Aaron Aguas-Rao (far right) shared her expertise on a panel entitled “Grappling with Backlogs and Caseloads” alongside (from left) Mid-Atlantic Innocence Project Director Shawn Armburst, Innocence Project Senior Staff Attorney Vanessa Potkin, and Ohio Innocence Project Executive Director Mark Godsey.
NCIP staff was well-represented at the conference and played a leading role on a number of training panels for attorneys and exonerees.
NCIP Case Manager Aaron Aguas-Rao shared her expertise on a panel entitled “Grappling with Backlogs and Caseloads.” The group discussed the struggle many innocence organizations continue to have with substantial case backlogs, and Aaron shared NCIP’s successful strategies to ensure that all cases receive appropriate review and do not languish.
NCIP Supervising Attorney Paige Kaneb presented on the panel, “Assessing the Reliability of Child Abuse Allegations.”
Her presentation addressed how to refute improper medical diagnoses of abuse including strategies for understanding medical records, evaluating relevant literature and crafting narratives from complicated medical evidence.
From left: NCIP Operations and Communications Associate Jaclyn Gioiosa, Innocence Project Digital Communications Manager Alicia Maule, exoneree Brian Banks, and California Innocence Project Managing Attorney & Media Coordinator Michael Semanchik present on the “Social Media: Power, Presence, & Purpose for Exonerees” panel.
For exonerees, the conference offered multiple sessions during which they could openly talk about their experiences. These sessions are extremely powerful, especially for new exonerees who are just learning to share their experience and find their place in the world. One such session, entitled “Social Media: Power, Presence, & Purpose for Exonerees” was planned and moderated by NCIP Operations and Communications Associate Jaclyn Gioiosa. This session included a workshop for exonerees that focused on basic social media use and the use of social media to establish a brand through storytelling.
Gioiosa also led a panel called “Using Social Media in More Advanced Ways” which focused on expanding and building social media reach through the use of Facebook Boost, Facebook Live, Twitter trending (as seen during Wrongful Conviction Day), online petitions, scheduling posts, and mobile alerts.
After a long day of panels and presentations, attendees celebrated during the main evening program, where the nearly 200 exonerees in attendance were welcomed to the stage. As the audience’s applause came to a close, a startling set of numbers was projected on the screen—these exonerees had spent 2,953 years wrongfully imprisoned, 222 of which were spent on death row. The moment served as a celebration of their freedom, an acknowledgment of all they had endured, all the progress we have made as a community—and a reminder that there is still much work to do.
Exonerations in February 2017, March 2017 and April 2017
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Rodricus Crawford State: LA Date of Exoneration: 4/17/2017 In 2013, Rodricus Crawford was sentenced to death for smothering his one-year-old son to death in Caddo Parish, Louisiana. Crawford was granted a new trial and the charges were ultimately dismissed based on evidence that the prosecution engaged in discriminatory jury selection and the baby died of sepsis. |
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William Negron State: IL Date of Exoneration: 4/14/2017 In 1995, William Negron and Roberto Almodovar were convicted of killing two people and injuring a third in a drive-by shooting in Chicago, Illinois and were sentenced to life in prison without parole. They were exonerated in 2017 after the evidence showed the witnesses were told who to select by a police detective. |
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Gregory Fisher State: MI Date of Exoneration: 4/10/2017 In 2002, Gregory Fisher was sentenced to 15 to 30 years in prison for raping his 12-year-old daughter in Detroit, Michigan. He was exonerated in 2017 after DNA tests excluded him as the source of biological evidence collected during the rape examination. |
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Chris Truong State: TX Date of Exoneration: 3/30/2017 On April 26, 2016, Chris Truong pled guilty to unlawful possession of a weapon and was sentenced to 15 days in jail based upon the discovery of a gun and alprazolam in his car in Houston, Texas. The gun charge was dismissed in 2017 after lab tests were negative for any illegal substance, which meant that his possession of the gun was legal. |
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Marco Contreras State: CA Date of Exoneration: 3/23/2017 In 1997, Marco Contreras was sentenced to life plus seven years in prison for attempted murder and attempted robbery in Compton, California. He was exonerated in 2017 after the real criminals were identified and charged.> |
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Eric Wilson State: VA Date of Exoneration: 3/21/2017 Eric Wilson was one of four U.S. Navy sailors (known as the Norfolk Four) convicted of a 1997 rape and murder in Norfolk, Virginia. He was exonerated in 2017 after the real killer confessed and Virginia Gov. Terry McAuliffe granted an absolute pardon. |
