John,

In 1989, Huwe Burton was just 16 years old when he came home from school and found that his mother had been killed. He called the police right away. Almost immediately, police took Huwe in for questioning and after hours of intense interrogation without a lawyer or adult in the room, they coerced him into confessing to murdering his mother — a crime he did not commit.

Two years later, Huwe was wrongly convicted and sentenced to 15 years to life. He ended up spending 19 years behind bars and 10 years on parole for something he didn’t do. But a reinvestigation by the Innocence Project, our co-counsels, Northwestern's Center on Wrongful Convictions and Rutgers Criminal and Youth Justice Clinic, and the Bronx District Attorney’s Conviction Integrity Bureau not only revealed new evidence connecting someone else to the murder, but also exposed the false confession made by Huwe when he was a teen.

Since his exoneration, Huwe has worked tirelessly to transform the system that failed him and so many others. Watch Huwe as he reflects on his journey and that of the Innocence Project in 2023.

Huwe continues to fight for the wrongly convicted and push for policies that will help prevent wrongful convictions in the future — like banning police deception in interrogations with minors. He knows that by passing laws like this that are focused on police accountability and transparency, children will be less susceptible to wrongful convictions.

For so many exonerees like Huwe, freedom is just the first step. Working to fix the system so that others don’t have to suffer like him is now his mission. 

“My advice to other innocent people in prison is don’t stop. Don’t give up. Continue to fight. Don’t lay down. The moment you lay down — that’s when it’s over,” Huwe said after his exoneration.

Please, take a moment to watch this video and learn more about Huwe’s story and how he’s working alongside the Innocence Project to build a more just system, one day at a time.

Thank you for your support,

— The Innocence Project Team