Last Friday, the WMU-Cooley Law School Innocence Project and the Innocence Network marked the Seventh Annual International Wrongful Conviction Day—a day to raise awareness of the causes and remedies of wrongful conviction and to recognize the tremendous personal, social, and emotional costs of wrongful conviction for innocent people and their families. This year, Wrongful Conviction Day was highlighting the fight for police and prosecutor accountability and the role official misconduct plays in wrongful convictions.
According to the National Registry of Exonerations, more than half of wrongful convictions that we know about involved official misconduct. In murder convictions that later resulted in exoneration, cases with Black defendants were 22% more likely to include police officer misconduct than those with White defendants.
“As we learn and reflect on Wrongful Conviction Day, let’s commit to take action to improve the criminal justice system. Let’s commit to working toward justice for all,” said WMU-Cooley Innocence Project Director Marla Mitchell-Cichon.
This year, the Innocence Network hosted the first full-day Wrongful Conviction Day livestream from 9 a.m. to 9 p.m. including 15 segments with more than 60 guest speakers. Highlights included:
• A panel on policy accountability and transparency featuring actor, producer, and director, Tony Goldwyn; NY State Senator Zellnor Myrie; Dr. Yusef Salaam of the Exonerated Five; NJ State Senator Loretta Weinberg; and the Innocence Project’s Policy Director, Rebecca Brown.
• A conversation about racial discrimination and wrongful convictions featuring Atlanta Hawks Head Coach Lloyd Pierce; Melissa Redmon, director of the Prosecutorial Justice Program at the University of Georgia School of Law; Jimmie Gardner, who spent 27 years in prison for a crime he didn’t commit; and Georgia Innocence Project staff.
• A discussion between three death row exonerees and Witness to Innocence members—KirkBloodsworth, Clemente Aguirre, and Derrick Jamison—about the wrongful convictions that put them on death row and how the death penalty continues to endanger the lives of innocent people.
• And conversations with over twenty exonerated people.
The National Basketball Coaches Association (NBCA) helped to bring attention to the observance for the fourth year in a row. In addition to Coach Pierce’s livestream segment, six NBA coaches filmed public service announcements for Wrongful Conviction Day:
• San Antonio Spurs Head Coach Gregg Popovich
• Memphis Grizzlies Head Coach Taylor Jenkins
• Portland Trail Blazers Head Coach Terry Stotts
• Boston Celtics Head Coach, Brad Stevens
• Charlotte Hornets Head Coach, James Borrego
• Chicago Bulls Assistant Coach, Karen Stack Umlauf
For additional information, visit https://wrongfulconvictionday.org.
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