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Kenneth Mahaffy State: NY Date of Exoneration: 3/21/2017 In 2009, Kenneth Mahaffy, Keevin Leonard, David Ghysels, Jr., Linus Nwaigwe and Timothy O’Connell were convicted of stock fraud in New York for sharing confidential information with other brokers. They were exonerated because prosecutors withheld evidence that prosecution witnesses who testified at trial that the information was confidential had previously said under oath that it was not. |
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Jason Sadowski |
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Harvill Richardson, Sr. State: MS Date of Exoneration: 3/16/2017 In 2011, Harvill Richardson, Sr. was sentenced to life in prison for fatally shooting a homeless man whom Richardson had allowed to live in his home. Richardson was granted a new trial and acquitted based on evidence he acted in self-defense. |
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Andrew Wilson State: CA Date of Exoneration: 3/15/2017 In 1986, Andrew Wilson was sentenced to life in prison without parole for a murder in Los Angeles, California. He was exonerated in 2017 by evidence that witnesses lied at trial and that prosecutors and police concealed evidence pointing to another suspect. |
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Kelly Mathis State: FL Date of Exoneration: 3/15/2017 n 2013, attorney Kelly Mathis was sentenced to six years in prison for racketeering and illegal gambling charges for helping set up an internet gambling operation in Florida. An appeals court granted a new trial and the charges were dismissed based on evidence that Mathis had relied upon advice from state officials and had no intent to commit a crime. |
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Jason Krause State: AZ Date of Exoneration: 3/1/2017 In 1996, Jason "Jay" Krause was sentenced to 10 and a half years in prison for manslaughter in Yavapai County, Arizona. In 2017, after serving his sentence, he was exonerated because the forensic evidence—comparative bullet lead analysis—used to convict him was invalid. |
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Conrad Truman State: UT Date of Exoneration: 2/24/2017 In 2014, Conrad Truman was sentenced to 16 years to life in prison for murdering his wife in Orem, Utah. He was granted a new trial and acquitted in February 2017 by evidence showing the death was self-inflicted and possibly accidental. |
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Jonathan Carey State: ME Date of Exoneration: 2/21/2017 In 2012, Jonathan Carey was sentenced to four years in prison for sexually molesting a 13-year-old girl in Kennebec County, Maine. The conviction was vacated and the charges dismissed in 2017 based on evidence that the Carey’s girlfriend had been stealing from Carey and had a motive to pressure the girl to falsely accuse him. |
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Charles Johnson State: IL Date of Exoneration: 2/15/2017 In 1998, Charles Johnson was sentenced to life in prison without parole for murder and armed robbery in Chicago, Illinois. He and three co-defendants were exonerated in 2017 when new fingerprint analysis identified the real criminals. |
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LaShawn Ezell |
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Troshawn McCoy |
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Larod Styles State: IL Date of Exoneration: 2/15/2017 In 1998, Larod Styles was sentenced to life in prison without parole for murder and armed robbery in Chicago, Illinois. He and three co-defendants were exonerated in 2017 when new fingerprint analysis identified the real criminals. |
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Darryl Adams State: TX Date of Exoneration: 2/8/2017 In 1992, Darryl Adams and Ronald Eubanks pled guilty to sexual assault in Dallas, Texas in exchange for a sentence of probation that was later revoked. Adams, who was ultimately sentenced to 25 years in prison, and Eubanks, who was sentenced to 10 years in prison, were exonerated in 2017 by DNA testing. |
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Ronald Eubanks State: TX Date of Exoneration: 2/8/2017 In 1992, Darryl Adams and Ronald Eubanks pled guilty to sexual assault in Dallas, Texas in exchange for a sentence of probation that was later revoked. Adams, who was ultimately sentenced to 25 years in prison, and Eubanks, who was sentenced to 10 years in prison, were exonerated in 2017 by DNA testing. |
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Burrell Ellis State: GA Date of Exoneration: 2/6/2017 In 2015, DeKalb County, Georgia chief executive officer Burrell Ellis was sentenced to 18 months in prison for perjury and attempted extortion. The charges were dismissed in February 2017 after the Georgia Supreme Court reversed the convictions because the defense had not been allowed to present evidence supporting Ellis’s innocence. |
