The Innocence Project
Alan Crotzer was released from prison this week. He served 24 years in prison for an armed robbery and rapes he didn't commit.
He was released by a circuit court judge after DNA evidence proved conclusively that he was not involved in the rapes.
The remarkable fact about this case is that DNA evidence was preserved for that length of time, even though reliable DNA testing was not available in 1981, the year of the crime.
Crotzer is the 172nd convicted person to be later exonerated as a result of the Innocence Project. (The 173rd was subsequently exonerated the same week.)
The Innocence Project was founded in 1982 by Barry Scheck (a member of the O.J. Simpson defense team) and Peter Neufeld to clear the wrongfully convicted using post-conviction DNA testing. The second part of their mission is to implement reforms to prevent wrongful convictions.
Crotzer, like many of the others wrongfully convicted, was misidentified by one of the victims. This is far more common than many realize, particularly when a victim of one race is attempting to identify a perpetrator of another race. Eye witness accounts are surprisingly unreliable, contrary to what many believe.
If the crime in question is rape, the victim white and the perpetrator black, the possibility of a miscarriage of justice goes up significantly. That is what happened in Crotzer's case (and many of the 172 other cases), and he was sentenced to 130 years in prison.
This raises an obvious question. If the Innocence Project has exonerated 173 people wrongfully convicted, how many people were executed because of wrongful convictions, before DNA testing was available that could clear them?
How many people have been wrongly convicted and executed for crimes for which DNA was not available to clear the accused?
TOM MAERTENS
He was released by a circuit court judge after DNA evidence proved conclusively that he was not involved in the rapes.
The remarkable fact about this case is that DNA evidence was preserved for that length of time, even though reliable DNA testing was not available in 1981, the year of the crime.
Crotzer is the 172nd convicted person to be later exonerated as a result of the Innocence Project. (The 173rd was subsequently exonerated the same week.)
The Innocence Project was founded in 1982 by Barry Scheck (a member of the O.J. Simpson defense team) and Peter Neufeld to clear the wrongfully convicted using post-conviction DNA testing. The second part of their mission is to implement reforms to prevent wrongful convictions.
Crotzer, like many of the others wrongfully convicted, was misidentified by one of the victims. This is far more common than many realize, particularly when a victim of one race is attempting to identify a perpetrator of another race. Eye witness accounts are surprisingly unreliable, contrary to what many believe.
If the crime in question is rape, the victim white and the perpetrator black, the possibility of a miscarriage of justice goes up significantly. That is what happened in Crotzer's case (and many of the 172 other cases), and he was sentenced to 130 years in prison.
This raises an obvious question. If the Innocence Project has exonerated 173 people wrongfully convicted, how many people were executed because of wrongful convictions, before DNA testing was available that could clear them?
How many people have been wrongly convicted and executed for crimes for which DNA was not available to clear the accused?
TOM MAERTENS
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