Conference Focuses on Carter Case and Features Wrongfully Convicted

A conference inspired by the Maurice Carter case and featuring speakers who were wrongfully convicted, one of the nation’ s leading experts on eyewitness fallibility and principals from the Center on Wrongful Convictions at Northwestern University School of Law, will take place from1 to 5 p.m. Wednesday, May 2, at Andrews University in Berrien Springs, Mich.

Titled "What If You’ re Not Guilty? Eyewitness Error in the Criminal Justice System," the conference is jointly sponsored by the Center on Wrongful Convictions, Andrews University and the innocence projects of the University of Wisconsin-Madison and the Thomas M. Cooley Law School in Lansing, Mich.

Maurice Carter is an African American who was convicted by an all-white jury and sentenced to life for shooting and wounding a white police officer from Benton Harbor, Mich., in 1973. The conviction rested entirely on eyewitness testimony that has since been called into serious question.

The conference will be led by Center on Wrongful Convictions Legal Director Lawrence C. Marshall, whose path-breaking legal representation and reform work has profoundly affected wrongful conviction policy debates and legislation. The Center’ s executive director, Rob Warden, will present a study of eyewitness error in the 90 cases around the country in which death row prisoners have been exonerated since capital punishment was restored in the United States in the 1970s.

Among the presenters are Kirk Bloodsworth, who was sentenced to death in Maryland because five eyewitnesses mistakenly identified him; Jennifer Thompson, whose mistaken identification caused an innocent man to spend 11 years in prison in North Carolina; Gary Wells, an Iowa State University psychology professor who is regarded as the nation’ s leading authority on eyewitness fallibility; F. Martin Tieber, who has served as director of the Lansing office of the Michigan State Appellate Defender; and Keith Findley, professor of law at the University of Wisconsin and attorney for Carter.

"There is compelling evidence of innocence, and Mr. Carter, after serving a life sentence of 26 years, is seeking a new trial," said Marshall.

In addition to the representation being provided by the Wisconsin project, Carter’ s case is being worked on by both the Center on Wrongful Convictions and the Medill Innocence Project, headed by David Protess, the Northwestern journalism professor whose investigative work on wrongful convictions has made international headlines.

Northwestern’ s Marshall, Warden and Protess have been involved in nine cases of innocent men who have been exonerated and released from death row in Illinois since 1987. Those exonerations played a major role in Ill. Gov. George Ryan’ s decision in January 2000 to place a moratorium on executions.

4/20/01