Innocence Project

For 21 years, Larry Mayes served time in an Indiana prison for a crime he did not commit. His father, daughter and brother all died as he maintained his innocence. On Friday, three weeks after DNA testing cleared his name, the 52-year-old celebrated his return to civilian life while the Innocence Project, which worked to secure his release, marked the 100th time it has freed an innocent person. "I always knew I was innocent.

HOUSTON -- A Texas man convicted of setting a fire that killed his two stepsons has been granted a new trial by the state's highest criminal court amid a statewide review of questionable arson convictions. Ed Graf's case is one of several arson cases under review by the Lubbock-based Innocence Project of Texas and a new state fire panel reexamining arson investigations that may have been compromised by faulty scientific conclusions. The unprecedented investigation of closed cases was recommended by the state's Forensic Science Commission.

GEORGETOWN, Texas - In emotional testimony Monday, a Texas man told a judge how it felt spending 25 years in prison for a murder he did not commit. “Brutal,” Michael Morton said. “But after a couple decades, I got used to it.” Morton, 58, who grew up in Los Angeles, was convicted in the 1986 beating death of his wife, Christine, at their home. He was exonerated and released almost a year and a half ago after DNA tests confirmed his innocence. Another man has since been charged in connection with the killing.

It took more than 13 years and appeals at nearly every level of the state and federal court system, but with the simple turn of a key by a state correctional officer on Tuesday afternoon, Daniel Larsen was unshackled and free. "I feel good, feel blessed," Larsen said with an ear-to-ear grin as he rode the elevator down to the main floor of the U.S. Central District Court in downtown Los Angeles, surrounded by friends and family. Magistrate Judge Suzanne Segal ordered Larsen's release, finding that he was "actually innocent" of carrying a concealed knife during a 1998 bar fight in Northridge.

HOUSTON -- A Texas man convicted of setting a fire that killed his two stepsons has been granted a new trial by the state's highest criminal court amid a statewide review of questionable arson convictions. Ed Graf's case is one of several arson cases under review by the Lubbock-based Innocence Project of Texas and a new state fire panel reexamining arson investigations that may have been compromised by faulty scientific conclusions. The unprecedented investigation of closed cases was recommended by the state's Forensic Science Commission.

Kudos for the crucial moral lesson communicated so well in the article about Herman Atkins' false imprisonment and exoneration through DNA evidence ("Worst-Case Scenario," by Fred Dickey, June 25). The moral lesson, however, was stained indelibly through the actions of attorneys Barry Scheck and Peter Neufeld of the Innocence Project, which obtained Atkins' release. Most of us will never forget how Scheck and Neufeld misused their expertise by pursuing a policy of obfuscation concerning the DNA evidence presented in the O.J. Simpson trial.

The case of a man sent to prison in 1987 after being convicted in the kidnap and rape of a 14-year-old girl will be reviewed after questions were raised about his case and the role of the city's embattled police lab, the police chief said Friday. A legal group representing George Rodriguez alleges faulty testimony from a police crime lab scientist led to a wrongful conviction.

Two witnesses in an investigation by Northwestern University journalism students said they were paid in the hopes that they would help free a convicted murderer, prosecutors alleged in court filings. Tony Drakes and Michael Lane told state's attorney investigators that they were given money in an attempt to help free Anthony McKinney, convicted of slaying a guard in 1982, prosecutors said. Professor David Protess of the university's Medill School of Journalism called the latest filing by the state "so filled with factual errors that if my students had done this kind of reporting or investigating, I would have given them an F."

Regarding the article, "O.C. Aims to Unearth Wrongful Convictions," (Sept. 21): Hats off to the district attorney and sheriff I helped elect for their participation in a project that might free an innocent person from prison if that mistake was indeed made. What troubles me, however, is that law students from a local college might be allowed to place their own views of "freedom" upon this unique arrangement by being part of the public defender's own "Innocence Project." This program would allow law college students to review cases and search for evidence that might allow convicted criminals to be set free.

Researchers at Marquette University say they have developed a first-of-its kind computer program that can measure bite characteristics. They say their work could lead to a database of bite characteristics that could narrow down suspects and lend more scientific weight to bite-mark testimony. "The naysayers are saying, 'You can throw all this out. It's junk science. It's voodoo. This is a bunch of boobs that are causing a lot of problems and heartaches for people,' " said team leader Dr. L. Thomas Johnson, a forensic dentist who helped identify victims of the cannibalistic Milwaukee serial killer Jeffrey Dahmer.

