DOCSLIB.ORG

The Problem of False Confessions in the Post-Dna World*

Total Page：16

File Type：pdf, Size：1020Kb

Download full-text PDF Read full-text
The Problem of False Confessions in the Post-Dna World* DRIZIN.LEO.04.DOC 3/1/2005 11:40 AM THE PROBLEM OF FALSE CONFESSIONS IN THE POST-DNA WORLD* ** *** STEVEN A. DRIZIN & RICHARD A. LEO In recent years, numerous individuals who confessed to and were convicted of serious felony crimes have been released from prison— some after many years of incarceration—and declared factually innocent, often as a result of DNA tests that were not possible at the time of arrest, prosecution, and conviction. DNA testing has also exonerated numerous individuals who confessed to serious crimes before their cases went to trial. Numerous others have been released from prison and declared factually innocent in cases that did not involve DNA tests, but instead may have occurred because authorities discovered that the crime never occurred or that it was physically impossible for the (wrongly) convicted defendant to have committed the crime, or because the true perpetrator of the crime was identified, apprehended, and convicted. In this Article, we analyze 125 recent cases of proven interrogation-induced false confessions (i.e., cases in which indisputably innocent individuals confessed to crimes they did not commit) and how these cases were treated by officials in the criminal justice system. This Article has three goals. First, we provide and analyze basic demographic, legal, and case-specific descriptive data from these 125 cases. This is significant because this is the largest cohort of interrogation-induced false confession cases ever identified and studied in the research literature. Second, we analyze the role that (false) confession evidence played in * The authors’ names are listed in alphabetical order. Professors Drizin and Leo would like to thank the many law students for their invaluable research assistance in this project, including Beth Colgan, Kate Shank, Masato Ishibashi, Colleen Ryan, Jason Christopher, Alice Decker, Megan Chmura, and Eric Jehl. A special thanks is due to Kylie Pak for her assistance in both researching and cite checking the Article. We would also like to thank Welsh White for helpful comments on an earlier draft. ** Clinical Professor of Law, Northwestern University School of Law. B.A., 1983, Haverford College; J.D., 1986, Northwestern University School of Law. *** Associate Professor of Criminology, Law and Society, and Associate Professor of Psychology and Social Behavior, University of California, Irvine. B.A., 1985, University of California, Berkeley; M.A., 1989, University of Chicago; J.D., 1994, University of California, Berkeley; Ph.D., 1994, University of California, Berkeley. DRIZIN.LEO.04.DOC 3/1/2005 11:40 AM 2004] FALSE CONFESSIONS IN THE POST-DNA WORLD 892 these cases and how the defendants in these cases were treated by the criminal justice system. In particular, this Article focuses on how criminal justice officials and triers-of-fact respond to confession evidence, whether it biases their evaluations and overwhelms other evidence (particularly evidence of innocence), and how likely false confessions are to lead to the wrongful arrest, prosecution, conviction, and incarceration of the innocent. Analysis of the aforementioned questions leads to the conclusion that the problem of interrogation- induced false confession in the American criminal justice system is far more significant than previously supposed. Furthermore, the problem of interrogation-induced false confessions has profound implications for the study of miscarriages of justice as well as the proper administration of justice. Third, and finally, this Article suggests that several promising policy reforms, particularly mandatory electronic recording of police interrogations, will minimize the number of false confessions and thereby inject a much needed dose of justice into the American criminal justice system. INTRODUCTION ..........................................................................................894 I. THE ROLE OF FALSE CONFESSION IN THE STUDY OF WRONGFUL CONVICTION................................................................901 II. THE SOCIAL PSYCHOLOGY OF POLICE INTERROGATION AND FALSE CONFESSION.........................................................................907 III. METHODOLOGY AND SOURCES OF DATA .......................................924 IV. FALSE CONFESSIONS AND CASE OUTCOMES: QUANTITATIVE TRENDS ...........................................................................................932 A. The False Confession Cases1...................................................932 1. BLACK’S LAW DICTIONARY defines a “confession” as “a statement admitting or acknowledging all facts necessary for conviction of a crime.” A “confession” is distinguished from an “admission” which is “an acknowledgment of a fact or facts tending to prove guilt which falls short of an acknowledgment of all essential elements of the crime.” In the eyes of police and prosecutors, however, a confession has a much broader meaning, encompassing any statements which tend to incriminate a suspect or a defendant in a crime. BLACK’S LAW DICTIONARY 269 (5th ed. 1979). For example, statements placing a defendant at a crime scene are often treated as “confessions,” as are “hypothetical statements” in which a suspect is asked by an interrogator to describe how a crime might have been committed. Also considered confessions are “dream statements” in which a defendant is asked to recount a dream he has had about a crime. There are several cases in our database in which defendants fell short of giving police a full confession. We have included these cases, at the risk of offending suspects or defendants who insist that they never confessed, because the consequences of these inculpatory statements are the same as if the suspect confessed. Police officers relied on these statements as the basis for an arrest, prosecutors relied on them to charge the defendants, and judges and juries often relied on them to convict defendants. DRIZIN.LEO.04.DOC 3/1/2005 11:40 AM 2004] FALSE CONFESSIONS IN THE POST-DNA WORLD 893 B. Demographic Data ..................................................................944 C. Case Characteristics ...............................................................946 D. Case Outcomes ........................................................................949 E. Sources of Exoneration............................................................955 F. Risk of Miscarriage of Justice .................................................959 IV. FALSE CONFESSIONS AND CASE OUTCOMES: QUALITATIVE TRENDS ...........................................................................................963 A. Vulnerable Populations: Children..........................................963 1. Ryan Harris........................................................................964 B. Vulnerable Populations: Juveniles.........................................968 1. Allen Jacob Chesnet ..........................................................969 C. Vulnerable Populations: Mentally Retarded..........................970 1. Michael Gayles ..................................................................971 D. Vulnerable Populations: Mentally Ill.....................................973 1. Colleen Blue ......................................................................974 E. Multiplying Effect of False Confessions..................................974 1. Multiple False Confessions to the Same Crime.................974 a. Frank Kuecken and Jonathan Kaled.............................977 2. Multiple Innocent Defendants Arrested, Charged, and Convicted Based on Co-Defendant’s False Confession ....981 a. Calvin Ollins, Larry Ollins, Marcellus Bradford, and Omar Saunders......................................................981 3. Multiple False Confessions from Same Defendants to Multiple Crimes: The So-called Serial Killer Cases.........985 a. Innocents Who Falsely Confess to Crimes Committed by Serial Killers ........................................986 i. Jerry Frank Townsend, Frank Lee Smith, and Eddie Lee Mosley ................................................986 b. Closing Open Cases by Falsely Attributing Unsolved Murders to Guilty Defendants .....................992 i. Hubert Geralds, Derrick Flewellen, and Andre Crawford ..............................................................992 F. Prosecuting the False Confessor.............................................993 1. David Saraceno..................................................................994 2. Teresa Sornberger..............................................................994 CONCLUSION..............................................................................................995 INTRODUCTION In April 1989, a young woman was attacked while jogging in New York City’s Central Park. The jogger entered the park near 84th Street shortly after 9:00 p.m., traveled north along the East Drive, and then turned onto the 102nd Street Crossdrive heading west. At approximately 9:15 DRIZIN.LEO.04.DOC 3/1/2005 11:40 AM 2004] FALSE CONFESSIONS IN THE POST-DNA WORLD 894 p.m.,2 she was knocked down and dragged into a ravine where she was raped and sodomized. She was beaten so severely, particularly in the area of her left eye, that she lost nearly eighty percent of her blood.3 On the same evening, a large group of teenage boys, with estimates ranging as high as forty to fifty boys, entered Central Park near East 110th Street in Harlem and began walking south along the park’s East Drive. The boys subsequently encountered Antonio Diaz, who was eating dinner and drinking beer
