Winter 2010 - The Innocence Project

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18 INNOCENCE BY THE NUMBERS PROSECUTORIAL MISCONDUCT Prosecutorial misconduct undoubtedly leads to wrongful convictions, but because of the surreptitious nature of misconduct, it’s difficult to measure the scope of the problem. (Examples include withholding evidence from the defense, deliberate mishandling or destruction of evidence, coercion of false confessions, the use of unreliable government informants or snitches, and more.) Therefore, the data below is not comprehensive and includes only cases in which information is available. These numbers offer a glimpse of the frequency of prosecutorial misconduct and also reveal the startling fact of how rarely prosecutors are held accountable for their actions. Number of the first 255 DNA exonerees to allege prosecutorial misconduct in their appeals or in a civil trial 63 Number of those 63 in which courts found error, whether harmful or harmless 30 Number of those 30 in which courts found “harmful error” that lead to a reversal of the conviction 13 Number of cases of prosecutorial misconduct identified from 1997-2009 in California through a Northern California Innocence Project investigation 707 * Number of California prosecutors that were identified for repeated instances of misconduct between the years 1997-2009 67 Number of those California cases from 1997-2009 in which prosecutors were disciplined 6 Number of cases documented through a recent USA Today investigation in which federal prosecutors violated laws or ethics rules since 1997 201 * Number of cases identified by USA Today in which a federal prosecutor had been disbarred, even temporarily, in the past 12 years 1 *See Preventable Error: A Report on Prosecutorial Misconduct in California 1997-2009, by Kathleen M. Ridolfi and Maurice Possley *See “Prosecutors’ Conduct Can Tip Justice Scales” USA TODAY, Sept. 23, 2010 by Brad Heath and Kevin McCoy
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, 261 people in the United States have been exonerated by DNA testing, including 17 who served time on death row. These people served an average of 13 years in prison before exoneration and release. The Innocence Project’s full-time staff attorneys and Cardozo clinic students provided 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. OUR STAFF Olga Akselrod: Staff Attorney, Angela Amel: Director of Social Worker and Associate Director of Operations/ Litigation Department, Anna Arons, Paralegal, Corinne Audet: Finance and Human Resources Associate, Elena Aviles: Document Manager, Rebecca Brown: Policy Advocate, Loretta Carty: Legal Assistant, Paul Cates: Director of Communications, Sarah Chu: Forensic Policy Associate, Scott Clugstone: Director of Finance and Administration, Craig Cooley: Staff Attorney, Valencia Craig: Case Management Database Administrator, Hensleigh Crowell: Paralegal, Jamie Cunningham: Policy Associate, Huy Dao: Case Director, Madeline deLone: Executive Director, Ana Marie Diaz: Case Assistant, Nicholas Goodness: Case Analyst, Edwin Grimsley: Case Analyst, Caitlin Hanvey: Development Assistant, Nicole Leigh Harris: Policy Analyst, Barbara Hertel: Finance Associate, William D. Ingram: Case Assistant, Jeffrey Johnson: Office Manager, Matt Kelley: Online Communications Manager, Jason Kreag: Staff Attorney, Audrey Levitin: Director of Development, David Loftis: Managing Attorney, Laura Ma: Assistant Director, Donor Services, Alba Morales: Staff Attorney, Nina Morrison: Staff Attorney, Cristina Najarro: Paralegal, Peter Neufeld: Co-Director, Jung- Hee Oh: Administrative Associate, Legal Department, Charlie Piper: Special Assistant, Vanessa Potkin: Staff Attorney, Kristin Pulkkinen: Assistant Director of Development for Individual Giving, N. Anthony Richardson: Assistant and Database Administrator, Richard Salatiello: Director of Institutional Giving, Stephen Saloom: Policy Director, Alana Salzberg: Communications Associate, Barry Scheck: Co-Director, Chester Soria: Communications Assistant, Maggie Taylor: Senior Case Analyst, Elizabeth Vaca: Assistant to the Directors, Marc Vega: Case Assistant, Elizabeth Webster: Publications Manager, Elizabeth Weill-Greenberg: Case Analyst, Emily West: Research Director, Karen Wolff: Social Worker
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Winter 2010 - The Innocence Project

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