[7] Keith Harris, the first inmate helped by the Illinois Innocence Project, was wrongfully convicted and spent 22 years in prison despite the lack of physical evidence tying him to the crime, as well as being misidentified by the victim after seven line-ups in which he appeared.
[8] Following Keith's conviction, Girvies Davis and Richard Holman confessed to the crime, and the investigation resulted in new ballistics evidence that supported his innocence.
[9] On October 13, 1997, Julie Rea-Harper's 10-year-old son, Joel, was stabbed to death in the middle of the night by an intruder in the small town of Lawrenceville, Illinois.
The prosecution's case rested largely on the testimony of bloodstain pattern analysis experts analyzing a very small amount of blood found on Rea Harper's shirt.
On October 24, 2003, the Illinois Innocence Project presented compelling evidence corroborating the confession of Tommy Lynn Sells.
[11] The defense's forensic consultant also disputed the testimony of the prosecution's bloodstain pattern analysis expert, stating that there was no scientific basis for his claims.
[12] On July 6, 1986, newlyweds Dyke and Karen Rhoades were repeatedly stabbed and murdered and their home was set on fire in Paris, Illinois.
Callahan found numerous inconsistencies and evidence of misconduct that ultimately led him to conclude that the wrong men had been convicted of the murders.
[18] On August 26, Aurora Police brought in Jonathan Moore on an unrelated traffic stop and questioned him several times about the shooting at the Laundromat.
On March 6, 2012, Jonathan Moore walked out of the Kane County courthouse as a free man for the first time, completely exonerated of his wrongful conviction in 2002.
[26] In light of his wrongful conviction being overturned, Immigration and Customs Enforcement canceled Gonzalez's detainer, which would have required him to be turned over to ICE after his sentence was served.
The IIP involves degree seeking undergraduate and graduate students, under the supervision of the inmate's attorney and Project faculty and/or criminal investigator, in providing these services.
Further, once IIP have agreed to work on a case, the Project reserves the right to withdraw for any reason, including an inability to prove a claim of actual innocence.
The program usually cannot help in the following situations: In deciding whether a case meets the requirement that there be a strong likelihood that the inmate is actually innocent of the crime for which he or she has been convicted, project staff will exam such factors as the following: