The Pennsylvania Innocence Project (PIP) has teamed up with the Kander & Ebb musical play The Scottsboro Boys for an exclusive & exciting program.  PIP and the Pennsylvania Capital Representation Project (PCRP) will jointly present a two-hour, two-credit CLE program inspired by the content of The Scottsboro Boys and the historical events on which it is based following the performance.

When:

Wednesday, February 15, 2012
1 pm and 7 pm performances

Where:

Suzanne Roberts Theatre
Broad & Pine Streets

Details:

Following the 1 pm performance, the following presentation will take place:

The Honorable Louis Pollak will discuss the role his father, Supreme Court advocate Walter Pollak, played in the two Supreme Court cases that arose out of the Scottsboro Boys tragedy: Powell v. Alabama and Norris v. Alabama.

A panel discussion about Race and Justice with panelists Dan Carter, historian and author of Scottsboro: A Tragedy of the American South; Randall Kennedy, Harvard law professor and author of Race, Crime and the Law; and Marie Gottschalk, Penn political science professor and author of The Politics of Mass Incarceration in America.

A panel on contemporary wrongful convictions and the means of preventing them, moderated by PIP legal director Marissa Bluestine, with panelists Rob Dunham, David Rudovsky and Gordon Cooney, attorneys who have successfully sought the exonerations of wrongfully convicted clients, and Pennsylvania exoneree Vincent Moto.

Reception to follow at the theatre.

Cost:

Performance + program with CLE credit + reception: $225
Performance + program without CLE credit + reception: $125
Program + reception with CLE credit: $175
Program + reception without CLE credit: $75 

Tickets can be purchased on-line by clicking here.

**Students and Public Interest Lawyers
Performance (specify 1 pm or 7 pm): $50
Program with CLE Credit: $ 75
Program without CLE credit: $ 25
Reception with panelists: $25

Students and Public Interest lawyers, please register by going through PayPal using the button above on this website noting your events and 1 or 7 pm performance in the comment section.

Senator Stewart Greenleaf has introduced bills in the Pennsylvania Senate that would put in action the recommendations of the Advisory Committee on Wrongful Convictions.  The first bill, Senate Bill 1337, would create a Committee on Conviction Integrity, which would examine any proven exoneration case to determine what factors led to the wrongful conviction of an innocent person. Further, it would review whether or not changes to the Pennsylvania criminal justice system could prevent future injustices.

The second bill, Senate Bill 1338 calls for necessary improvements to methods used by law enforcement, including

• Requiring all law enforcement agencies to abide by known best practices when conducting photo arrays and physical lineups.
• Mandating that suspect interrogations be recorded from the point at which Miranda warnings are first given.
• Requiring that all public forensic labs be accredited and that their technicians pass competency exams.
• Compensating those who have been wrongfully convicted of crimes in the amount of $50,000 per year of wrongful incarceration.
• Mandating that law-enforcement agencies preserve biological evidence collected for crimes of criminal homicide, sexual assault, arson, kidnapping, robbery and burglary for the length of time for which the convicted person is incarcerated.
• Creation of a Forensic Advisory Board to oversee forensic science labs and investigate alleged errors or incompetence.
• Revisions to Pennsylvania's Post-Conviction Relief Act, which would 1) extend the length of time during which an inmate may bring a claim of innocence based upon new evidence, and 2) overhaul the Post-Conviction DNA Testing law to allow inmates who either "confessed" or pled guilty to a crime to have access to testing; allow for a comparison to CODIS and the Pennsylvania DNA database when an unknown profile is discovered; to permit judges to discharge an inmate without further proceedings; and other important revisions.
• Requiring that the Commonwealth disclose all prior dealings with informants and, in capital cases, holding pre-trial reliability hearings. 

