News Archive

Saturday, October 2, 2021, will mark the eighth annual commemoration of International Wrongful Conviction Day. It is a day to raise awareness of the causes and remedies of wrongful conviction and to recognize the personal, social, and emotional costs of wrongful conviction for innocent people and their families. It is an effort of the Innocence Network, an affiliation of 68 worldwide organizations dedicated to providing free legal and investigative services to innocent people, working to redress the causes of wrongful convictions, and supporting the exonerated once they are freed. IU McKinney’s Wrongful Conviction Clinic is a founding member of the Innocence Network. Professor Fran Watson, ’80, is the clinic’s director.

This year’s theme is #TheFightContinues, and the network is considering the many fights that are ongoing despite the victories celebrated. #TheFightContinues for the thousands who remain wrongfully incarcerated, for exonerees who face new challenges upon their release, and for those working to prevent the multitude of injustices that contribute to wrongful convictions. Building public awareness and engagement is an essential part of work to free innocent people from prison and prevent wrongful conviction. Join the Innocence Network in the continued fight for justice and accountability this Wrongful Conviction Day. Consider, too, signing a petition urging the Chairmen of the House & Senate Judiciary Committees to support the Justice for Exonerees Act.

Current Wrongful Conviction Clinic students working to gain freedom for wrongfully convicted clients are Sasha Blevins, Alaina Goschke, Rebekah Hammond, Kaleb Hobgood, Hannah Price, Jimmy Sedam, Virginia Speck, and Jake Zurschmiede. On Wrongful Conviction Day 2021, Professor Watson thanks all students, past and present, who have shared in the struggles and triumphs on behalf of clients, including those now included on The National Registry of Exonerations:

Andy Royer was released from prison in 2020, during the height of the pandemic. Royer’s conviction was out of Ekhart County in 2005, for the murder of an elderly woman on Thanksgiving. Andy was 27 when he began serving the next 16 years in prison. He was facing 10 more years when his release was secured. Royer was convicted with false fingerprint evidence and perjury from an informant threatened by police. This case was a team representation by IU McKinney’s Wrongful Conviction Clinic and the newly formed exoneration clinic at Notre Dame Law School.  

William Barnhouse of Delaware County was 35 years of age when wrongfully convicted in 1992 for rape. He was released in 2017, with 15 actual years remaining on his sentence, after the prosecutor agreed to DNA testing and he was excluded. The basis for this wrongful conviction included mistaken eyewitness identification. IU McKinney’s Wrongful Conviction Clinic represented Barnhouse with the Innocence Project, New York.  

Darryl Pinkins and co-defendant of Roosevelt Glenn were featured in an episode of the CBS News show 48 Hours, which detailed their exonerations from convictions for sexual assault as a result of breakthrough DNA technology. At age 39, in 1991, Pinkins began serving 26 years in prison for a crime he did not commit. At the time charged, he was married, a father, a veteran, employed, and without a single prior arrest. His life crashed around him due to a witness misidentification and police tunnel vision extraordinaire.       

Roosevelt Glenn, co-defendant of Darryl Pinkins, also was sentenced to prison for sexual assault out of Lake County. Beginning in 1993, at age 31, Glenn served the entire 36-year sentence imposed (requiring 18 years). After his release, Glenn was exonerated by probabilistic genotyping DNA testing performed pro bono by Cybergenetics. The case was profiled on 48 Hours in the episode, Guilty Until Proven Innocent, which aired February 4, 2017. Glenn wrote a book about his experience, Innocent Nightmare.   

Larry Mayes, convicted by Lake County when he was 30 years of age, was the 100th person on the official tally of exonerees by DNA testing. He spent 21 years in prison for rape and robbery before his DNA exoneration came in 2001. This case included a mistaken eyewitness identification. Uniquely, the identification had been heavily influenced by hypnosis of the victim, and the fact of hypnosis had not been revealed to the defense at the time of trial, i.e. a violation.