A Florida man who served more than 34 years of a 400-year prison term on an armed robbery conviction was released Wednesday after prosecutors found his identity likely to be wrong.
Release of 57-year-old Sidney Holmes It’s been less than a week since New York man Sheldon Thomas was released after 18 years after being convicted of wrongful murder.
Maurice Hastings, the week before Thomas was released After nearly 40 years in prison, he was acquitted in California.
All three men were acquitted after the local public prosecutor’s office’s Conviction Review Unit reviewed their cases. and its influence could extend beyond the release of wrongfully imprisoned people, experts say.
Marissa Bleustein, assistant director of the Quatron Center for Fair Justice Administration at the University of Pennsylvania Law School, said: “But we can also learn from that error to prevent these errors from occurring in the future.”
What is a Conviction Review Unit?
The CRU conducts extrajudicial investigations into past convictions to determine whether convicted persons should be released because they are innocent or because the conviction process was flawed. increase.
Some CRUs are also in place, she said Auditing incidents involving bad actors When a prosecutor determines that a person has been convicted of a crime more serious than it should have been and adjusts the sentencing, they issue a correction of the case.
Some units have multiple attorneys, investigators, and support staff. Others, however, are essentially ‘one man or one woman shows’.
“My experience and visceral impression from talking to these units over the years is that some of them may need more help, and more resources and funding are needed. If we have, it means we’ll be bigger and produce more,” she said.
How many CRUs are there?
The first CRUs appeared in the late 2000s, and there are now more than 115 CRUs in more than 2,500 national prosecutor’s offices, according to Bluestine.
“It was a quantum leap forward, but there are still quite a few ways to make it a little more ubiquitous across systems,” she said. “I think people are starting to demand more of it.”
How many were acquitted?
CRU is involved in more than 670 of the country’s more than 3,280 acquittals. National Indulgence RegisterThe most common factors leading to exoneration are official misconduct, perjury or false accusations, false or misleading forensic evidence, false confessions, false witness identification, and inadequate legal defenses. said Paredes.
More than half of the 96 CRUs listed on the Registry’s website have not pleaded not guilty. Bluestine said older units that don’t allow immunity in larger jurisdictions could be a cause for concern, but in general, this shows how long and rewarding the reinvestigation is. It is a reflection of what can be.
How does the CRU exonerate wrongfully convicted persons?
Unlike appeals, the CRU often works with organizations such as the Innocence Project and defense attorneys to review cases, Bluestein said.
“Under post-conviction law, it would be very troublesome for someone to appear in court to overturn their conviction,” she said.
Brucetine said it can be difficult to track down witnesses willing to testify or find testable physical evidence. She said she may not be able to return to court.
Bluestein is it was friday in february lamar johnson After spending nearly 30 years wrongfully imprisoned for murder. The Missouri attorney general’s office fought to keep Johnson in prison, but a state law was passed to make it easier for prosecutors to get new hearings if there is new evidence of a wrongful conviction. rice field.
The final decision rests with the judge, Bluestine said. The process involves “extraordinary obstacles” and could take years, she said.
“It’s an extraordinary endeavor that requires dedicated resources, but it also requires luck and a favorable legal environment,” she said.
CRU improved, but needs more resources
Bluestine says the CRU represents a meaningful change in a structure that leans toward “the values of transparency, flexibility and independence.”
Most units were initially run by professional prosecutors, but more than half are now headed by someone with experience as a defense attorney, she said.
Bluestine said these units, if well-functioning, could have a wider impact on how the prosecutor’s office operates, but they need more support.
“You can announce a unit, but you don’t raise resources, you don’t give it the right amount of independence, you don’t give it the right amount of flexibility, you don’t give it the right amount of transparency, you don’t have transparency. If so, that’s really an open question…whether it’s a sincere effort or not,” she said.
dig deeper
Contributed by Associated Press
Contact breaking news reporter N’dea Yancey-Bragg at nyanceybra@gannett.com or follow her on Twitter. @Ndea Yancey Bragg
