The Montana Innocence Project is a nonprofit organization with a mission to identify and exonerate innocent Montana inmates who've been wrongly convicted.
As a class, we're going to meet with Maurice Possley (that's his photo up there,) about this on Sept. 15 from 2-3:30 probably in DAH316. I'd encourage anyone who is interested to also attend the Saturday workshop described below. If you miss Maurice on Monday, please make an extra effort to attend on Saturday.
UM Journalism Profs. Dennis Swibold and Clem Work are on the board of directors for the Montana Innocence Project, as is Jeff Renz at the UM law school and others. Jessie McQuillan has been hired to direct the project.
The Project is sponsoring a day-long seminar/training on "Wrongful Convictions & Freeing the Innocent" led by investigative reporter and former Pollner professor Maurice Possley, who recently left the Chicago Tribune. This will be an excellent learning opportunity and a condensed introduction to the issue of investigating wrongful convictions.
Here are the details:
What: Wrongful Convictions Seminar
When: Saturday, Sept. 13, 2008; Welcome at 9:30 and sessions from 10-3 with lunch break
Where: Don Anderson Hall Room 316
Anyone with interest or questions can contact Jessie McQuillan, executive director of the Montana Innocence Project, at 544-6698, or mtinnocenceproject@gmail.com.
Nationwide, DNA evidence has helped exonerate 220 innocent Americans, and another 200 or so wrongly convicted people have been freed thanks to other forms of evidence. Montana is one of the last states to launch an innocence project, and to date, three Montana men have been cleared by DNA evidence.
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