alleged Victim Sues City, Burge Over Police Torture, Wrongful Convict

Posted 12.21.2011

Read More: Wrongful Convictions, Jon Burge Torture, Eric Caine Chicago, Video, Burge Torture Victims, Jon Burge, Chicago Wrongful Convictions, Eric Caine Lawsuit, Chicago Police Torture, Eric Caine, Chicago News

An alleged victim of torture at the hands of former Chicago police head Jon Burge filed a federal lawsuit Tuesday against both the city and Burge over...

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Stocking Stuffers: The Best Movies About Miscarriages of Justice

David Protess | Posted 02.18.2012

Read More: Wrongful Convictions, Death Penalty, Documentaries, Film, Crime, Movies, Hollywood, Movie Reviews, Top Ten List, My Cousin Vinny, The Thin Blue Line, Shawshank Redemption, The Fugitive, Armchair Detective, Chicago News

Hollywood relishes tales of villains, victims and heroes, so it is not surprising that movies about miscarriages of justice have long been a staple of the film industry.

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A Prosecutor's True Calling

David Protess | Posted 02.11.2012

Read More: Juan Rivera, Jerry Hobbs, Wrongful Convictions, Chicago Crime, Lake County Illinois, Chicago News, Death Penalty, Anita Alvarez, Chicago News

Wrongful convictions occur because prosecutors forget that their mandate "in a criminal prosecution is not that it shall win a case, but that justice shall be done," as the United States Supreme Court has decided.

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The Murder of Innocence

David Protess | Posted 02.05.2012

Read More: Murder, Chicago News, Wrongful Convictions, Death Penalty, Crime, Dennis Williams, Victims Rights, Marilyn Green and Jerry Hillard, Herb Whitlock, Randy Steidl, Karen and Dyke Rhoads, Carol Schmal and Larry Lionberg, Armchair Detective, Chicago News

Exonerations can be bittersweet for family members of murder victims.

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Post-Conviction DNA Testing in Massachusetts

Schuster Institute for Investigative Journalism | Posted 01.20.2012

Read More: Dna, Wrongful Convictions, DNA Access Bill, DNA Access Law, Dna Testing, Criminal Justice System, Crime, Wrongful Conviction, Criminal Justice, Massachusetts, Boston Bar Association, Politics News

Nationwide, DNA tests have helped exonerate 280 innocent men and women. Since the first DNA exoneration 22 years ago in 1989, 49 states have passed laws granting inmates the right to test DNA evidence.

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Wrongfully Convicted Man Freed After 2 Decades

AP | By DAVID MERCER | Posted 01.06.2012

Read More: Wrongful Convictions, Jonathan Barr, Video, Robert Lee Veal, Shainne Sharp, Dixmoor Five, Innocence Project, James Harden Dixmoor, James Harden, Chicago News

-- One of five men sent to prison for the rape and murder of a middle school classmate two decades ago walked out of an Illinois prison Friday, exone...

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After 2 Decades In Prison, Men Cleared In 1991 Rape And Murder Of Girl

AP | SOPHIA TAREEN | Posted 01.03.2012

Read More: Cateresa Matthews, Wrongful Convictions, Dixmoor Five Convictions Vacated, Center on Wrongful Convictions, Dixmoor Five Dna, Coerced Confessions, Dixmoor Five, Chicago News

CHICAGO — After spending almost two decades in jail for a rape and murder he didn't commit, Robert Taylor walked out of an Illinois prison a fre...

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Chicago Ought to Change the Standard Ending to That Old Wrongful Conviction Story

Locke Bowman | Posted 12.20.2011

Read More: Wrongful Conviction, Wrongful Convictions, Chicago Police Department, Chicago Police, Jacques Rivera, Eyewitness Identification, Cook County Jail, Chicago Wrongful Conviction, Chicago News

Behind each wrongful conviction lie broken lives and shattered dreams. Each one represents a serious and substantial failure of law enforcement: the wrong person locked up; the actual perpetrator at large.

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Man Wrongfully Convicted Of Murder Released After 21 Years In Prison

Posted 12.05.2011

Read More: Jacques Rivera Released, Wrongful Convictions, Video, Illinois Wrongful Convictions, David Protess, Jacques Rivera Conviction, Chicago Innocence Project, Medill Innocence Project, Jacques Rivera, Innocence Project, Northwestern Center on Wrongful Convictions, Chicago News

A Chicago man convicted in 1988 of killing a gang member and sentenced to 80 years in prison was released Tuesday after the purported crime's only eye...

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Journalists: How You Can Localize the Troy Davis Story

Schuster Institute for Investigative Journalism | Posted 11.22.2011

Read More: Troy Davis Execution, Troy Davis, Eyewitness Misidentification, Brandon Garrett, Innocence Project, Eyewitness Identification, DNA Exonerations, Wrongful Convictions, Criminal Justice System, Criminal Justice, Media News

Experts say human memory is malleable and that eyewitnesses' recollections should be treated with the delicacy of any other crime scene evidence. That doesn't always happen. Here, a resource guide for covering misidentifications and wrongful convictions in your jurisdiction.

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WATCH: Chicagoans Rally In Support Of Troy Davis

Posted 11.21.2011

Read More: Troy Davis Execution, Troy Davis Chicago, Obama, Troy Davis Chicago Rally, Mark MacPhail, Wrongful Convictions, Video, Troy Davis Death Penalty, Nathan Deal, Jimmy Carter, Death Penalty, Chicago Impact, Troy Davis, Chicago News

UPDATE: The U.S. Supreme Court also turned down Davis's request for a stay of execution. Davis was executed by lethal injection Wednesday night and wa...

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Another Tortured Confession? Court To Hear Inmate's Case

AP | KAREN HAWKINS | Posted 11.15.2011

Read More: Wrongful Convictions, Jon Burge, Burge Police Torture, Chicago Police Torture, Police Torture, Stanley Wrice Wrongful Conviction, Chicago News

SPRINGFIELD, Ill. — Illinois Supreme Court justices challenged prosecutors Thursday about the strength of their evidence in the rape conviction ...

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Illinois Death Penalty Officially Ends

The Huffington Post/AP | Posted 08.31.2011

Read More: Wrongful Convictions, Capital Punishment, Pat Quinn, Illinois Death Penalty Ends, Death Penalty Ban, Illinois Death Penalty Ban, Death Penalty, Illinois Death Penalty, George Ryan, Chicago News

It's been more than a decade since former Illinois Governor George Ryan imposed a moratorium on executions and cleared death row, fearing that an impe...

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Compensation Proves Elusive For Men Wrongfully Accused In Park Rape Case

HuffingtonPost.com | Matt Sledge | Posted 07.06.2011

Read More: Wilding, Central Park Jogger, Joel Rudin, Central Park, Robert Morgenthau, DNA Exoneration, Central Park Jogger Rape, Innocence Project, Chronicle of a City Wilding, Jabbar Collins, Wrongful Convictions, Sarah Burns, Nypd, Central Park Five, Exonerations, New York News

NEW YORK -- When police in New York are accused of misconduct, the city usually likes to settle quickly and quietly. New York City dished out $117 mil...

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Chicago Police Miss the Message about the Cost of Wrongful Convictions

Locke Bowman | Posted 06.12.2011

Read More: Wrongful Conviction, Jon Burge Torture, Wrongful Convictions, Jon Burge, Chicago Police, Rahm Emanuel, Jon Burge Trial, Chicago News

Mayor-elect Emanuel has made a point of vowing to make Chicago a cost efficient city. The role of the Chicago Police Department in wrongful convictions is costing the city tens of millions of dollars.

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