You can support this legislation by

• contacting your Legislator and asking them to support the bills; to find your legislator click here
• writing letters to the editor of your local paper explaining why these measures are necessary and calling on others to support the bills
• Get our comprehensive White Paper on Conviction Integrity Proposals in Pennsylvania here
• host a teach-in or forum at a community organization and invite lawmakers and Project staff to participate
• joining the Pennsylvania Innocence Project Policy Committee by sending us an e-mail at innocenceprojectpa@temple.edu.

The attached White Paper issued by the Pennsylvania Innocence Project addresses the proposals from the Pennsylvania Advisory Committee on Wrongful Convictions report and the objections raised by 14 dissenters from the 52-member body. 

The Pennsylvania Innocence Project, which was not part of the Advisory Committee process, supports most of the Advisory Committee’s recommendations. However, in some areas, further reforms are necessary to ensure fair proceedings and to protect against wrongful convictions. Toward that end, the Project suggests additional proposals, as outlined in the White Paper. 

The recommendations in the Advisory Committee's report have now been introduced as legislation in the Senate Judiciary Committee, backed by Chairman Stewart Greenleaf.  We will provide information through this web site and our blog as the legislation progresses through the Pennsylvania Assembly.  Please feel free to forward this White Paper to others interested in supporting the Pennsylvania Innocence Project's efforts to prevent wrongful convictions.

The Pennsylvania Innocence Project marked a key milestone recently, holding its Second Anniversary Event on May 24, 2011, at Eastern State Penitentiary, an historic site on Fairmount Avenue in Philadelphia.  The program raised more than $87,000 for the ongoing work of the Project.

Hundreds of supporters, including volunteer attorneys and law students, staff and Board members and many others gathered at Eastern State to celebrate the significant achievements of the Project in the past year including the exoneration of Kenneth

Granger, who was joined by his daughters and movingly described the gift of freedom after 28 years in custody for a crime he did not commit. Hundreds of supporters, including volunteer attorneys and law students, staff and Board members and many others gathered at Eastern State to celebrate the significant achievements of the Project in the past year including the exoneration of Kenneth Granger, who was joined by his daughters and movingly described the gift of freedom after 28 years in custody for a crime he did not commit.

Mr. Granger spoke of his unwavering resolve as lawyers fought seemingly endless battles for his exoneration and freedom, stating:  “I survived my ordeal by adapting to the environment and I was fortunate enough to meet prisoners who took me under their wing and teach me the basics of law and politics....  By God’s grace, I was able to remain focused on vindicating myself.  Four days a week I would attend the law library to research case law, and in 2006, my hard work paid off when I discovered that the case against me had been misrepresented [and] further examination uncovered numerous errors of police and prosecutorial misconduct.”  Mr. Granger thanked his daughters and his legal team for working diligently with him. 

Beginning a new tradition this year, the Project presented Hero of Justice Awards to Defender Association lawyers Karl Schwartz and Ellen McBennett, who represented Mr. Granger and to the Morgan Lewis& Bockius lawyers Gordon Cooney and Michael Banks, who represented death-row inmate John Thompson for 23 years, saved him from execution at the hands of the state of Louisiana, and then secured a $14 million civil rights award, which the United States Supreme Court overturned recently in a 5-4 decision despite undisputed suppression of exculpatory evidence by the office of New Orleans district attorney Harry Connick.

“The facts of the Kenneth Granger and John Thompson cases say more than any speech can about why we do what we do at the Project,” said executive director Richard Glazer.  “Our mission is to free the wrongfully convicted and to reform the elements of the criminal justice system that permit such grave injustices to occur.”

The Pennsylvania Innocence Project has been expanding its programs and its reach at a hectic pace in the last year.  Legal Director Marissa Boyers Bluestine reported that the Project is now investigating 14 cases of potential innocence, and involved in litigating five.  Because of the help of over 200 volunteer lawyers, law students, and community members, the Project has been able to review more than 2,000 requests for assistance overall.  Ms. Bluestine thanked the Project’s staff, volunteers and supporters, saying:  “Your continued dedication and support have been the driving force behind our efforts.  Your commitment is deeply appreciated not only by us at the Project but by all those we seek to help.”

The Project chose Eastern State Penitentiary for its second anniversary program in part to underscore the harshness of prison life and the devastating impact of wrongful conviction and imprisonment.

Mr. Granger concluded his presentation this way:  “I am not ungrateful for a second chance in life which is why it is vitally important for the Innocence Project to continue to fight the good fight to help correct the many injustices that occur every single day, because they, as well as you, realize that an injustice against any citizen is a threat to justice for all citizens.”

The Pennsylvania Innocence Project is a non-profit organization, and a substantial part of its work is conducted by volunteer lawyers, law professors and law students.  In addition to seeking the exoneration and release from prison of those who have been wrongfully convicted, the Project’s mission includes working in concert with law enforcement agencies and the courts to eliminate the systemic causes of wrongful convictions and to provide education and advocacy as to best practices in law enforcement and prosecution.

Epstein from Widener University School of Law, Kate Germond from Centurion Ministries, Richard Byington of   John E. Reid & Associates, Martin “Marty” Tankleff, who was exonerated after serving 17 years in prison, and Senator Stewart J. Greenleaf,  Chair of the Pennsylvania Senate Judiciary Committee.

The full schedule is included below. The presentations of most panelists were recorded and can be found here.  Where noted, panelists provided PowerPoints, which are available to be downloaded.

Post-Conviction Investigation: Finding the Missing Key

Moderator:

• Susan Burt-Collins, Esq.

Panelists:

• Kate Germond, Centurion Ministries
• Karl Schwartz, Delaware Federal Defender Capital Habeas Unit
• Leonard Sosnov, Professor of Law, Widener University School of Law
• Bradley Bridge, Defender Association of Philadelphia

False Confessions

Moderator:

• Thomas J. Innes, Esq., Defender Association of Philadelphia

Panelists:

• Richard Byington, John E. Reid & Associates
• Steven A. Drizin, Director, Center on Wrongful Convictions; Associate Director, Bluhm Legal Clinic, Northwestern University School of Law
• Martin “Marty” Tankleff, Exoneree

Forensic Investigation: Problems with Contextual Bias

Moderator:

• Anne Bowen Poulin, Esq., Professor of Law, Villanova University School of Law

Panelists:

• Jules Epstein, Associate Professor of Law, Widener University School of Law
• Robert Dunham, Capital Habeas Unit of the Federal Public Defender Office for the Middle District of Pennsylvania
• Heather Harris, Forensic Chemistry Consultant, Arcadia University
• Michael F. Rieders, Ph. D., NMS Labs

Policy Issues in Pennsylvania: The Pennsylvania Advisory Committee to Investigate Wrongful Convictions

Moderator:

• Marissa Boyers Bluestine, Esq., Legal Director, Pennsylvania Innocence Project

Panelists:

• Senator Stewart J. Greenleaf, Pennsylvania 12th Senatorial District, Chair, Senate Judiciary Committee
• John T. Rago, Esq., Founding Executive Director, Cyril H. Wecht Institute of Forensic Science and Law; Founding Director, Post Conviction DNA Project, Duquesne University School of Law\
• The Honorable Sheila Woods-Skipper, Supervising Judge for the Criminal Division, Philadelphia Court of Common Pleas
• David Rudovsky, Esq., Senior Fellow, University of Pennsylvania School of Law

On September 27, 2010, Charlotte Whitmore began a two-year Equal Justice Works fellowship as a full-time staff attorney at the Pennsylvania Innocence Project.  Charlotte’s fellowship is generously sponsored by the Greenberg Traurig Fellowship Foundation. 

