Investigating Innocence is a national nonprofit wrongful conviction advocacy organization that provides criminal defense investigations for inmates. Investigating Innocence was founded in 2013 by private investigator Bill Clutter to assist nationwide Innocence Project groups in investigating innocence claims. "Once we have a case that meets our criteria, we'll put private investigators to work on it. A lot of these cases need investigators," said Kelly Thompson, executive director of Investigating Innocence. Prior to his work on Investigating Innocence, Clutter was one of the founders of the Illinois Innocence Project. Investigating Innocence also has a board composed of exonerees that reviews incoming cases.
One of the organization's most prominent cases was the exoneration of David Camm, a former Indiana state trooper who was wrongfully convicted of the murders of his wife and two children. Approximately five years after he was arrested, DNA evidence identified a convicted felon named Charles Boney as having been at the crime scene. Boney is currently serving 225 years for the murders. After his release, Camm was hired as a case coordinator for Investigating Innocence. His first case for the organization was Darlie Routier, who was convicted of the murders of her two sons in 1997.
In 2017, Investigating Innocence was also instrumental in the defense of Curtis Lovelace, a former prosecutor who was charged with murder in Quincy, Illinois, in the death of his first wife Cory Lovelace. The organization referred the case to the Exoneration Project, based at the University of Chicago, which agreed to represent Lovelace pro bono. Lovelace was indicted eight years after his wife died of liver failure, a condition known as fatty liver. Investigating Innocence helped develop key evidence that contributed to his exoneration. In 1990, Lovelace was team captain of the Fighting Illini football team that won the Citrus Bowl. On a change of venue, a Springfield, Illinois jury took less than two hours to acquit Lovelace on March 10, 2017.
Other prominent Investigating Innocence members are exoneree Randy Steidl, exoneree Ray Krone, private investigator Paul J. Ciolino, Cyndy Short, a Kansas City attorney who recently freed Reggie Griffin, and attorney Jose Baez.
Video Investigating Innocence
See also
- List of wrongful convictions in the United States
Maps Investigating Innocence
References
External links
Official site
Source of article : Wikipedia
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