Wrongful Convictions Clinic
The Wrongful Convictions Clinic at the University of Colorado Law School focuses its efforts on investigation the claims of Colorado prisoners who, despite being convicted assert they are, in fact, innocent. We do this by working with the Colorado Innocence Project.
The Colorado Innocence Project receives requests for help from inmates, and evaluates their claims to see if there are factual and legal grounds supporting the claims. When the project find a case that appears deserving of further investigation, they send it to the Wrongful Convictions Clinic for further evaluation. Students correspond with and meet the prospective clients, review trial and hearing transcripts, read discovery, research the state of the law at the time of the conviction and at present, search for undiscovered errors, determine whether new forensic techniques might help, and make recommendations as to whether the case should be pursued. These cases are difficult and time-consuming. There are huge structural, factual, procedural, legal and practical problems standing in the way. But an effort to free a wrongfully convicted person is as noble an effort as we lawyers can ever undertake, and the students in the Wrongful Convictions Clinic find the hard work well worth it.
A typical case involves a serious felony conviction, such as murder or sexual assault, that occurred more than ten years ago. The case was appealed unsuccessfully, and further post-conviction proceedings, in both state and federal court, have also failed. The inmate, who has consistently alleged actual innocence, is now hoping that we can uncover additional errors of law, or new investigative leads, or apply new forensic techniques, such as DNA testing, to the case to demonstrate innocence.
When a case appears deserving of being re-litigated, the Innocence Project recruits private lawyers and law firms to represent the inmate, and students in the Wrongful Convictions Clinic are assigned to help in that effort. We have cases in all stages of this process right now. Financial support for the Clinic comes from the Law School and from a grant from the Colorado Bar Foundation, the educational and charitable arm of the Colorado Bar Association.
In addition to reviewing referred cases, clinic students are active on the legislative front as well. In 2002, clinic students wrote, lobbied for, and helped pass legislation that gives Colorado state court inmates access to DNA evidence in the post-conviction setting. C.R.S. § 18-1-411. In academic year 2004-2005, students in the clinic are working on legislation requiring that statements of suspects be electronically recorded whenever possible in the hope of reducing the incidence of false confessions generated through inappropriate interrogation techniques and reducing frivolous suppression claims by defendants. The goal, of course, is to improve the accuracy of the information that is presented to the fact-finder.
WRONGFUL CONVICTIONS AND THE ACCURACY OF THE CRIMINAL JUSTICE SYSTEM, an article by Law School Clinical Professor Pat Furman, appears in the September, 2003 issue of The Colorado Lawyer, and is an overview of the causes of wrongful convictions. Much of the work around the nation concerning efforts to free wrongfully convicted inmates is chronicled by the Innocence Project at the Cardozo School of Law.
| H. Patrick Furman Clinical Professor Legal Aid and Defender Program 404 UCB, Wolf Law Building Boulder, CO 80309-0404 303-492-2638 furman@colorado.edu |
