Innocence Project Research

Background:

The Innocence Project was founded in 1992 by Barry C. Scheck and Peter J. Neufeld at the Benjamin
N. Cardozo School of Law at Yeshiva University to assist prisoners who could be proven innocent
through DNA testing. To date, more than 300 people in the United States have been exonerated by
DNA testing, including 20 who served time on death row. These people served an average of 14
years in prison before exoneration and release.

The Innocence Project’s full-time staff attorneys and Cardozo clinic students provide direct
representation or critical assistance in most of these cases. The Innocence Project’s groundbreaking
use of DNA technology to free innocent people has provided irrefutable proof that wrongful
convictions are not isolated or rare events but instead arise from systemic defects. Now an
independent nonprofit organization closely affiliated with Cardozo School of Law at Yeshiva
University, the Innocence Project’s mission is nothing less than to free the staggering numbers of
innocent people who remain incarcerated and to bring substantive reform to the system responsible
for their unjust imprisonment.

Your Task:

1. Using the Innocence Project website, research a legal case of someone who has been
exonerated by DNA testing. http://www.innocenceproject.org/
2. On the Innocence Project website, study the profile of one person including all details of their
case, why they were convicted, how long they have been incarcerated, what was the
unreliable and limited science used in their case, dates, timeline, etc. Be sure to watch any
video clips or listen to audio clips of interviews of those who have been exonerated.
3. Additionally, you will include research of the case from newspaper articles, news stories, or
any other reliable source to gather more information about the person and the case.
4. Prepare an infographic (using Canva or create a google powerpoint) of the case and its facts.
The infographic should include a timeline, thorough and accurate background and details of
the case, information of all persons involved (suspects and victims), non-graphic
pictures/photographs, and a detailed explanation of the role that DNA played in the
exoneration (testing, source, etc.). This will serve as your overview/summary of the case.
5. Prepare a presentation using Google slides of the case you have chosen. You will prepare a
total of at least 10 slides (including the infographic on the last slide).

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Slide Number/ Contents
Title
#1 Title Slide ● Person’s Name (bigger than anything else)
*Title should be ● Picture (of the exonerated individual)
your person’s ● Your Name
name* ● Block
#2 General ● Person’s Name
Info ● State of offense (Jurisdiction)
● Charges/ Conviction
● Year of conviction
● Sentenced for (length of sentence)
● Picture (of the exonerated individual)
#3 ● What were the things that contributed to their incarceration?
Contributing Describe how the accused was incorrectly identified as the suspect in the case.
Be as detailed as you can.
Causes
● Picture (of something related to the crime or individual)
#4 Summary ● Describe the person’s background & history prior to conviction or after
their exoneration (if nothing could be found about their life prior)
(DO NOT SUMMARIZE THE CRIME HERE)
● Picture (of something related to the crime or individual)
#5 Crime ● Summarize the crime (describe what happened in relative detail)
Summary Describe the crime that the accused was alleged to have committed. Be detail
oriented, with a minimum of 5 sentences to describe the crime. You must get
your information directly from the innocence project website and put it into your
own words.
● Picture (of something related to the crime or individual)
#6 Evidence ● Describe the evidence in the case
● Picture (JUST EVIDENCE NOTHING ELSE)
#7 Trial ● What about the trial was noteworthy? Why didn’t the lawyers and jury see
that they were convicting an innocent person? Was evidence overlooked?
Be objective here and share as many important facts as viewers should
know about this case.
#8 ● How did the accused get exonerated for this crime? Did they write a
Exoneration letter and actively pursue their exoneration? Was the case picked up by
the Innocence Project?
#9 State ● State Name (city or county, if possible)
● Does the state have any compensation law in effect? (YES/NO)
● What is the law? (state it)
● What did the convicted get for compensation? (how much money?)
● Picture (of something related to the crime or individual)
#10 Life ● Picture/ Person’s Name
Post-Exonerati ● How long they spent incarcerated
● Year they were set free
on
● Was the real perpetrator found? If so, who? Explain
● What is the person doing now?

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 Rubric for The Innocence Project Research (100 pts)

