GEORGIA INNOCENCE PROJECT TO HOST
INTERNATIONAL INNOCENCE CONFERENCE
Innocence advocates from around the world with gather in Atlanta April 16-18, 2010, for the annual Innocence Network Conference. The focus of this year's conference will be the 2009 report on forensic evidence from the National Academy of Sciences.
For full details on how to attend the conference (and earn CLE credit if you're a lawyer), please visit www.innocence2010.org.
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FIRST DAY OF FREEDOM
Michael Marshall Talks About Day One of a New Life
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Michael Marshall with GIP intern Christina Rupp, just moments after he was released. Christina led the investigation of Mr. Marshall's case. |
Atlanta - December 16, 2009
"Splendid." That's how Michael Marshall describes his first 24 hours of freedom. After spending 25 months in prison for a crime he did not commit, Marshall was released yesterday.
After a first lunch of fried chicken in the Georgia Innocence Project (GIP) office, Michael called his mother in Alabama. He says she was excited to hear from him and, as any mother would, she asked if he was OK. Unlike many others, she also asked her son if he was "in the street."
That's because Michael Marshall was homeless when he was arrested for the theft of a truck in Hapeville, Georgia, in 2007. Ten days after the crime, after Marshall was found sleeping in an apartment building hallway, a police officer thought Marshall resembled the composite photo of the truck thief. That led to misidentification of Marshall by a witness to the theft.
But Marshall doesn't have to worry about being "in the street." GIP's Life After Exoneration program will help him rebuild his life. For now, that includes shelter, food and clothing. Soon, it will include help with education and job training.
"I'm taking one day at a time, and it feels good just to walk around. My mind is on staying patient and letting things come as they will," said Marshall. "I can go anywhere I want to go now, but it's hard to believe that I'm getting this much help (from GIP). I'm just concentrating on that right now. I don't want to disappoint anyone. I have somebody who trusts me and has faith in me, and I'm moving forward with that."
As for the holidays in front of him, Michael is thrilled that he doesn't have to spend another Christmas "locked up." He says every day is now special to him. "I'm going to go to sleep and wake up in this spirit. Two years seemed like a long time, and it's hard to believe it's all over. Justice has prevailed, and I'm a free man."
If you would like to help GIP assist Michael Marshall in rebuilding his life, please donate to the Georgia Innocence Project.
For more information on what led to Michael Marshall's wrongful conviction, please see our Issues paper on the case.
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GEORGIA MAN PROVEN INNOCENT IN HAPEVILLE CAR THEFT CASE
Flawed Identification Process Led to Homeless Man's Arrest
Atlanta-December 15, 2009
DNA test results have ruled out Michael Marshall as the perpetrator of a truck theft in Hapeville in 2007. Marshall, 43, has served two years and one month of a four-year sentence for the crime.
Through the efforts of the Georgia Innocence Project (GIP), the Georgia Bureau of Investigation (GBI) performed DNA testing that proves Mr. Marshall is innocent of the crime. Mr. Marshall was released today after a hearing yesterday in front of Fulton County Superior Court Judge T. Jackson Bedford, Jr.
A t-shirt, cell phone, and cell phone case were recovered after police lost the suspect following a high-speed chase in the stolen truck. DNA testing of those items proves that they do not belong to Mr. Marshall. A GBI comparison of the test results to files in the Combined DNA Index System (CODIS) reveal the items actually belonged to another man.
Mr. Marshall was arrested ten days after the theft when he was found sleeping in the hallway of an apartment building in Hapeville. He was misidentified as the thief by one of the victims in a “show-up,” a one-on-one identification conducted at the apartment complex.
According to GIP Executive Director Aimee Maxwell, “Show-ups are not good evidence. They are inherently prejudicial.” But Maxwell says there are other problems with the investigation. “What surprised us most about this case was that police had evidence they could test and didn’t do it. With DNA testing now a common practice, we never thought we would have a 2007 case; this could have been solved back then.” Added, Maxwell, “In fact, police didn’t even need to do DNA testing. There is no indication that investigators made any efforts to determine the owner of the cell phone.”
For background information on the case, please click here.
For information on the issues in this case, please click here.
To support the Georgia Innocence Project's work, please click here.