Load more

Recommended publications
  • Protecting the Innocent from False Confessions and Lost Confessions--And from Miranda Paul G
    Journal of Criminal Law and Criminology Volume 88 Article 2 Issue 2 Winter Winter 1998 Protecting the Innocent from False Confessions and Lost Confessions--And from Miranda Paul G. Cassell Follow this and additional works at: https://scholarlycommons.law.northwestern.edu/jclc Part of the Criminal Law Commons, Criminology Commons, and the Criminology and Criminal Justice Commons Recommended Citation Paul G. Cassell, Protecting the Innocent from False Confessions and Lost Confessions--And from Miranda, 88 J. Crim. L. & Criminology 497 (Winter 1998) This Criminal Law is brought to you for free and open access by Northwestern University School of Law Scholarly Commons. It has been accepted for inclusion in Journal of Criminal Law and Criminology by an authorized editor of Northwestern University School of Law Scholarly Commons. 0091-4169/98/8802-0497 TI' JOURNAL OF CRIMINAL LAW& CRIMINOLOGY Vol. 88, No. 2 Copyright 0 1998 by Northwestern Unh-rsity, School of Law PrinW in U.S.A PROTECTING THE INNOCENT FROM FALSE CONFESSIONS AND LOST CONFESSIONS-AND FROM MIRANDA PAUL G. CASSELL" For most of the last several decades, criminal procedure scholarship-mirroring the Warren Court landmarks it was commenting on-spent little time discussing the guiltless and much discussing the guilty. Recent scholarship suggests a dif- ferent focus is desirable. As one leading scholar recently put it, "the Constitution seeks to protect the innocent."' Professors Leo and Ofshe's preceding article,2 along with ar- ticles like it by (among others) Welsh White and Al Alschuler,4 commendably adopts this approach. Focusing on the plight of an innocent person who confessed to a crime he5 did not com- mit, they recommend certain changes in the rules governing po- " Professor of Law, University of Utah College of Law ([email protected]).
    [Show full text]
  • “From the Cracks in the Sidewalks of NYC”: The
    “From the Cracks in the Sidewalks of N.Y.C.”: The Embodied Production of Urban Decline, Survival, and Renewal in New York’s Fiscal-Crisis-Era Streets, 1977-1983 by Elizabeth Healy Matassa B.A. in Italian and French Studies, May 2003, University of Delaware M.A. in Geography, May 2006, Louisiana State University A Dissertation submitted to The Faculty of The Columbian College of Arts and Sciences of The George Washington University in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy January 31, 2014 Dissertation directed by Suleiman Osman Associate Professor of American Studies The Columbian College of Arts and Sciences of the George Washington University certifies that Elizabeth Healy Matassa has passed the Final Examination for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy as of August 21, 2013. This is the final and approved form of the dissertation. “From the Cracks in the Sidewalks of N.Y.C.”: The Embodied Production of Decline, Survival, and Renewal in New York’s Fiscal-Crisis-Era Streets, 1977-1983 Elizabeth Healy Matassa Dissertation Research Committee: Suleiman Osman, Associate Professor of American Studies, Dissertation Director Elaine Peña, Associate Professor of American Studies, Committee Member Elizabeth Chacko, Associate Professor of Geography and International Affairs, Committee Member ii ©Copyright 2013 by Elizabeth Healy Matassa All rights reserved iii Dedication The author wishes to dedicate this dissertation to the five boroughs. From Woodlawn to the Rockaways: this one’s for you. iv Abstract of Dissertation “From the Cracks in the Sidewalks of N.Y.C.”: The Embodied Production of Urban Decline, Survival, and Renewal in New York’s Fiscal-Crisis-Era Streets, 1977-1983 This dissertation argues that New York City’s 1970s fiscal crisis was not only an economic crisis, but was also a spatial and embodied one.
