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: What the Judge Ate for Breakfast

Efforts target wrongful convictions in Missouri, Florida

By Ron Sylvester

Dale Helmig spent 17 years proclaiming his innocence from a Missouri prison. This month, a judge agreed with him and overturned his conviction in the murder of his mother.

This week, a panel appointed by the Florida Supreme Court began studying cases of men in that state who have been proven innocent through DNA testing.

The Florida Innocence Commission, consisting of judges, lawyers and police, seek to learn lessons from old cases that will prevent wrongful convictions in the future.

There have been 261 convicts exonerated in the U.S. after DNA testing of evidence showed someone else committed the crimes.

But not all cases involve DNA.

Helmig’s court victory resulted from evidence uncovered by students studying law and journalism at the University of Missouri-Kansas City and the University of Missouri, law professor Sean O’Brien and the Midwest Innocence Project.

Despite the judge’s ruling, Helmig remains in prison, because prosecutors are appealing the judge’s ruling.

Kansas does not have an innocence project or an innocence commission dedicated to reviewing old cases.

Read about the 1981 Wichita murder case currently being studied by students at Washburn Law School and chronicled in this series.

Full post as published by What the Judge Ate for Breakfast on November 23, 2010 (boomark / email).