Slide Number/ Contents Points

Title
#1 Title Slide ● Person’s Name (bigger than anything else) 10
*Title should be ● Picture (of the exonerated individual)
your person’s ● Your Name
name* ● Block
#2 General ● Person’s Name 10
● State of offense (Jurisdiction)
Info ● Charges/ Conviction
● Year of conviction
● Sentenced for (length of sentence)
● Picture (of the exonerated individual)
#3 ● What were the things that contributed to their incarceration? 10
Describe how the accused was incorrectly identified as the suspect in
Contributing the case. Be as detailed as you can.
Causes ● Picture (of something related to the crime or individual)
#4 Summary ● Describe the person’s background & history prior to conviction 10
or after their exoneration (if nothing could be found about their
life prior)
(DO NOT SUMMARIZE THE CRIME HERE)
● Picture (of something related to the crime or individual)
#5 Crime ● Summarize the crime (describe what happened in relative detail) 10
Describe the crime that the accused was alleged to have committed. Be
Summary detail oriented, with a minimum of 5 sentences to describe the crime.
You must get your information directly from the innocence project
website and put it into your own words.
● Picture (of something related to the crime or individual)
#6 Evidence ● Describe the evidence in the case 10
● Picture (JUST EVIDENCE NOTHING ELSE)
#7 Trial ● What about the trial was noteworthy? Why didn’t the lawyers 10
and jury see that they were convicting an innocent person? Was
evidence overlooked? Be objective here and share as many
important facts as viewers should know about this case.
#8 ● How did the accused get exonerated for this crime? Did they 10
write a letter and actively pursue their exoneration? Was the case
Exoneration picked up by the Innocence Project?
#9 State ● State Name (city or county, if possible) 10
● Does the state have any compensation law in effect? (YES/NO)
● What is the law? (state it)
● What did the convicted get for compensation? (how much
money?)
● Picture (of something related to the crime or individual)
#10 Life ● Picture/ Person’s Name 10
● How long they spent incarcerated
Post-Exonerati ● Year they were set free
on ● Was the real perpetrator found? If so, who? Explain
● What is the person doing now?

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 People Exonerated by the Innocence Project
Sign Up Sheet

Student
Habib Wahir Abdal
Kenneth Adams
George Allen
Marvin Anderson Anna Zawada
Randolph Arledge
Ralph Armstrong
Herman Atkins
Steven Avery
William Barnhouse
Jonathan Barr
Johnny Tall Bear
Antonio Beaver Sophia Miller
Richard Beranek
Michael Blair
Kirk Bloodsworth
Orlando Boquete
Kennedy Brewer Lindy Gildon
Timonth Bridges
Jimmy Ray Bromgard
Levon Brooks
Nathan Brown
Roy Brown
Joseph Buffey Jensyn Robertson
A.B. Butler
Kevin Byrd
Dean Cage
Leonard Callace
Ulysses Rodriguez Charles
Clyde Charles
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Charles Chatman
Robert Clark
Timothy Cole
Ronald Cotton
Sedrick Courtney
Stephan Cowans
Roy Criner
McKinley Cromedy
Alan Crotzer Harley Cannon
Rolando Cruz
Charles Dabbs
Richard Danziger
Gerald Davis
Dewey Davis
Frederick Daye
Wilton Dedge
Jeff Deskovic
Robert Dewey Holly Wilcox
Luis Diaz
Thomas Doswell
Cornelius Dupree
Timothy Durham
Douglas Echols
Clarence Elkins
Lonnie Erby
Scott Fappiano
Lewis Fogle
Dennis Fritz
Larry Fuller
Barry Gibbs Ryen Dickson
James Curtis Giles
Bruce Godschalk

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 Angel Gonzalez
Paula Gray
Anthony Gray
Michael Green
Kevin Green
William Gregory
Bryon Halsey
Dennis Halstead
James Harden
Dion Harrell
William O’Dell Harris
Clarence Harrison
Keith Allen Harward
Andre Hatchett
Travis Hayes
Thomas Haynesworth
Chad Heins
Alejandra Hernandez
Anthony Hicks
Larry Holdren
Edward Honaker
Paul House
Darryl Howard
Darryl Hunt
Henry James
Verneal Jimerson
Albert Johnson
Calvin Johnson
Larry Johnson
Rickie Johnson
Ronald Jones
Joe Jones

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 Clifford Jones
Eric Kelley
John Kogut
Ray Krone
Carlos Lavernia
Steven Linscott
Eddie Joe Lloyd
Eddie James Lowery
Dennis Maher
Ryan Matthews Victoria Walker
Larry Mayes
Curtis McCarty
Antron McCray
Arvin McGee
Thomas McGowan
Clark McMillan
Jerry Miller
Neil Miller
Randall Mills
Marvin Mitchell
Brandon Moon
Michael Morton
Vincent Moto
Alan Newton
Christopher Ochoa
Freddie Peacock
Larry Peterson
Steven Phillips
Jeffrey Pierce
Willie Rainge
John Restivo
Harold Richardson

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 Kevin Richardson
James Richardson Jack Jacobs
Gerard Richardson
Peter Rose
Fredric Saecker
Yusef Salaam
Raymond Santana
Eric Sarsfield
Michael Saunders
Samuel Scott
David Shephard
Walter D. Smith
Frank Lee Smith
Bennie Starks
Frank Sterling
Walter Swift
Terrill Swift
Ronald Gene Taylor
Robert Taylor
Vincent Thames
Damon Thibodeaux
James Tillman
Steven Toney
Eduardo Velasquez
James Waller
Patrick Waller
Douglas Warney
Early Washington
Calvin Washington
Kenney Waters
Troy Webb
Bernard Webster

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 David Wiggins
Dennis Williams
Michael Anthony Williams
Ron Williamson
Calvin Willis
Korey Wise
Glen Woodall
Anthony Wright
Rickey Dale Wyatt
Nicholas Yarris
Larry Youngblood
Kristin Blaise Lobato Savannah Young
Clemente Aguirre-Jarquin Kaitlyn Billera

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