    [Show full text]
  • Minutes Meeting of the Board of Directors Society of Professional Journalists October 3, 2010 Las Vegas, Nevada Planet Hollywood Hotel
    MINUTES MEETING OF THE BOARD OF DIRECTORS SOCIETY OF PROFESSIONAL JOURNALISTS OCTOBER 3, 2010 LAS VEGAS, NEVADA PLANET HOLLYWOOD HOTEL MEETING CALLED TO ORDER With President Kevin Smith presiding, the meeting of the board of directors of the Society of Professional Journalists was called to order at 9:05 a.m. on Sunday, October 3, 2010, at the Planet Hollywood Hotel. ROLL CALL In addition to Smith, the following were present: Immediate Past President Dave Aeikens; President-Elect Hagit Limor; Secretary-Treasurer Darcie Lunsford; Vice President for Campus Chapter Affairs Neil Ralston; Director at-Large Bill McCloskey; Director Lauren Bartlett, Campus Advisers at-Large Sue Kopen Katcef and George Daniels; Student Representative Tara Puckey; Regional Directors Luther Turmelle, Brian Eckert, Jenn Rowell, Jeremy Steele, Liz Hansen, Amanda Theisen, Holly Edgell, Scott Cooper, John Ensslin, Jodi Cleesattle, Dana Neuts and Sonny Albarado. Staff members present for the meeting were Executive Director Joe Skeel and Associate Executive Director Chris Vachon. Others in attendance were SDX Foundation President Steve Geimann; SDX Foundation Vice President Robert Leger; SDX Foundation Secretary Irwin Gratz; SDX Foundation Board member Dave Carlson; FOI Committee Chairman Dave Cuillier and several representatives from RTDNA. MEETING MINUTES APPROVED Upon proper motion and second by Aeikens and Neuts, respectively, the board approved the minutes from the April 17, 2010 board of directors meeting. PRESIDENT’S REPORT President Smith first acknowledged the work of the SPJ committees and recommended that people take time to read the committee reports in the board meeting packet. Next, Smith discussed the shield law. He recommends, looking forward, that SPJ put forth as much effort as possible in the way of support for the bill and directs it at the senate in the next two months to facilitate its passage.
    [Show full text]
  • Eleanor Roosevelt
    ○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○ ○○○○○○○○ Matters A Newsletter for The City University of New York • Fall 1998 FROM A HENRY ROTH MEMOIR Call It Writing: “Streetwise” in the City: A City College Epiphany Language and Culture on the Beat en years before publishing his By Leslee Oppenheim tal theme of this initiative, developed by classic novel Call It Sleep in 1934 Director of Curriculum and Instruction, CUNY for the NYPD, from Police Commis- T to mixed reviews, Henry Roth (pic- Adult and Continuing Education, Office of sioner Howard Safir’s opening remarks: tured right at about that time) began his Academic Affairs police officers who know about the lan- freshman year at the City College of New guage and culture of the communities they York. In one of several volumes of mem- leven hundred new NYPD officers, serve, equip themselves with powerful oirs Roth wrote late in life under the um- day-old graduates of the Police tools for ensuring the safety and well-being brella title Mercy of a Rude Stream, he EAcademy, file into darkened audito- of themselves, their colleagues, and the devoted more than 150 pages to his colle- riums at four CUNY campuses on July 2. public at large. giate days. This volume, A Diving Rock on The crackle of a police radio can be heard. the Hudson, was published by St. Martin’s As the lights dim, the volume rises. In total he newly-assigned officers in the audi- in 1995 (Picador paperback, 1996), which darkness now, the graduates hear a Tence that day are about to plunge into was also the year he died at the age of 89.
