News Archive
Wrongful Conviction Clinic Working to Help Man Win New Trial
07/18/2019
Professor Fran Watson, '80, Director of the Wrongful Conviction Clinic at IU McKinney, is part of the team working to get an Elkhart, Indiana, man a new trial.
Andrew Royer is a mentally disabled man who is serving a 55-year prison sentence over a murder that happened 17 years ago. His petition for post-conviction relief alleges instances of withheld and/or destroyed exculpatory evidence, witness coercion, perjury, psychologically coercive interrogation techniques, and ineffective assistance of counsel. Royer, who has the mental capacity of a 10-year-old, says police did not give him his medication during the two-day, hours-long interrogation, and did not provided counsel or a mental health counselor during the interrogation. A story about the case appears in the Indiana Lawyer.
Professor Watson is the founding director of the Wrongful Conviction Clinic at IU McKinney. She is a clinical professor of law and teaches in the Criminal Defense Clinic and the Wrongful Conviction Clinic.
