Ohio's Wrongful Conviction Project

The purpose of the Wrongful Conviction Review Program is to provide high quality and efficient representation for potentially wrongfully convicted defendants in post-conviction claims of innocence. This program is funded under the FY12 BJA Wrongful Conviction Review Program, Pub. L. No. 112-55, 125 Stat. 552, 615. Post-conviction innocence claims are likely to include complex challenges to the reliability or accuracy of evidence presented at trial which fall mainly into three categories: eyewitness identification evidence; confession evidence; and forensic evidence. The goals of this initiative are to: provide quality representation to those who may have been wrongfully convicted; alleviate burdens placed on the criminal justice system through costly and prolonged post-conviction litigation; and identify, whenever possible, the actual perpetrator of the crime.

The Office of the Ohio Public Defender will utilize the FY 2012 Wrongful Conviction grant to represent and exonerate inmates who were wrongfully convicted. The project's goals are to identify potential wrongful convictions from Ohio courts, where other appellate remedies have failed; conduct investigations to evaluate innocence claims by analyzing the reliability of the evidence presented at trial; hire experts to analyze forensic evidence with particular focus on changes in acceptable scientific reliability, and provide quality representation to those individuals who have been wrongfully convicted by presenting newly discovered evidence through motions for new trials or similar legal procedures resulting in their exoneration, while potentially identifying the actual perpetrator(s) of the crime. Funds will support personnel costs and consultant fees for experts. CA/NCF