    [Show full text]
  • Media Interaction with the Public in Emergency Situations: Four Case Studies
    MEDIA INTERACTION WITH THE PUBLIC IN EMERGENCY SITUATIONS: FOUR CASE STUDIES A Report Prepared under an Interagency Agreement by the Federal Research Division, Library of Congress August 1999 Authors: LaVerle Berry Amanda Jones Terence Powers Project Manager: Andrea M. Savada Federal Research Division Library of Congress Washington, D.C. 20540–4840 Tel: 202–707–3900 Fax: 202–707–3920 E-Mail: [email protected] Homepage:http://www.loc.gov/rr/frd/ PREFACE The following report provides an analysis of media coverage of four major emergency situations in the United States and the impact of that coverage on the public. The situations analyzed are the Three Mile Island nuclear accident (1979), the Los Angeles riots (1992), the World Trade Center bombing (1993), and the Oklahoma City bombing (1995). Each study consists of a chronology of events followed by a discussion of the interaction of the media and the public in that particular situation. Emphasis is upon the initial hours or days of each event. Print and television coverage was analyzed in each study; radio coverage was analyzed in one instance. The conclusion discusses several themes that emerge from a comparison of the role of the media in these emergencies. Sources consulted appear in the bibliography at the end of the report. i TABLE OF CONTENTS PREFACE ................................................................... i INTRODUCTION: THE MEDIA IN EMERGENCY SITUATIONS .................... iv THE THREE MILE ISLAND NUCLEAR ACCIDENT, 1979 ..........................1 Chronology of Events, March
    [Show full text]
  • Boston University Law Review
    Boston University Law Review VOLUME XXI APRIL, 1941 NUMBER 2 STATE INDEMNITY FOR ERRORS OF CRIMINAL JUSTICE EDWIN BORCIIARD*BORCHARD* All too frequently the public is shocked by the news that Federal or State authorities have convicted and imprisoned a person subse-subse­ quently proved to have been innocent of any crime. These acci­acci- dents in the administration of the criminal law happen either through an unfortunate concurrence of circumstances or perjured testimony or are the result of mistaken identity, the conviction having been ob­ob- tained by zealous prosecuting attorneys on circumstantial evidence. In an earnest effort to compensate in some measure the victims of these miscarriages of justice, Congress in May 1938 enacted a law "to grant relief to persons erroneously convicted in courts of the United States." Under this law, any person who can prove that he was wrong­wrong- fully convicted and sentenced for a crime against the United States may bring suit in the Court of Claims against the Federal Government for damages of not more than $5,000. The Federal act of May 24, 1938, limits the right of recovery to innocent persons who have been both convicted and served all or a part of their sentence. The innocence must be proved either by appeal or new trial or rehearing in which innocence is established, or by a pardon on the ground of innocence. ItIt must also appear that the en~oneouslyerroneously convicted person either committed none of the acts with which he was charged or that those acts constituted no crime against the United States or against any State or Territory.
    [Show full text]
  • FALSE CONFESSIONS Committee for Public Counsel Services Innocence Program
    QUICK REFERENCE: FALSE CONFESSIONS Committee for Public Counsel Services Innocence Program alse confessions — when innocent match 17% more often, and eyewitnesses people admit to crimes they did not changed their identification 61% of the time, commit — occur in 1 of every 5 DNA when told that a suspect confessed.10 Then, exoneration cases. Learning why corroboration inflation occurs: the evidence, Fthey happen and how they shape a tainted by the confession, is now used as case helps litigators challenge voluntariness proof that the confession was correct. and reliability of any confession evidence. RED FLAGS: POLICE TACTICS False confessions happen. Police investigators use the Reid Technique More than 350 people have been to procure confessions when they suspect exonerated with DNA testing nationwide. guilt.11 Police lie-detection is based in “junk Over 68 of them falsely confessed.1 “[T]here science”12 and exhibits a “lie bias.”13 is mounting empirical evidence that [] pressures can induce a frighteningly high Video clips from the 2008 interrogation of 16- percentage of people to confess to crimes year-old Nga Truong show how police in 2 they never committed.” Corley v. US. They Worcester, Massachusetts applied the Reid plead guilty, too; 15% of exonerees pled.3 Technique to produce a false confession.14 The technique risks producing a false, Confessions are powerful evidence. involuntary, or unreliable confession when: Confessions are some of the most persuasive evidence, second only to being caught in Police isolate the suspect for a long time. 4 the act. Jurors assume no one would Typical interrogations last 1.6 hours; false confess to a crime they did not commit.
