Innocence project paper Essay

Since 1992, al to the highest degree troika hundred community in the line to thumpher States set about been exonerated by the sinlessness Project. What this means is that almost three hundred people have been acquitted for a hatred that they were wrong convicted of institutionaliseting and were then released back into society. Many of these false convictions were the result of a deprivation of applied science back in the time of the psychometric tests which lead to unvalidated or incorrect use of forensic science. Some excess reasons that people be wrongfully convicted are misidentifications from eyewitnesses and false confessions. In this paper, I plan to write or so Kenneth Ireland. His story shows how wrongful convictions and exonerations are issues in the United States.On folk 3, 1986, when Kenneth was only sixteen age gray, a thirty year old wo humanity named Barbara Pelkey was found dead in the factory where she worked over darkness. She had been bodged and s uffered a massive blow to the head. Kenneth heard astir(predicate) the crime while notice from his bedroom and was stunned that something that horrific could happen to someone in his dispirited town. There was an autopsy done on the victim as comfortably as a rape kit up being collected. The rape kit found that thither were sperm cells present on the vaginal and anal retentive swabs. The investigation continued for other(prenominal) year with egress any arrests, but before long after two informants came to the jurisprudence and criminate Kenneth Ireland and two other men of committing the crime.The police utter that the two witnesses had claimed that Kenneth and the other men were fashioning statements to them ab come forth their involvement in the crime. In addition to that nurture, these informants had also given additional unpublished details about the crime and had told the police that their knowledge of this information had come straight from Kenneth Ireland. Six months later, a third base informant came to the police and told them that Kenneth had admitted to committing the crime. The informant wasnt sure if Kenneth was awake at the time he had made the statements, nor was she sure that she hadnt imagined them being said. All she was sure of that night was that she was drunk. Ultimately, because of these three informants, Kenneth Ireland was charged with felony run into, source degree sexual assault and third degree burglary.Despite being one of the three men that were acc utilize of committing the crime, only Kenneth Ireland was tried for the crime. One of the three men had drowned before the exertion took place and the other was never tried for some reason hidden to me. The trial was held in 1989, and Irelands lawyer tried to prove that the initial two informants had presented false information to the police. They were thought to be protecting another potential suspect in the case.This other potential suspect had admitted to making inconsistent remarks to the police while the investigation was still ongoing. However, Irelands attorney was stopped by the judge when he attempted to present try out regarding this other suspect. A police officer had stated during the trial that the fingerprints at the crime scene were not a match to Kenneths fingerprints and in addition to that a forensic analyst confirmed that the hairs from the scene were polar from those of Kenneth. It was determined via the same analyst that the semen found in the rape kit was from a non-secretor. A non-secretor is a person whose blood grapheme is not exhibited in their bodily secretions.Kenneth Ireland, along with twenty percent of solely men, is a non-secretor, and the sample was also consistent with that of the victim. This meant that nobody could be excluded from the crime. During the first round of the deliberations, the dialog box was split 6-6. After three additional days, the jury had found Kenneth Ireland guilty and he was senten ced to fifty years in prison. It was said that Kenneth Ireland was convicted because he could not be hulkd out of the blood or seminal turn out, his lawyer didnt challenge that evidence, and his lawyer didnt endow Kenneth on the stand.In 1991, Ireland had assemblageed his conviction, stating that the two informants had been given a twenty megabyte dollar reward in exchange for his implication. Ireland also declared that his attorney was un adequate to present evidence that would indicate another alternative suspect. This appeal would ultimately be denied. They again tried to appeal in 1999, when the biologic evidence was put into DNA testing but results were proved nothing. It wasnt until 207 that the Connecticut Innocence Project started to review Irelands case. With the help of newfound DNA testing methods, they were able to test the DNA evidence and rule out Kenneth as the person responsible for Barbara Pelkeys murder. It then took another two years for Ireland to get a new trial, where he was prove innocent and allowed to be afree man. He ended up spending nineteen and a half years in prison for a crime he did not commit.As of today, Kenneth Ireland has not been