Full Description
This book lays out the author's proven approach to investigating and assessing a defendant's claim of innocence whether pre-trial, or post-conviction. The author weaves his 35 years of experience into a simple step-by-step process, showing the reader how to objectively investigate a wrongful conviction. He uses his case histories to describe an alternative to the "trial and error" methods so often used. As a result, this book offers a methodical and repeatable approach to assessing and investigating a defendant's claim of innocence. The book refers to the actual investigations, which led to dozens of exonerations, prison releases, acquittals, and dismissed charges in Murder I cases.
Claims of innocence may be common, but knowledge of an objective way to assess those claims is hardly universal. This book was written for the classroom and the field. It is essential reading for the student, the Innocence Project volunteer, practitioner or anyone interested in correcting a wrongful conviction, or avoiding the next false conviction.
Contents
The Preface: Why I Do This
Chapter 1. How Do I Start? Where Do I Start?
Chapter 2. Organizing the Raw Data
Chapter 3. Building My Murder Memo (Part 1): Organizing The Details
Chapter 4. Building My Murder Memo (Part 2): Reviewing the Police Investigation
Chapter 5. Building My Murder Memo (Part 3): Reviewing witness interviews and lab reports while Creating my People List and To Dos
Chapter 6. Time To Get Out: My First Client Visit
Chapter 7. Time To Get Out: Visiting the Crime Scene
Chapter 8. Identifying and Finding My Witnesses
Chapter 9. The Witness Interview (Part 1): Approaching The Witness
Chapter 10. The Witness Interview (Part 2): The Interview and the Report
Chapter 11. My Work Completed -- Now What?
