The measure is named in honor of Morton, an Austin resident who spent nearly 25 years in prison for a murder he didn’t commit.

It creates ...]]> AUSTIN, Texas (AP) — The House has approved the Michael Morton Act, mandating that prosecutors share more case files with defense attorneys in an effort to prevent wrongful convictions.

The measure is named in honor of Morton, an Austin resident who spent nearly 25 years in prison for a murder he didn’t commit.

It creates a uniform “open file” policy statewide that compels prosecutors to share case files with defense attorneys that can help defendants’ cases.

The House passed the measure with a voice vote Monday, as Morton watched from the gallery. The Senate approved the same bill unanimously last month.

It must clear a final, procedural House vote before Gov. Rick Perry can sign it into law. Perry spokesman Josh Havens said the governor “supports efforts to open up discovery during criminal cases.”

Manning and his attorneys also are awaiting a decision from Gov. Phil ...]]> JACKSON, Miss. (AP) — Attorneys for death row inmate Willie Jerome Manning asked the Mississippi Supreme Court on Monday to stop his execution and allow him to seek post-conviction DNA testing of evidence from the investigation into the slayings of two college students.

Manning and his attorneys also are awaiting a decision from Gov. Phil Bryant on whether Manning will get a reprieve from Tuesday’s scheduled execution.

The Mississippi Supreme Court, in earlier separate identical 5-4 rulings, declined to grant Manning time for the tests and to stop his execution.

Manning was handed two death sentences for the slayings of Jon Steckler and Tiffany Miller, whose bodies were discovered in rural Oktibbeha County in 1992. Each had been shot.

Prosecutors said Manning was arrested after trying to sell some items belonging to the victims.

The Medill Justice Project has obtained thousands of pages of medical records, including copies of CT scans and MRIs of an infant’s head, which the attorney for a Chicago-area day care worker ...]]>

Medill Justice Project sought records for a year

Medical records obtained by The Medill Justice Project.

By Alison Flowers

The Medill Justice Project

Published: April 30, 2013

The Medill Justice Project has obtained thousands of pages of medical records, including copies of CT scans and MRIs of an infant’s head, which the attorney for a Chicago-area day care worker says undermines her first-degree murder conviction.

At Jennifer Del Prete’s 2004-2005 trial, an emergency room physician testified the infant’s brain bleed—also known as a subdural hematoma—likely was up to a week old when she was brought to the hospital. The defense’s expert medical witness testified then the brain bleed was as many as 10 days old.

The newly-released medical records indicate the infant’s brain bleed was older—at a minimum 14 days—which could mean the bleeding could have started before Del Prete began caring for the infant at a Romeoville, Ill., home day care, according to her attorney, Patrick W. Blegen.

“We think the medical records, when combined with the testimony, are very significant because they show that the chronic subdural hematoma was at least two weeks old and likely older than that,” Blegen said. “The critical error was that the people who testified at the original trial at state court said that the chronic subdural hematoma [brain bleed] was seven to 10 days old.”

A spokesperson for the Illinois Attorney General’s Office declined to comment for this story, instead pointing to a recent court filing in which it said, “this chronic collection, assuming it existed, was benign and could have dated from birth, or possibly could have been caused by trauma. But even if [the infant] suffered some previous non-accidental trauma, it could have been caused by [Del Prete] and was legally irrelevant. The fact that someone may have abused [the infant] two to four weeks before her collapse does not exonerate petitioner.”

During The Medill Justice Project’s investigation, which began in March 2012, Del Prete’s defense attorney declined to release the medical records without the judge’s permission. Last August, Northwestern, on behalf of The Medill Justice Project, then called the Medill Innocence Project, intervened in the case, asserting it had a right as a journalistic enterprise to an open judicial system and inform the public. U.S. District Court Judge Matthew F. Kennelly in August allowed the organization to intervene in the case, and decided in February the records could be released, provided certain identifying information was redacted.

Del Prete, who maintains her innocence, was sentenced to 20 years in prison in 2005. In a rare move, the federal judge recently decided to reopen Del Prete’s innocence hearing that concluded in January after The Medill Justice Project uncovered new evidence. A status hearing has been set for May 28.