This week it was announced that DNA testing of bones found buried beneath a parking lot in Leicester, England, had established that they belonged to King Richard III, who was killed in battle in 1485. Researchers were able to match DNA recovered from the skeleton with that of a living descendant of the much-vilified monarch's sister. The find was just the latest reminder of the immense power of DNA evidence, power that is expanding history and criminal justice but that also is subject to misuse.

GEORGETOWN, Texas - In emotional testimony Monday, a Texas man told a judge how it felt spending 25 years in prison for a murder he did not commit. “Brutal,” Michael Morton said. “But after a couple decades, I got used to it.” Morton, 58, who grew up in Los Angeles, was convicted in the 1986 beating death of his wife, Christine, at their home. He was exonerated and released almost a year and a half ago after DNA tests confirmed his innocence. Another man has since been charged in connection with the killing.

Re "300th prisoner freed by DNA testing," Oct. 1 The NFL's replacement referees blow a game-deciding call and it's decried as the unthinkable finally happening. The calamity is front-page news and even commands the attention of the White House. But the news that yet another person on death row has been freed based on DNA evidence, the 18th death row inmate and 300th overall, elicits barely a yawn and is buried inside The Times. The "bad calls" by prosecutors, judges, juries and appellate courts in each of these cases surely merit a little more attention and perhaps a little more analysis of how and why they were made.

A man who spent 24 years in a Florida prison for crimes he did not commit has been arrested and charged with attempted murder in another case, according to officials. Alan Jerome Crotzer has been charged with attempted murder and with shooting into a car in Tallahassee, Fla., wounding Antoine Davis in the arm and leg, according to police. Davis told authorities Crotzer had threatened him several months ago after they had an argument. With the help of the Innocence Project of Florida and in part because of new DNA evidence, Crotzer was exonerated in 2006 of rape and robbery charges.

HOUSTON -- The Texas Supreme Court has ordered the Lone Star State to pay more than $2 million to a former inmate who spent 26 years in prison for murder, a ruling that could set a precedent for compensating other prisoners whose convictions are overturned.   Billy Frederick Allen, now in his 60s, was convicted of two 1983 Dallas-area murders. Unlike other inmates freed after DNA evidence proved their innocence, Allen was freed in 2009 after a court found problems with witness testimony and his trial attorneys' representation.

Three men convicted of purse snatching -- one of whom was sentenced to 99 years in prison -- were exonerated Friday in Dallas. They are the latest examples of men who have been wrongly convicted of crimes in Texas. Darryl Washington, Marcus Lashun Smith and Shakara Robertson were arrested in November 1994 and charged with aggravated robbery. The victim could not identify them, but witnesses who gave chase claimed the trio was responsible. As a result, a jury convicted Washington, who received the 99-year sentence, while Smith and Robertson accepted plea deals and were sentenced to probation.

For many rap music fans, the criminal justice system has been good for only one thing--as source material for artists to express their discontent with it. Although such politically charged music has been great for pumping up fans and selling millions of records, it has failed to effect social change. "Oz," due in stores today, may help change that.

This week it was announced that DNA testing of bones found buried beneath a parking lot in Leicester, England, had established that they belonged to King Richard III, who was killed in battle in 1485. Researchers were able to match DNA recovered from the skeleton with that of a living descendant of the much-vilified monarch's sister. The find was just the latest reminder of the immense power of DNA evidence, power that is expanding history and criminal justice but that also is subject to misuse.

The case of a grocery store clerk wrongly convicted of murdering his wife has rocked the legal system across Texas, and not just because an innocent man served 25 years of a life sentence. Supporters of Michael Morton, who was set free in October, say he might never been convicted if a prominent prosecutor had shared significant evidence with the defense at the time of the trial. "Mr. Morton was the victim of serious prosecutorial misconduct that … completely ripped apart his family," said Barry Scheck, co-director of the Innocence Project in New York, which represented Morton in his appeal.

California courts last year found that Los Angeles County prosecutors withheld evidence, intentionally misled jurors or committed other types of misconduct in 31 criminal cases, according to an Innocence Project report released last week. The decisions involved convictions dating back as far as 1984 and were among 102 California cases in which the group found that courts identified prosecutorial misconduct. In 26 of the cases — nine in Los Angeles County — the courts cited the misconduct in decisions to order a new trial, set aside a sentence or bar evidence, according to the Northern California Innocence Project, which is based at the Santa Clara University School of Law. Los Angeles County accounts for about a quarter of the state's felony criminal filings and one-third of felony trials.