innocence project assigment case study
Your assignment is to pick the case of a person who has been exonerated by the Innocence Project and respond to the following questions. Watch one or two episode of the docuseries and/or browse the profiles on the Innocence Project website and answer the following questions:
- Case summary. In two or three paragraphs summarize the case. Including: name of the exoneree, conviction offense, year of conviction, year of release, a summary of the facts of their trial, and how they were released. Most important what were the major causes that led to the wrongful conviction?
- Right to effective counsel. What did their attorney do wrong at trial? What more do you think could have or should have been done at the trial? Did the defense attorney face any discipline for incompetence? (Review the slides and audio on iLearn for more on this topic). (It may help to do some additional research on the case if the website or the show does not talk about the defense’s trial performance)
- Appellate Procedure. Describe in greater detail the chronology of appeals in the case. Was the person released because of a habeas corpus petition? (Review the slides and audio on iLearn for more on this topic). (It may help to do some additional research on the case if the website or the show does not talk about the defense’s trial performance)
- Were there any recommended reforms in response to the person’s case? Do you have any recommendations?
- Why did you chose this case? Anything else you want to tell us about it?
So how are you going to find an exoneree to focus on? Go onto the next page to see how to locate these cases.
