Minnesota Wrongful Conviction Program

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 Innocence Project of Minnesota will utilize the FY 2012 Wrongful Conviction grant to represent and exonerate wrongfully convicted inmates through addressing a backlog of complex yet promising cases that may result in exonerations and to expedite new promising cases. The funds will support personnel costs for a part-time staff attorney and an investigator, as well as increased staff time for law student training and supervision. The goal is to move forward on cases that have stalled after initial screening and investigation. CA/NCF