Illinois Innocence Project

Voices from opposite sides of the political spectrum come together in this op-ed column to recommend a common sense measure -- keeping out of our justice system by applying the federal system rule that regulates it to our state court systems. As this column reveals, it's a factor in many , including a case they discuss that kept an man in prison for 37 years on the basis of bite-mark analysis until he was freed this year.

States should adopt the federal rule that keeps junk science out of criminal courts It empowers judges to act as gatekeepers, preventing speculative science from reaching juries or being admitted in the discovery process.

For 40 years, Charles McCrory has lingered in prisons for a murder conviction based on a discredited junk science, . Even the dentist who testified against him has sworn off the analysis he offered at McCrory's trial. And now, finally, a judge's ruling on Monday could have McCrory on the verge of again becoming a free man.

‘Junk science’: Alabama man convicted of wife’s 1985 murder gets new trial Charles McCrory was convicted after an expert said he bit his wife during her murder. But the expert has since changed his mind.

If you read John Grisham's book "The Innocent Man" or saw the documentary series adapted out of it, you are likely to remember the case of Karl Fontenot. Fontenot is fighting for a new trial, with the help of the Oklahoma Innocence Project at OCU Law. He has been free since 2019, after losing 35 years to . The man with him on the same faulty evidence, Tommy Ward, remains in prison still today. It is one of those cases that strains all credulity in trying to understand the state's actions.

Oklahoma Innocence Project seeks new trial for Karl Fontenot in Ada case The Oklahoma Innocence Project is seeking a new trial for Karl Fontenot, whose case was featured in the Netflix documentary “The Innocent Man,” with a motions hearing scheduled Tuesday in Ada.

The Mid-Atlantic Innocence Project is working to get the conviction of their client Curtis Ryan Morris thrown out in a potential case, citing evidence that was never presented at his trial -- a CT scan that shows blood clotting on the brain that experts say couldn't have happened in the short duration of time after an incident of violent shaking of a baby had occurred.

A baby died in his care. MD man has spent years trying to clear his name. Curtis Ryan Morris is challenging his 2014 Maryland conviction after new medical evidence suggests preexisting conditions in an infant's death.

All those who work in the movement face situations like this all the time. James Richardson has maintained all along that he is innocent of a double-murder in Greenville, N.C., that he was convicted of 17 years ago.

Despite Richardson not matching the description of the suspect, driving a different make and color of car than that involved in the shootings and having the prosecution's key witness at trial recant his testimony implicating Richardson, he can't find the right opportunity in the justice system for pursuing a reversal of his case. Yet his family and friends continue to persevere on his behalf, as this rally from Saturday shows they are willing to continue the fight as long as it takes.

Prayer vigil for James Richardson demands freedom following denied hearing Community organizers and family members gathered outside the Pitt County Courthouse on Saturday afternoon for a prayer and protest vigil supporting James Richardson, who maintains his innocence after serving 17 years in prison

In a story you almost can't believe, Charles Moore walked free after 30 years in 's prisons yesterday. He was there because of flaws in the system that let a probation violation and possession of a small amount of ma*****na turn into a life sentence.

Check out the full story below from the Innocence Project of Florida, which helped him find the road to freedom.

Excellent news for an man imprisoned for the last 28 years, as he appears to be on the verge of having his conviction thrown out and getting a new trial. The Indiana Court of Appeals has upheld a lower court's ruling granting a new for Jason Hubbell, a client of the Notre Dame Exoneration Justice Clinic, who was convicted of killing Sharon Myers.

The state withheld evidence from Hubbell and his counsel about another man, Michael Dean Overstreet, who was convicted of a similar murder in the same year and close-by location to where Myers was found. Prosecutors also had statements from Overstreet’s then-wife that, on the day Myers disappeared, Overstreet left home unusually early in a white cargo van and returned later that evening disheveled and covered in blood. The court also discussed statements from a former co-worker who told investigators that Overstreet had said he was having an affair with a woman named Sharon in Columbus and had gotten her pregnant.

Indiana Court of Appeals Affirms New Trial for Notre Dame Exoneration Justice Clinic Client Jason Hubbell | The Law School | University of Notre Dame The Indiana Court of Appeals has affirmed a lower court ruling granting Jason Hubell a new trial, a client of the Notre Dame Exoneration Justice Clinic (EJC) who has spent more than 28 years in prison for the 1997 murder of Sharon Myers.

Today is both and the 40-year anniversary of one of the most tragic cases you'll come across. Tim Cole was a U.S. Army veteran and a student at University when authorities wrongly decided he was responsible of a sexual assault of another student. He was convicted on this date in 1986 and sentenced to 25 years in prison, and it was in prison where he died after suffering an asthma attack 13 years later.

It wasn't until another 10 years had passed that Texas authorities tested evidence from the crime, confirming that another man, Jerry Wayne Johnson, was the actual perpetrator in the Texas Tech sexual assault. Tim Cole became the first person in state history to be posthumously , and today a statue in his honor reminding all of his case stands outside the Texas Tech College of Law.

Wrongful conviction of Texas Tech student Tim Cole hits 40-year anniversary The family of Tim Cole, a Texas Tech student and U.S. Army veteran wrongly convicted of sexual assault in 1986, will mark 40 years since his conviction on September 17, 2026.

The long-awaited day finally arrived Tuesday for Thomas Clardy with his release from prison in -- and this time, he won't be going back. Clardy was first freed in 2023 after 17 years of imprisonment when a federal judge threw out his conviction. He spent two years living an exemplary life as a free man before an appellate court overturned that earlier decision, requiring Clardy to return to prison. Tennessee Gov. Bill Lee recently decided to commute Clardy's sentence, and on Tuesday, he walked out into the arms of his family -- including his 2-year-old daughter named Innocence -- for good.

Thomas Clardy walks free again after Gov. Lee commutes sentence Clardy was greeted outside the prison by his fiancée, Keondra Cooper, their young daughter, Innocence, and dozens of supporters who waited to hug him.

IIP will be in court on Wednesday for an initial hearing in the case of client Michael Roye, who was convicted of murder in 2008. After a comprehensive investigation, a motion was filed by IIP and co-counsel MG+M The Law Firm in Randolph County in late August seeking to have Roye's conviction overturned. The victim, Casey Morgan, was someone that Roye had dated, but new testing of more than a dozen items from the crime scene in Steeleville, Ill., all exclude Roye as a source matching anything found in the samples.

Numerous other problems are detailed in the filing about the investigative process and the state's flawed theory of the case, including blood-spatter analysis that was at the heart of the arguments they presented. All biological evidence from the crime scene now fails to connect Roye to the murder. Roye, who has been imprisoned for the last 19 years, is an Army veteran with no prior criminal history until this case came along.

You can read the full filing in all its details seeking to have Roye's conviction overturned at:
https://uofi.box.com/s/jwkkdlbxd27kfvvf9qd90sd8wq7bueno