Notre Dame exoneration clinic frees its third client
Kara Beaty was exonerated after receiving a six-year sentence for causing a severe crash with a motorcyclist back in 2020.
exoneration
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Marion County prosecutor’s conviction integrity unit reviews potentially faulty cases
The unit’s work already has helped clear one Indianapolis man of murder, and about 10 more cases are under review.
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‘I’m living like I died before’: Inside the fight to exonerate Leon Benson
A letter from a stranger in Philadelphia kicked off a series of events that freed Leon Benson.
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New murder trial affirmed for Elkhart man with mental disability
A man with a mental disability who has for years claimed he was wrongfully convicted of an Elkhart murder and who spent more than 15 years behind bars can proceed to a new trial after the Indiana Court of Appeals upheld a post-conviction relief order vacating his murder conviction.
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Articles
Minnesota man is free after 16 years in prison for murder that prosecutors say he didn’t commit
Jurors in 2009 found Edgar Barrientos-Quintana guilty of killing 18-year-old Jesse Mickelson in a drive-by shooting. He was sentenced to life in prison without parole.
Innocence Project seeks to support wrongfully convicted Hoosiers
Roosevelt Glenn’s children were 2, 7, and 8 years old when he left for prison after being wrongfully convicted of sexually assaulting a woman in Gary in December 1989.
Innocence Project set to open Indiana chapter
A new Indiana chapter of the Innocence Project is ready to launch this month. The not-for-profit group is a New York-based organization.
Exonerated man sues Indianapolis police, alleges he was framed for murder
Leon Benson spent 25 years at the Correctional Industrial Facility in Pendleton for the 1998 murder of Kasey Schoen but was exonerated last year.
Notre Dame Law Exoneration Justice Clinic secures 2nd round of DOJ funding
Notre Dame Law School’s Exoneration Justice Clinic has secured another grant from the Bureau of Justice Assistance at the U.S. Department of Justice.
ND Law School gets $3M grant to defend Mexican nationals in criminal cases
Notre Dame Law School’s Exoneration Justice Clinic received a $3 million grant from Mexico’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs to defend Mexican nationals in criminal cases in the United States.
Notre Dame Law Exoneration Justice Clinic expanding: Clinic creating opportunities for national, international students
The Exoneration Justice Clinic at Notre Dame Law School has been up and running for three years and has grown to the point of opening its doors to students from outside the Hoosier State — and even outside the country.
Father-son duo win legal victories for same client decades apart: Indy attorneys worked on exoneration, compensation cases for murder defendant
Bob Hammerle and his son Chris used to go into the Marion County Prosecutor’s Office on Saturday mornings with a sack of doughnuts and a chunky TV. Bob, then a brand-new lawyer, worked on files while Chris watched cartoons.
Notre Dame Law grad helps wrongfully convicted man go free
Walking out into the cold Minnesota winter air after nearly 25 years in prison wasn’t something Thomas Rhodes thought would happen. But thanks in part to a recent Notre Dame Law School grad, that’s just what Rhodes did.
Notre Dame Law’s Exoneration Justice Clinic gets federal grant to help represent the wrongfully convicted
The Exoneration Justice Clinic at Notre Dame Law School, which traces its founding to a group of students and dozens of white roses, has been awarded a $300,000 grant from the U.S. Department of Justice that will bolster the clinic’s ability to investigate and litigate wrongful convictions.
State dismisses murder case against Elkhart man with mental disability following release last year
A criminal case has been dismissed against an Elkhart man with a mental disability who was convicted of a 2002 murder but who won his release from prison last year.
Marion Co. Prosecutor’s Office accepting petitions for wrongful conviction reviews
The Marion County Prosecutor’s Office is officially accepting conviction review petitions as part of its new Conviction Integrity Unit.
State argues against new trial for man freed in 2002 Elkhart killing
It’s been more than 15 years since Andrew Royer was convicted of an Elkhart County murder and more than nine months after he was freed due to concerns over his confession and other evidence, but his case is not over yet. Instead, it’s back at the Indiana Court of Appeals, where the state is asking for the reversal of an order giving Royer a new trial.
Acting to ensure integrity: New prosecutor’s unit to investigate wrongful conviction claims
Marion County Prosecutor Ryan Mears announced this month that his office will establish the Conviction Integrity Unit in early 2021 to prevent, identify and correct wrongful convictions. The new unit will consist of one attorney, an investigator and a paralegal and be the first of its kind in Indiana, according to the National Registry of Exonerations.
Notre Dame Law clinic designed to help innocent inmates
For the last few years, students at the Notre Dame Law School have been working in conjunction with a Chicago organization designed to seek justice for wrongfully convicted individuals. Now, the law school has graduated to a new level of independence in its wrongful-conviction work, opening the Exoneration Justice Project this semester.
Wrongly convicted in son’s death, Kristine Bunch will be compensated
A woman who spent 17 years in prison for a fire that killed her 3-year-old son will be compensated by Indiana for a wrongful conviction. Kristine Bunch was declared eligible Thursday by the Indiana Criminal Justice Institute’s Board of Trustees.
Indiana program has yet to pay those exonerated
An Indiana program aimed at compensating those who have been wrongly convicted of crimes hasn’t yet paid out any money since it was created last year.
Man with mental disability freed, granted new trial in murder case
A northern Indiana man who has maintained for more than a decade that law enforcement officials in Elkhart exploited his mental disability to coerce him into a false murder confession has been released from prison and granted a new trial.
Elkhart considers new $500K legal bill for suit over overturned conviction
A northern Indiana city is weighing spending another $500,000 to defend itself against a lawsuit filed by a man whose attempted murder conviction was thrown out because prosecutors didn’t disclose that the state’s sole eyewitness underwent hypnosis to sharpen his memory.