compensable for his wrongful conviction and prison time. However, he and his lawyer have filed an eight-spot million dollar claim against the state of Connecticut for the wrongful conviction. Im not sure that eight million dollars is enough to underwrite for almost twenty critical years of his life. He missed out on some of the most important years in anyones life and it is very difficult to put a price on something equal that. Some good news is that the real killer has been found. In 2009, the blood evidence at the scene that was tested turned out to be that of Kevin Benefield. Kevin was initially a suspect when the investigation began, but the counseling shifted towards Ireland.He worked at a deli near Pelkeys study and was connected to her sexually but he denied the murder. Kevin was convicted in January of 2012 of the murder and felony murder of Barbara Pelkey. Both of those crimes carry twenty five to sixty years of prison time penalties. I think that it will be much harder for things wish well this happen in the future in the manner that it did in Kenneth Irelands case. It seemed to me that one of the major areas of evidence towards his conviction was the semen sample. He could not be ruled out because it was the semen of a non-secretor and he was a non-secretor. With the advances in DNA testing technology, they can test the semen and slowly identify whose it is. This would have immediately been gigantic evidence in proving that Ireland was innocent.I dont genuinely understand how the hair and fingerprint evidence werent weighed more heavily. If it was proven that the fingerprints and the hair at the scene of the crime werent his, that seems to me that it should have been pretty good evidence in his favor. To me it seems like he wasnt given a fair ch ance at being proven innocent. In my opinion, this was a rather unfortunate trial for Kenneth Ireland. The fact that people were being paid off to implicate him was unlucky, and I feel like this is what really pushed him into the situation he was in.Even though his hair and fingerprints werent at the scene, because these three people came to the police verbalism that Kenneth had admitted to committing the crime really set him up for conviction. The blood and semen, which wasnt able to be thoroughly examined due to the limitations in technology couldnt make unnecessary him because he was one of the twenty percent of all men who are non-secretors.Due to this, he could not be ruled out, even though to me it seems that if his hair and fingerprints werent present at the crime scene it wasnt him who committed the crime. It also seems that his lawyer didnt do a great job either. They had evidence to show the court that was denied that would have been really good for Kenneths case and he never had Kenneth go on the stand. I dont know everything about the rules of a trial, but if there is evidence that can prove someones innocence, there must(prenominal) be something that you as a lawyer can do to get the court to see it. It is that important. It is terrible that Kenneth had to suffer for almost twenty years in prison for a crime that he did not commit and I couldnt imagine what he must have went through. It really is a shame that the DNA testing technology couldnt have been implemented or used earlier to at least(prenominal) diminish the nightmare that he had to endure.In conclusion, the amount of wrongful convictions that have interpreted place in the United States is too high. Lying informants, incorrect eyewitness reports, and the improper use of forensic science are many reasons that people are wrongfully convicted. Thankfully, there have been incredible advances in the technology used to test DNA that can now be used to help these wrongfully convicted people get back to the free world.Its terrible to think of the years that they lost or even the lives that they top executive have lost if they were given the death penalty, but at least organizations like the Innocence Project are doing what they can to exonerate these wrongfully convicted people. The story of Kenneth Ireland is a sad tale of a young man falsely committed of raping and murdering a woman. He spent nineteen and a half years in prison for a crime he did not commit, missing out on his entire twenties and most of his thirties. These years are critical for people as they go to college, array a career, and start a family. These are years that he cannot get back, but he is very fortunate to have the ability to excise on as a free man as he looks towards the future.Works CitedDavis, Mark. Freed by DNA, Ireland Speaks out. WTNH TV. N.p., n.d. Web. 06Apr. 2013. . The Innocence Project Know the Cases Browse ProfilesKenneth Ireland. The Innocence Project Know the Cases Browse Pr ofilesKenneth Ireland. N.p., n.d. Web. 06 Apr. 2013. . Kenneth Ireland. Kenneth Ireland. N.p., n.d. Web. 06 Apr. 2013. . Kovner, Josh, and Alaine Griffin. Man Wrongly Imprisoned Plans To issue Convicted Murderers Sentencing. Hartford Courant. N.p., 21 Mar. 2012. Web. 06 Apr. 2013. . Sentencing Today In 1986 CT Murder After Earlier Wrongful Conviction. CBS New York. N.p., n.d. Web. 06 Apr. 2013. .