Why Is It So Difficult to Overturn a Guilty Verdict?

extremely difficult. It's so difficult that even if an attorney discovers overwhelming evidence, that still might not be enough to garner the person's release. That means, for a wrongfully convicted person, the uphill legal battle towards exoneration might prove impossible. Netflix series like Making a Murderer and podcasts like Serial demonstrate just how difficult it can be to even get a new tra aisle. That's where the work and legal expertise

of organizations like The Innocence Project becomes so important. These organizations are dedicated to providing free legal services to innocent people behind bars so that they have a fighting chance of gaining their freedom in The Innocence Project was founded in New York City to exonerate the wrongfully convicted through DNA testing, and the nonprofit organization works to reform the criminal justice system. By two four more organizations formed and

began meeting at an annual conference. The association shifted to a loosely affiliated network with fifteen initial members and an executive board the following year. Today, the Innocence Network includes sixty seven member organizations around the world, fifty five of which are located in the United States, mostly housed in law schools. The organizations provide pro bono, that is, free legal services to people who have been convicted of crimes

and are seeking to prove their innocence. Additionally, these organizations work to redress the causes of wrongful convictions and make improvements to the way the criminal justice system functions. You might think that if new DNA evidence is found even after a person is convicted, it's automatically tested to be sure the right person is behind bars. But that's not the case at all. When someone who's already convicted of a crime wants to have new DNA tested, they must

request permission from the prosecutor. If the prosecutor won't agree, the defendant must file a motion to have it tested, and in that case, it must fit certain requirements of the state statute. That means questions must be answered, like would favorable DNA results create a reasonable probability that the

defendant would not have been convicted at their original trial. However, because the defendant is already convicted and in prison, they no longer have the right to a court appointed attorney, and so any incarcerated person trying to prove their innocence must pay for an attorney to file that motion or help from an organization like the Innocence Project. If and when DNA gets tested, it doesn't always immediately exonerate the innocent, even if it's in their favor. Obtaining exoneration is a

lengthy two step process. First, the original conviction must be vacated if DNA or other evidence comes back in favor of the defendant, and that means that the judge sets aside the original guilty verdict, and then the defendant returns to pre trial status, so it's as if they had never been tried and the original accusation remains. Before the wrongfully accused to be completely exonerated, either the district attorney

or the court has to dismiss the indictment altogether. Usually that's the result when there's new evidence of their innocence. But we spoke with Vanessa Potkin, director of post conviction litigation at The Innocence Project, and she said in rare occasions, clients are brought to another trial and officially vindicated by a jury who acquits them. This is what happened in the case of an Any Right, who was retried after DNA testing in excluded him and implicated someone else rape

and murder. He was convicted for in a new eleven day trial in twenty sixteen, found Right not guilty on all charges. The jury deliberated for less than an hour. It took three years between Rights DNA results and the new trial, which seems like a long time to wait, but it's not extensive in these type of cases. An average wrongful conviction case takes about seven years, according to Potkin. She said it's relatively easy to be wrongfully convicted and

extraordinarily difficult to be exonerated from a wrongful conviction. Other wrongfully convicted people don't have time to wait for a new trial. Take the case of Elvis Brooks. Brooks, a black man, was sentenced to life in prison in nineteen seventy seven, when he was just a teenager, for murder and for armed robbery of a bar in New Orleans.

The conviction was based only on the eyewitness testimony of three white strangers who had been inside, but there was other evidence fingerprints left on two beer cans on the bar by the real perpetrators. This evidence was suppressed by the prosecutors who convicted him. It was never provided to

Brooks or his attorneys. When the Innocence Project New Orleans learned of the fingerprint evidence, they filed an application for post conviction relief in January of twenty nineteen, alleging Brady violations, which means the government failed to disclose evidence favorable to

the accused. The state objected, but the Orleans Parish District Attorney's office gave Brooks two choices, plead guilty to the lesser offenses of manslaughter and three counts of armed robbery and be immediately freed or remain in prison awaiting a new trial that could take years. Brooks, who was sixty two at the time, chose the plea and was released.

Many of the exonerated except these deals with the devil just to be freed, but in exchange they can never receive compensation from the state or five al civil suits for wrongful convictions. Some plea deals also protect the prosecutors from disciplinary action, and in the eyes of the law, Brooks is still guilty of crimes he adamantly denies committing.

In a statement, one of brooks attorneys at Innocence Project New Orleans, Shrell Arnold, said Elvis Brooks was wrongfully convicted and it is wonderful that he is being reunited with his family after forty two years. Mr Brooks never sought a plea agreement. It is deeply unfair that an innocent man would be forced to choose between entering a plea to secure his immediate freedom and waiting years more in

prison to prove his innocence through litigation. The situation is particularly unfair given that the state has known about the new evidence presented in this case since nineteen seventy seven. Both Brooks and Wright have told the lawyers that the Innocence Projects that worked with them that they are the fortunate ones right told the Innocence Project people have been so kind and so warm toward me, so gracious towards me.

I'm grateful to all those bowl Even on the street, wherever I go, people hug me or they want to shake my hand. It's so humbling to me because I'm no different from anybody else. When I tell people that I'm the luckiest guy in the world, they look at me like, yeah, right, and they laugh. People don't have an idea. Man, I am the luckiest man in the world, and not just for one reason, but for a whole

lot of reasons. Unlike Brooks, who can't seek compensation for his wrongful incarceration, some exonorees can receive financial reimbursement and services to help them adjust to a life of freedom. Whether they are entitled to a financial reward and how much varies by state. But what none of them can ever get back are the years of missing out on

their lives and those of their family and friends. As of January, the Innocence Project has documented more than three hundred and sixty five DNA exonerations in the United States alone, twenty one we're on death row. Nearly all were wrongfully convicted of sexual assault and or murder, and despite being innocent of the crimes. Approximately to confessed an eleven percent had pleaded guilty. These innocent people spent an average of

fourteen years in prison. Today's episode was written by Kerry Whitney with thanks to Keith Finley, and was produced by Tyler Clang. For more on this and lots of other legal topics, visit how stuffworks dot com. Brain Stuff is production of Our Heart Radio or more podcasts. For my heart Radio, visit the our Heart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you listen to your favorite shows