Campbell Circuit Judge Fred Stine on Friday scheduled arguments for May 24 in the motion by William “Ricky” Virgil, ...]]> NEWPORT, Ky. (AP) — A man who has served 26 years in prison for a 1987 murder in Kentucky will have a hearing to argue for DNA testing on evidence that he thinks will clear him.

Campbell Circuit Judge Fred Stine on Friday scheduled arguments for May 24 in the motion by William “Ricky” Virgil, who was convicted in the death of Retha Welch. The commonwealth attorney’s office asked for more time to prepare its arguments.

Virgil’s attorney wants DNA tests done on semen and a cigarette butt recovered from the crime scene.

Linda A. Smith, Virgil’s attorney and director of the Kentucky Innocence Project, sought a speedy review, saying Virgil “has already been in prison for 26 years.”

Welch, a 54-year-old Christian minister and psychiatric nurse at the VA Medical Center, was found in her Newport apartment stabbed repeatedly and beaten. Virgil, who lived in Cincinnati at the time, said he knew Welch but denied killing her.

Until recently, post-conviction DNA testing in Kentucky was available only to Death Row inmates, but the General Assembly passed a bill in March that opened the possibility for the testing for other inmates serving time for violent crimes and other serious felonies.

A Chicago-area day care owner who says she is wrongfully imprisoned for an infant’s death has filed a clemency petition with the governor, citing medical experts and revelatory findings from a recent Medill ...]]>

Prisoner’s attorney cites Medill Justice Project revelatory findings

By Alison Flowers

The Medill Justice Project

Published: April 25, 2013

Pamela Jacobazzi was sentenced to 32 years in prison in 1999. (Department of Corrections)

A Chicago-area day care owner who says she is wrongfully imprisoned for an infant’s death has filed a clemency petition with the governor, citing medical experts and revelatory findings from a recent Medill Justice Project investigation that raises questions about her conviction.

Nearly 14 years ago, in 1999, Pamela Jacobazzi was convicted of first-degree murder in the death of a 2-year-old infant in DuPage County and sentenced to 32 years in prison. Jacobazzi, 57, was accused of violently shaking the infant in 1995 in what is known as shaken-baby syndrome or abusive head trauma. The syndrome is marked by a triad of symptoms: brain bleeding, brain swelling and bleeding within the eyes.

Medical studies in recent years have shown accidental trauma and various medical conditions may mimic the signs of shaken-baby syndrome. When The Medill Justice Project recently brought these medical studies to the attention of the ophthalmologist who diagnosed the infant in 1994 with “shaken injury,” she acknowledged in an interview the infant’s symptoms of eye damage could have arisen from non-abusive causes, a key finding Jacobazzi’s attorney included in her clemency petition to the governor.

“The statement she gave to you [The Medill Justice Project] is consistent with the state of science and that there are multiple other causes for the findings that she testified to,” said Anthony Sassan, Jacobazzi’s attorney, in an interview. He added, “The science isn’t the same anymore, and the science has significantly changed such that pure shaking is generally not recognized anymore as causing this problem.”

At the time of Jacobazzi’s trial, the shaken-baby syndrome diagnosis was largely uncontested. When doctors detected the triad of symptoms, authorities often would assign blame to the last caregiver, which was Jacobazzi in her case.

Her clemency petition seeks a pardon, asserting her innocence; if the governor won’t grant a pardon, her attorney seeks a commutation of her sentence, arguing the jury should have been instructed to consider involuntary manslaughter, not first-degree murder, given the significance of the infant’s pediatric records, which were only mentioned in passing at Jacobazzi’s trial.  Those records indicated the child had a genetic blood defect, which some medical experts for the defense now say likely caused a cascade of symptoms, including brain bleeding, that led to his 1994 collapse, possibly exacerbated by a fall he experienced a few days earlier. Had Jacobazzi been convicted of involuntary manslaughter, she would have already served her sentence.