Charlotte’s interest in addressing wrongful convictions began in 2002 when she was a collegiate intern at the Innocence Project in New York. Charlotte graduated in 2003 from Dartmouth College and then spent two years working as a paralegal at the Federal Defenders in the Southern District of New York.  Charlotte is a 2008 cum laude graduate of the University of Pennsylvania Law School, where she was a member of the Order of the Coif and a Senior Editor on the Law Review and the Journal of Law and Social Change.  She also has a Masters Degree in Education from the University of Pennsylvania Graduate School of Education.  After graduating from law school, Charlotte clerked for the Honorable Anita B. Brody in the Eastern District of Pennsylvania from 2008-2009 and the Honorable Marjorie O. Rendell on the Third Circuit Court of Appeals from 2009-2010.  Charlotte can be reached at cwhitmor@temple.edu.

Thomas Lowenstein's The Ghost Detective is a superbly written thriller set in the closing months of the 20th century.  James McParland arrives in Boston to seek redemption. One hundred years earlier, McParland joined The Pinkerton Agency and quickly became its top detective—a man so feared by his opponents that they often committed suicide rather than fall into his hands. Now dead for more than eighty years, McParland lives up to his reputation as “The Great Detective” as he reappears, determined to earn eternal peace by helping the souls of those he tormented in life and whose ghosts still walk among the living.  The gripping tale propels the reader back and forth across centuries as human spirits collide with the spirit world in a tale of redemption, reconciliation, and the quest for everlasting peace.

In recognition of the need to focus attention on the injustices in the American criminal judicial system, Thomas Kennedy Lowenstein and Stay Thirsty Publishing will jointly donate 50 cents from the sale of every digital copy of The Ghost Detective to the Pennsylvania Innocence Project. To purchase a digital copy of the book - Click here.

About the Author

Thomas Kennedy Lowenstein is a writer, journalist, editor, and policy strategist. With a special interest in helping those wrongly convicted of a crime and in campaigning against the death penalty, he has worked tirelessly to focus attention on inequities in the American criminal justice system. Born in New York, educated in Boston, Mr. Lowenstein now lives in New Orleans with his wife and daughter.  The Ghost Detective is his first novel.

"Compelling Narrative"

“Thomas Lowenstein's The Ghost Detective is at once a brilliant work of fiction and an illuminating exploration of the truths that elude us in life and, perhaps, in death as well. With stark and powerful prose, this stunning first novel evokes an era beyond living memory, where the dead walk restlessly and the living search for meaning. Deftly shuttling the reader between centuries, Lowenstein's themes -- redemption, faith, honor and justice -- inform a compelling narrative filled with richly drawn characters that come vividly to life -- even after they're dead. With subtlety and grace, Thomas Lowenstein has created a fascinating world where life and death coexist without fear. This is a novel where those of us who still struggle for meaning in the madness can now find just a glimpse of hope.  

The Ghost Detective will haunt you long after you've read it; the only mystery is why you haven't already.”

More than 125 people joined in the celebration. In highlighting the Project's first year achievements, Legal Director Marissa Boyers Bluestine said: "This has been a year of growth and hope. From nothing, our Project now boasts dozens of trained volunteer lawyers, students, journalists, social workers and others who together have evaluated over 1500 claims of innocence. Most of those who seek our help have nowhere else to turn, no one else to hear their cries for justice. To the few whose cases we are actively pursuing, we offer hope. That's what our first client said to me when we first met. He threw his arms around me and said: "I don't want to let you go. You're my hope." Executive Director Richard Glazer thanked the performers and the many volunteers who helped make the Project's first anniversary celebration a big success. More than $85,000 was raised for the Project's work.

Standard Time (Lawyers by day, swinging musicians by night)	Philly Bloco (Musicians and dancers perform Brazilian Carnival style)
Legal Director Marissa Boyers Bluestine set out Project's Year One achievements	Everett Gillison, Deputy Mayor for Public Safety, congratulates Project
Executive Director Richard Glazer highlights Project's growth in first year	More than 125 persons celebrated the Project's first anniversary