News Archive

Professor Fran Watson, '80, and her students in the Wrongful Conviction Clinic are in Crown Point, Indiana, presenting evidence in the hopes of vacating Cleveland Bynum's 300-year sentence and winning a new trial. Bynum was convicted in the murder of five people, crimes to which another man would later confess.

The hearing has been covered by the Gary Post-Tribune, and the Times of Northwest Indiana. The case, and Professor Watson's involvement, was the subject of a story that appeared in Indianapolis Monthly in 2017. After police questioned Bynum for nine hours, he confessed. Police had refused to allow him to make a phone call, denied access to an attorney, threatened him with physical violence, threatened to arrest his fiancé which would send his child into state custody, withheld food and water, and refused to allow him to use the restroom during the questioning. The lone witness, who was age 10 at the time, testified that another man committed the crimes. That man would later confess to the murders.

"I'll meet this burden through old and new evidence, including DNA testing that excluded Bynum but implicates a Gary officer's son, and a new statement from (witness) Larry Brooks who has recanted his testimony," Professor Watson is quoted as saying during the hearing February 3. "We believe the evidence will warrant a new trial."

Professor Watson is the founding director of the Wrongful Conviction Clinic at IU McKinney. She is a clinical professor of law and teaches in Law and Forensic Science, and Lawyering Practice, along with the Wrongful Conviction Clinic.