Jacobazzi asked former Gov. Rod Blagojevich to set her free in 2006. He denied the petition in 2007, according to Kenneth Tupy, chief legal counsel for the Illinois Prisoner Review Board, which makes confidential recommendations to the governor about whether to grant clemency. The new petition goes to the board for review, and at a July hearing, Jacobazzi’s attorney will have an opportunity to advocate for her clemency in Springfield, Ill.

Gov. Pat Quinn has acted on more than 2,400 petitions after inheriting a backlog of cases from the Blagojevich administration, according to the governor’s press secretary, Brooke Anderson. Quinn has granted more than 900 clemency petitions—nearly 38 percent of the cases he has acted on since taking office.

“As always, Governor Quinn will continue to consider and act on clemency petitions, and make his decisions based on the facts and merits of each case,” Anderson said in an email about Jacobazzi’s petition.

For its investigation, The Medill Justice Project supported 10 undergraduate journalism students in a fall investigative class led by Northwestern Prof. Alec Klein, director of the organization. The students consulted with numerous medical experts and studies conducted over the past several years, interviewed Jacobazzi and her family members, neighbors and former clients, submitted five Freedom of Information Act requests and obtained thousands of pages of court records and police reports as well as hospital, pediatric, medical examiner, children and family services and property documents.

A fight for records in the investigation ensued after The Medill Justice Project, then called the Medill Innocence Project, made a request under the Freedom of Information Act seeking public records related to the Bartlett Police Department’s investigation of the infant’s death in 1995. On the advice of the DuPage County State Attorney’s Office, the Village of Bartlett sent The Medill Justice Project a letter denying the FOIA request on the grounds that it “would interfere with pending law enforcement proceedings.” The Medill Justice Project appealed the denial of its request for public records to the Illinois Attorney General’s office, which said further inquiry was warranted and requested the Bartlett Police Department send it the records for review. The DuPage County State Attorney’s Office then filed a motion with DuPage County Circuit Court Judge Robert G. Kleeman for an order of protection, prohibiting the release of all records relating to Jacobazzi’s criminal case. The judge issued a temporary protective order, pending a hearing. The Medill Justice Project obtained police records independent of the Bartlett Police Department and prior to the issuance of the temporary protective order.

In a separate move, Jacobazzi is also seeking a new trial; an evidentiary hearing in DuPage County is expected to be scheduled in May to consider her request.

In a rare move, a federal judge in Chicago is reopening a hearing to examine an imprisoned day care worker’s claim that she is innocent of murder, ...]]>

Rare decision in Chicago-area day care worker’s shaken-baby syndrome murder case

By Alison Flowers

The Medill Justice Project

Published: April 24, 2013

Jennifer Del Prete was sentenced to 20 years in prison in 2005. (Department of Corrections)

In a rare move, a federal judge in Chicago is reopening a hearing to examine an imprisoned day care worker’s claim that she is innocent of murder, in light of new evidence recently uncovered by The Medill Justice Project.

Jennifer Del Prete was sentenced to 20 years in prison in 2005 for first-degree murder; she was accused of violently shaking an infant in 2002 in what is known as shaken-baby syndrome, or abusive head trauma.

Last month, The Medill Justice Project, a journalism enterprise at Northwestern University, published an investigation of Del Prete’s case. As part of its yearlong probe, The Medill Justice Project posted a Nov. 10, 2003, letter from Romeoville, Ill., Police Det. Kenneth Kroll, in which he raised concerns about whether the infant’s autopsy would confirm she had died as a result of shaken-baby syndrome.

In the Kroll letter, the detective wrote he had heard from a Plainfield, Ill., police evidence tech—or ET—who was present at the autopsy by Jeff Harkey, then a forensic pathologist in the DuPage County Coroner’s Office. “The ET advised that Dr. Jeff Harky [sic] did in fact question the diagnosis of SBS [shaken-baby syndrome],” Kroll said in his letter. “I was told that Dr. Harky [sic] specifically looked for fractures in the rib cage (adult grabbing point) and found none.”

The Medill Justice Project confirmed the Kroll letter was sent to the prosecution’s expert medical witness by comparing the address on the letter, where the name was redacted, to the address on the hospital’s website before the hospital recently moved.

