Oklahoma in 10 top for wrongful convictions, Innocence Project officer says

Oklahoma is among the top 10 states in the nation in known wrongful convictions of innocent people, the executive director of the New York-based Innocence Project said last week in Oklahoma City.


                                                                                Larry Hellman

“There have been 18 wrongful convictions in Oklahoma,” Madeline deLone said.

“Those are people who are convicted of serious sexual assaults and murder and who served time in prison for crimes they did not commit.”

These people spent an average of 13 years in prison, she said. Some were incarcerated as long as 30 and 32 years, she said.

The Innocence Project is a nonprofit, national litigation and public policy organization dedicated to exonerating wrongfully convicted people through DNA testing and reforming the criminal justice system to prevent future injustice.

DeLone was speaking at the Oklahoma City University School of Law to help promote the university’s efforts to start an Oklahoma Innocence Clinic.

OCU has been planning and raising money for at least three years to start a clinic that will work to identify and rectify wrongful convictions in the state.

Law students will handle case work while supervised by a team of attorneys and clinic staff.

OCU Law Dean Lawrence K. Hellman said he has raised $1.5 million to fund the program he anticipates will start this fall.

He plans to hire a clinical professor. This is the first innocence project in Oklahoma.

Innocence clinics are based at 50 law schools.

“It will give prisoners in the state prison who have been wrongfully convicted a hope that one day they may be free,” deLone said.

“These are long struggles. The people who do get help have endured unbelievable experiences.”

Ten of the 18 people determined wrongfully convicted were freed by DNA testing. There have been 266 DNA post-conviction exonerations across the country.

“If an innocent person is in prison, the true perpetrator is at large possibly to do further crimes,” Hellman said. “We know of 91 cases around the country where that has happened.”

The clinic is designed to help all involved: victims, prosecutors, law enforcement and the innocent.

“We believe that those who commit crimes should be brought to justice,” Hellman said. “When an innocent person is convicted of a crime, there is a defect and it needs to be fixed.”