    [Show full text]
  • Lying and Confessing Christopher Slobogin
    Vanderbilt University Law School Scholarship@Vanderbilt Law Vanderbilt Law School Faculty Publications Faculty Scholarship 2007 Lying and Confessing Christopher Slobogin Follow this and additional works at: http://scholarship.law.vanderbilt.edu/faculty-publications Part of the Law Commons Recommended Citation Christopher Slobogin, Lying and Confessing, 39 Texas Tech Law Review. 1275 (2007) Available at: http://scholarship.law.vanderbilt.edu/faculty-publications/259 This Article is brought to you for free and open access by the Faculty Scholarship at Scholarship@Vanderbilt Law. It has been accepted for inclusion in Vanderbilt Law School Faculty Publications by an authorized administrator of Scholarship@Vanderbilt Law. For more information, please contact [email protected]. LYING AND CONFESSING by ChristopherSlobogin* I. PROBABLE CAUSE AS THE JUSTIFICATION FOR DECEPTION ...... 1276 1I. THE NEED FOR DECEPTION DURING INTERROGATION ......... 1280 HI. WHEN TRICKERY IS COERCIVE ............................ 1285 IV. DECEPTION AND FALSE CONFESSIONS ...................... 1289 V. CONCLUSION: MORAL AND IMMORAL LYING ................ 1291 Deception is usually considered a bad thing. We teach our children not to lie, we don't like it when our politicians dissemble, and we root against the television character who misleads people. But we also officially permit deception in all sorts of situations, including sports (Boise State's statue of liberty play in the 2007 Fiesta Bowl), negotiations between lawyers (puffing about the client's case),
    [Show full text]
  • From False Evidence Ploy to False Guilty Plea: an Unjustified Path to Securing Convictions Introduction
    COMMENT From False Evidence Ploy to False Guilty Plea: An Unjustified Path to Securing Convictions introduction On June 20, 1991, two police officers brought an African American man named Anthony Gray into custody for questioning related to the unsolved rape and murder of a woman in Calvert County, Maryland.1 During the interroga- tion, the detectives lied to Mr. Gray about the evidence police held against him. They told him that two other men had confessed to involvement in the crime and had named Mr. Gray as the killer.2 They told him that he had failed two hour-long polygraph tests.3 And they told him that they “knew” he had com- mitted the crime.4 In reality, no one had confessed to the crime or identified Anthony Gray as the perpetrator.5 Mr. Gray did not fail the polygraph tests.6 Instead, the police had gathered “a substantial amount of exculpating evidence” during the period of time when Mr. Gray was being interrogated.7 Witnesses reported having seen a lone white man driving from the crime scene in the victim’s car, and the hair evidence that police recovered could have only come from a Caucasian 1. Gray v. Maryland, No. CIV.CCB-02-0385, 2004 WL 2191705, at *2 (D. Md. Sept. 24, 2004). This account of Anthony Gray’s case is based on judicial opinions that present the factual record in the light most favorable to the defendant. 2. Gray v. Maryland, 228 F. Supp. 2d 628, 632 (D. Md. 2002). 3. Gray, 2004 WL 2191705, at *3.
    [Show full text]
  • Social Meaning and School Vouchers
    William & Mary Law Review Volume 42 (2000-2001) Issue 3 Institute of Bill of Rights Symposium: Article 9 Religion in the Public Square March 2001 Social Meaning and School Vouchers Neal Devins William & Mary Law School, [email protected] Follow this and additional works at: https://scholarship.law.wm.edu/wmlr Part of the Constitutional Law Commons, Courts Commons, Education Law Commons, and the Supreme Court of the United States Commons Repository Citation Neal Devins, Social Meaning and School Vouchers, 42 Wm. & Mary L. Rev. 919 (2001), https://scholarship.law.wm.edu/wmlr/vol42/iss3/9 Copyright c 2001 by the authors. This article is brought to you by the William & Mary Law School Scholarship Repository. https://scholarship.law.wm.edu/wmlr SOCIAL MEANING AND SCHOOL VOUCHERS NEAL DEvINs* The more things change, the more they seem to stay the same: In 1981, I wrote a paper on the constitutionality of school vouchers for a law school course. At the time, it appeared that a sharply divided Supreme Court would reject vouchers, five to four. Two decades later, it appears that a sharply divided Supreme Court might well uphold vouchers, five to four. For this very reason, academics and others continue to fill the pages of law reviews with competing analyses of whether school vouchers violate the Establishment Clause.' Far more tellingly, during the 2000 elections, Court watchers claimed that the winner of the presidential race would control the constitutional fate of school vouchers (by, presumably, appointing the Justice who will cast the deciding vote in a constitutional challenge to school vouchers).2 * Goodrich Professor of Law and Lecturer in Public Policy, College of William & Mary.