Del Prete’s defense lawyer, Patrick W. Blegen said he did not know of the Kroll letter’s existence until The Medill Justice Project published it. As a result, Blegen filed a motion in March, asking U.S. District Court Judge Matthew F. Kennelly to consider this new evidence, which the attorney views as potentially exculpatory.

“We think an innocent person is sitting in prison,” Blegen said in an interview after the hearing today.

The judge’s decision to reopen the federal hearing, which ran over several days in December and January, is unusual, according to several denizens of the Chicago federal courthouse. “The fact that Judge Kennelly is going to hear it is exceptional,” said Michael J. Petro, a Chicago federal defense attorney who has appeared before Kennelly several times. ““It’s a pretty rare bird. It doesn’t fly very often.”

Thomas Brandstrader, a Chicago attorney who represented Del Prete on her appeal, after her trial, and her first post-conviction petition, also called it “exceptionally rare” and applauded the discovery of the Kroll letter. “It’s terrific,” said Brandstrader who has defended criminal cases for 33 years, including several cases in Kennelly’s courtroom. “Who knows if they would have turned this [evidence] over properly.”

At Del Prete’s trial about eight years ago, Harkey testified that he saw no evidence of acute head trauma when he examined the infant’s body nearly 11 months after the incident at the day care care–not surprising given the time that had elapsed. He testified he relied heavily on the prosecution’s expert medical witness’ report to determine the infant had died of multiple systemic organ failure due to anoxic-ischemic injuries, which he attributed to abusive head trauma.

“What we want to find out is how did [Harkey’s] initial opinion change and why,” said Blegen, who is also drafting a motion to file a post-conviction petition, asserting the Kroll letter represents what’s called a Brady violation, when the state withholds evidence favorable to the defense.

The Will County State’s Attorney’s Office, which originally tried the case, had planned to order the case file from storage but determined it is in custody of the Illinois Attorney General’s Office.

The state Attorney General’s Office said in an April 10 court filing that it had not come across the Kroll letter when it reviewed the trial files from the Will County State’s Attorney’s Office. But it said the Kroll letter merely demonstrates that Harkey conducted a thorough investigation before determining the infant’s cause of death.

“Based on the court’s order, we will continue moving the case forward and developing the evidence,” said Natalie Bauer, communications director of the Office of Illinois Attorney General Lisa Madigan.

A status hearing has been set for May 28; Del Prete’s attorneys said they found a scribbled signature of the police evidence tech who had alerted the police detective about the autopsy, according to the Kroll letter. Del Prete’s attorneys said they intend to track down the evidence tech to testify. Kennelly set a June 21 hearing to get to the bottom of the Kroll letter.

“This is going to be done with dispatch,” Kennelly said. “Floor it. You know? Pedal to the metal. Floor it.”

Justices are scheduled to hear the case Tuesday.

The arguments come in the case of former Torrington ...]]> HARTFORD, Conn. (AP) — The Connecticut Supreme Court is set to hear arguments on whether the state’s repeal of the death penalty for future crimes violates the constitutional rights of the 11 men on the state’s death row.

Justices are scheduled to hear the case Tuesday.

The arguments come in the case of former Torrington resident Eduardo Santiago, who was sentenced to death for the 2000 killing of a West Hartford man in exchange for a broken snowmobile.

The state Supreme Court overturned the death sentence and ordered a new penalty phase last year. But the ruling came two months after the state repealed the death penalty for murders committed after April 24, 2012.

Justice will decide whether the repeal law bars the state from executing the death row inmates.

Her only son, Keith, and his girlfriend, Melanie King, were robbed, murdered and set afire in their Wakulla County home in 1997. Two of the three men convicted in the deaths, Jason Looney and Guerry Hertz, have been on death row since ...]]> TALLAHASSEE, Fla. (AP) — For Janet Spears, the waiting is the hardest part.

Her only son, Keith, and his girlfriend, Melanie King, were robbed, murdered and set afire in their Wakulla County home in 1997. Two of the three men convicted in the deaths, Jason Looney and Guerry Hertz, have been on death row since 2000.

