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Sheila Denton with her lawyers Mark Loudon-Brown and Katherine Moss of the Southern Center for Human Rights. Photo courtesy of Southern Center for Human Rights.
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Sheila Denton is Freed After 15 Years
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When Sheila Denton was charged with murder in Georgia in 2004, it was based largely on bite mark analysis. She spent over 15 years in prison, always maintaining her innocence, and working to get the flawed forensic evidence discredited.
With help from the Southern Center for Human Rights, her murder conviction was reversed two months ago, and prosecutors chose not to appeal an emergency motion to release her in light of the court’s decision and the COVID-19 pandemic. Just a few weeks ago, Sheila was finally released from prison. Read more about Sheila’s story.
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Darnell Phillips and his mother after his release. Photo by Keith Cephus Photography/Innocence Project.
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Groundbreaking New Virginia Laws Remove Barriers to Proving Innocence
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Virginia has some of the toughest laws in the nation for exonerating the innocent. For example, Darnell Phillips, a client of the University of Virginia Innocence Project Clinic, has not been able to overturn his 1990 rape conviction despite DNA evidence and a recantation from the victim.
In April, Virginia lawmakers passed the most significant improvements to innocence laws in over a decade. One measure removes the requirement that DNA testing be conducted by the state laboratory, which lacks technology needed to get results from old, degraded evidence that is common in wrongful convictions. The other removes limitations in the “writ of actual innocence” law, which is the primary avenue for overturning wrongful convictions in court.
Learn about how this new legislation has the potential to help so many wrongfully convicted people in Virginia get the justice they deserve.
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Cast a Vote for the Innocence Project
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The Innocence Project has been nominated for a Webby Award, the most prestigious internet award around, for best activism website — a reflection on how this incredible community has powerfully used the internet to advocate for the wrongfully convicted. You can help us win this important recognition. Voting is open to the public through Thursday, May 7.
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Exonerations Around the U.S.
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Northern California Innocence Project client Jeremy Puckett was exonerated after almost 19 years; Pennsylvania Innocence Project client Daniel Carnevale was exonerated after 13 years; Innocence Project of Minnesota client Javon Davis was exonerated after 5 years; Taiwan Innocence Project client Chin-Lung Lin was exonerated after being sentenced to 18 years.
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