{"id":7641,"date":"2011-10-21T13:04:44","date_gmt":"2011-10-21T20:04:44","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/stage.headlessnauedu-b6hgdzckfdgxgzhe.westus-01.azurewebsites.net\/?p=7641"},"modified":"2012-12-10T14:15:39","modified_gmt":"2012-12-10T21:15:39","slug":"on-the-case-students-help-investigate-wrongful-conviction-claims","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/in.nau.edu\/news\/on-the-case-students-help-investigate-wrongful-conviction-claims\/","title":{"rendered":"On the case: Students help investigate wrongful conviction claims"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"students<\/a>
Students in the Innocence Project have started unpacking the team\u2019s newest case to look for evidence in an inmate\u2019s claim of innocence. From left to right, undergraduate Lindsey Woods, graduate students Brianna McGill and Jennifer Koyanagi, undergrad Chelsea French, and Brianna Weeks, seated.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Brianna Weeks<\/strong>\u00a0is in her last semester at Northern Arizona University, a time seniors typically spend focusing on graduation and formulating a career path. Instead, she is spending most of her time focusing on someone else\u2019s future\u2014someone she\u2019s never met.<\/p>\n

Weeks is part of the\u00a0Arizona Innocence Project<\/a>\u00a0at NAU, a team comprised of undergraduate and graduate students who investigate inmates\u2019 claims of wrongful conviction.<\/p>\n

She works through cases with\u00a0Robert Schehr<\/strong>, professor of criminology and criminal justice at NAU and executive director for the project, as part of her studies in social and community service and criminal justice.<\/p>\n

To be involved in the project requires substantial commitment\u2014each week includes three hours of coursework, hour-long team meetings with Schehr and six hours in the office plus additional time for investigation.<\/p>\n

Seventeen boxes of documents just arrived for a new case, and Weeks started poring over each page as she hones her skills in criminal procedure.<\/p>\n

And while she won\u2019t see the end result\u2014most case investigations last between six and nine years\u2014she is entrenched in finding evidence that supports the inmate\u2019s claim of innocence.<\/p>\n

The time and work involved sounds overwhelming, but it\u2019s exactly the opportunity that Weeks sought to prepare her for a future as a criminal defense attorney.<\/p>\n

\u201cI was working full time and going to NAU online when I started researching innocence projects,\u201d she says. \u201cInnocence work is the reason I want to go to law school, it\u2019s the driving force for me wanting to be a lawyer. The reason I moved to Flagstaff is to get involved in this project.\u201d<\/p>\n

Innocence projects are offered at universities around the country but Weeks knew NAU\u2019s is different.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe innocence project here is unique because we don\u2019t have a law school affiliation and most of the network projects do,\u201d Schehr says. \u201cWe work very hard to select students in and make sure they know their stuff.\u201d<\/p>\n

Once students complete NAU\u2019s Criminal Procedure course and enroll in Investigating Wrongful Conviction, they get a chance at looking into a real case.<\/p>\n

Both classes instill in students a solid understanding of criminal procedure that makes them exceptional sleuths\u2014skills necessary for a career in law, police work and investigation, and the very skills that, according to Schehr, reposition the student\u2019s point of view.<\/p>\n

\u201cBecause our students come out of social science training, they begin to see and think outside the box,\u201d he says. \u201cThey catch problems that you wouldn\u2019t expect undergrads to catch. Things pop off the page.\u201d<\/p>\n

The case investigation entails reading police and autopsy reports, entire trial transcripts, pre-trial motions and post-conviction appeals. Students interact directly with clients and their family members, police officers, forensic scientists and private investigators. They work with lawyers who act as mentors, vigorously press them on case details and teach them how to develop briefs.<\/p>\n

Essentially, it allows students to take what they are going through in case law, learning and reading, Schehr says, and have that culminate in practice.<\/p>\n

\u201cAnd it gives students a chance to be part of something much bigger,” he says. “When students meet an exoneree, they feel it. Their work matters.\u201d<\/p>\n

But conducting a thorough investigation on behalf of a client requires resources, and funding can be a challenge.<\/p>\n

Since the project was established in 2002, it has received support from the American Bar Foundation, NAU\u2019s Parent Leadership Council and various foundations, along with indirect support from the university. Local attorneys have provided pro bono services in the courtroom and the classroom.<\/p>\n

A recent grant award from the U.S. Department of Justice is about to give the project a significant boost. The $242,322 grant, one of only\u00a010 annual awards<\/a>\u00a0given nationally, will enable the project to employ a full-time attorney and hire the services of a private investigator.<\/p>\n

And while the Dept. of Justice may seem an unlikely partner to fund an innocence project, Schehr says that ensuring the actual perpetrator of a crime is in custody is in the best interest of everyone.<\/p>\n

Advancements in forensic sciences including DNA analysis and composite bullet lead analysis have led to convictions being overturned, but not every case involves that clear-cut physical evidence. In fact, Schehr says, more than 80 percent of cases in which inmates proclaim innocence do not involve DNA.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe more nationally we are exposing wrongful convictions, people are getting concerned,\u201d Schehr says. \u201cYou can\u2019t say any longer that this is just a one-off event. It\u2019s not the bad apple. This is a systemic problem.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Brianna Weeks\u00a0is in her last semester at Northern Arizona University, a time seniors typically spend focusing on graduation and formulating a career path. Instead, she is spending most of her time focusing on someone else\u2019s future\u2014someone she\u2019s never met. Weeks is part of the\u00a0Arizona Innocence Project\u00a0at NAU, a team comprised of undergraduate and graduate students…<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":46,"featured_media":7646,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[11],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-7641","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-research-academics"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/in.nau.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7641","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/in.nau.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/in.nau.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/in.nau.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/46"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/in.nau.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=7641"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/in.nau.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7641\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/in.nau.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/7646"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/in.nau.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=7641"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/in.nau.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=7641"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/in.nau.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=7641"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}