Today, Spears wonders whether she’ll live long enough to see her son’s killers put to death. “It’s a living torture,” said Spears, 65. “It’s something the family thinks about every day. There’s no reason for it being this long.”

Florida lawmakers, also tired of the delays in carrying out death sentences, are trying to speed up the process.

Bills now in the House and Senate would create tighter timeframes for appeals and post-conviction motions, make it harder for inmates to dismiss their lawyers, and heighten the legal standards for pleading certain arguments.

Florida has 405 inmates on the death row, more than any other state except California, which has 724. It takes an average of 13 years to get from sentencing to execution.

But legislators will have to walk a high wire between speed and fairness. Twenty-four men have been exonerated from Florida’s death row since 1973, according to the Death Penalty Information Center.

“If we can’t get that right, what confidence do we have that any part of our criminal justice system is working?” said Rep. Matt Gaetz, the Fort Walton Beach Republican sponsoring the Timely Justice Act in the House.

At the same time, “all of us can agree it should not take decades to … effectively and efficiently deliver justice,” he said.

Just how long legislators think it should take is unclear. The House bill’s wording that originally said appeals should be resolved “within 5 years” was changed to “as quickly as possible.”

For death row convicts, the legal process is exhaustive.

After sentencing, a defendant is entitled to a direct appeal to the state Supreme Court that focuses on possible flaws in the trial — mistaken rulings on evidence, prosecutorial misconduct, incorrect jury instructions. The high court has two years to rule, after which the inmate can petition the U.S. Supreme Court.

If denied, usually lengthy post-conviction proceedings begin in the original trial court.

That process reviews collateral claims, such as ineffective defense attorneys or discovery of new evidence. Trial judges must resolve such challenges — which require multiple hearings — and almost always deny relief. Then those decisions can be appealed back to the state Supreme Court.

And after state post-conviction proceedings are exhausted, a defendant can ask a federal court for a writ of habeas corpus. A judge must then determine whether the inmate’s imprisonment violates federal law. That, too, can be appealed to a federal appellate court and the U.S. Supreme Court.

The Florida Legislature tried a previous overhaul, the Death Penalty Reform Act of 2000. It was shot down by the Florida Supreme Court, which called it an “unconstitutional encroachment” on the judiciary’s rulemaking power. The high court then issued its own rule changes, which weren’t strict enough for lawmakers.

The court, mindful of the latest bills, recently formed a committee of judges to again look into the capital punishment system and make its own recommendations.

“I know the court agrees with this mutual goal of moving these cases along fairly but expeditiously,” said Steve Metz, the Florida Bar’s liaison between the courts and the Legislature. “There are improvements that can be made.”

Because it affects court rulemaking, Gaetz’s bill would require a constitutional revision needing approval by 60 percent of voters on the next year’s statewide ballot. If the court can come up with its own faster timeframe, Gaetz said he’d strip that section out of his proposal.

“If there is not swift action to issue quicker rulings, I’ll be back with a constitutional amendment next year,” he said.

But Democratic lawmakers, public defenders and criminal defense lawyers are raising concerns about improving the pace of executions in light of constitutional rights and actual innocence claims. Rep. Darryl Rouson, a St. Petersburg Democrat, challenged Gaetz at a recent legislative committee meeting on the bill.

“Would you agree that, in a civilized society, hastening death might not be as appropriate as making sure that when you’ve killed them you’ve killed them for the right reason?” Rouson asked.

Gaetz replied: “The most important thing is we never execute an innocent person. I don’t think the legislation before you increases that risk in any way.”

Mark Elliott, executive director of Floridians for Alternatives to the Death Penalty, isn’t so sure.

Referring to those who’ve been exonerated, he said, “If you shorten the process, those people probably would have been executed.”

Gaetz’s effort has one important supporter in the Senate: His father, Senate President Don Gaetz.

“We have a position in Florida that death is an appropriate penalty for the most heinous of crimes,” Don Gaetz said. People sentenced to death should be allowed to exhaust all of their defenses, but “when that’s over, it’s over.”

In the meantime, Janet Spears keeps counting the days.

“I once promised my son if anything happened to him I’d see to it that the person who did it will pay,” she said. “But our hands are tied.”