The Innocence Commission: Preventing Wrongful Convictions and Restoring the Criminal Justice System

Appendixes

Appendix 1 Instructions for Volunteer ICVA Investigators Thank you for agreeing to assist the Innocence Commission for Virginia (ICVA). The Commission is a joint project of the Innocence Project of the National Capital Region, the Administration of Justice Program at George Mason University, and the Constitution Project. ICVA’s mission is three-fold: to identify common errors in cases in which innocent people have been wrongly convicted of serious cases, to propose policy reforms to help prevent wrongful convictions from occurring in the future, and to offer a series of best practices to improve the investigation and prosecution of serious criminal cases in Virginia. ICVA’s work depends on the contributions of volunteers like yourself who have agreed to investigate the circumstances of particular cases. By now you should have received the name of a Virginia case in which a defendant has been exonerated of a serious crime or there exist compelling reasons to doubt the defendant’s conviction. We ask that you now immerse yourself in the facts and procedural history of the case in order to chronicle what went wrong in the investigation and prosecution of the case and explain the process by which the conviction was eventually challenged. On the next page we have provided a series of suggested data to collect when investigating the case and drafting your report, but we are more concerned that you provide a thorough account than that you answer each item posed. If you have any questions, please feel free to consult Don Salzman or Julia Sullivan of ICVA, who will be happy to talk to you about the case. As you begin to consider a research strategy, we offer the following advice: 245 1. Remember that you are conducting factual research to understand what happened in a case, not researching law books to determine a legal answer. So, think like a reporter, asking the five “W” questions : Who, What, Where, When, and Why. Be creative and thorough in your work and in the sources you consult. 2. A good place to start is Lexis/Nexis or other news coverage available on the Internet. We will provide you with some preliminary materials on the cases. Many of the cases have been covered by the news media, and you may wish to use these reports if you believe them to be credible. The reporters who wrote these stories are also excellent sources, often familiar with a case and willing to share their knowledge and impressions. 3. Other good sources include the pleadings from the case, any reported (or unreported) judicial decisions, or even the case record. It may be necessary to seek such documents from the courts involved . 4. Please try to contact the various individuals involved in your case, including the defendant and his attorney(s) as well as the prosecutors and law enforcement officials who handled the matter. It is important to contact both sides involved in the case to get a balanced view, but keep in mind that some people will not want to talk with you and may resent your inquiries. Try not to take this personally. It is helpful to convey that you are simply trying to find out what happened. Remember always to be polite, measured, professional, and persistent, but also to respect a person’s wish not to speak with you. 5. Do not contact the judges involved in the case, nor should you seek to uncover the identity of jurors who heard the matter. 6. When contacting individuals, please say that you are acting on behalf of the Innocence Commission for Virginia, and feel free to forward them the ICVA’s mission statement. But you should not intimate that you are acting in an official or government capacity. The Innocence Commission is an important project, and it serves crucial public purposes, but the ICVA is not acting for or under the direction of any governmental body. 7. If you have any questions about your assignment, please contact the individuals mentioned above, or Misty Thomas. 246 | Appendix 1 Innocence Commission for Virginia Case Reports The Innocence Commission of Virginia (ICVA) will rely your report to understand how and why erroneous convictions occur in Virginia. It is imperative, then, that your research and report be thorough. It is likely that some of your work will be included in the Commission’s final report, educating the public and policymakers about problems in Virginia...