    [Show full text]
  • EXONERATIONS in 2018 April 9, 2019
    EXONERATIONS IN 2018 April 9, 2019 EXECUTIVE SUMMARY I. MAJOR THEMES • Years Lost to Wrongful Imprisonment. Last year saw a record number of years lost to prison by defendants exonerated for crimes they did not commit: 1,639 years all told, an average of 10.9 years lost per exoneree. The total number of years lost to exonerees exceeded 20,000 in September 2018 and has since passed 21,000. • The Sergeant Watts Scandal and Drug Exonerations in Chicago. Thirty-one defendants who had been framed by police on drug and weapons charges were exonerated in the wake of a scandal involving corrupt Chicago police officers led by Sergeant Ronald Watts. The scandal prompted a reinvestigation and the exonerations of dozens of defendants. • Official Misconduct. We know official misconduct occurred in at least 107 exonerations in 2018, a record number. Thirty-one of those cases stemmed from the Sergeant Watts scandal in Chicago and all but one of those involved drug crimes. However, official misconduct also occurred in cases with much higher stakes. Fifty- four homicides—79% of homicide exonerations in 2018—were marred by official misconduct. • The Importance of Professional Exonerators. Professional exonerators—Innocence Organizations (IOs) and Conviction Integrity Units (CIUs) continue to play an important role in securing exonerations. IOs took part in a record 86 exonerations, up from 70 in 2017, and CIUs helped secure 58 exonerations. IOs and CIUs worked together on a record 45 exonerations in 2018. II. THE CASES The 151 exonerations that occurred in 2018 were distributed as follows: • Crimes Homicide: 68 defendants were exonerated of homicide—66 for murder and 2 for manslaughter.
    [Show full text]
  • 2010 Berger List of Past Winners
    2010 List of Berger Past Winners Years Awarded Awardees Company Name Description 1961 McCandlish Philips The New York Times Special Recognition 1961 David C. Miller The New York Herald Tribune 1961 Helen Dudar The New York Post 1962 Lewis Lapham Harper’s Magazine 1963 Pete Kihss The New York Times 1964 Charles Grutzner The New York Times 1964 Jimmy Breslin The New York Herald Tribune 1965 Homer Bigart The New York Times 1966 Robert M. Lipstye The New York Times 1966 William E. Blundell The Wall Street Journal 1967 Leonard Victor The Long Island Press 1967 Murray Schumach The New York Times 1968 J. Anthony Lukas The New York Times 1968 Felix Kressler The Walll Street Journal 1969 Archie Waters The Long Island Press 1969 Sy Safransky The Long Island Press 1969 Robert Mayer Newsday 1970 Richard Severo The New York Times Special Recognition 1970 Art Sears Jr. The Wall Street Journal 1970 Donald Moffitt The Wall Street Journal 1971 Jack Newfield The Village Voice 1971 Robert Mayer Newsday Special Recognition 1972 Diane Zimmerman The New York Daily News 1972 Paul Meskil The New York Daily News 1972 Joseph Martin The New York Daily News 1972 Ray Kestenbaum Special Recognition 1972 Frank Faso The New York Daily News 1973 John Hess The New York Times 1973 Barry Cunningham The New York Post 1974 Penelope McMillan The Sunday News 1974 Sonny Kleinfield The Wall Street Journal 1975 Peter Coutros The New York Daily News 1975 Diedre Carmody The New York Times 1976 Israel Shenker The New York Times 1976 Howard Blum The Village Voice 1977 Richard Severo The New York Times 1977 Denis Hamill The Village Voice 1978 Carey Winfrey Reader’s Digest Association 1978 Ricki Fulman The New York Daily News 1979 Kenneth Gross Newsday 1979 Francis X.
    [Show full text]