Prosecutors Claim 'Innocence Project' Journalism Students Paid Witnesses
from the gets-a-bit-more-complicated... dept
Last month, we thought it was quite excessive that states' attorneys in Illinois were asking for all sorts of information on the students who were involved in the Medill Innocence Project -- a journalism school investigative reporting effort that has helped free wrongly convicted individuals. The prosecutors were asking for information on the students' grades and private notes, which seemed to go beyond what seemed reasonable. However, now the prosecutors are claiming that the students may have paid witnesses for their interviews, which could raise questions about their authenticity (found via Romenesko). Of course, reading the details, it's not so clear cut. The students admit that they paid for the guy's cab fare, but it sounds like there was money left over from the cash they gave the cabbie, and he gave it to the interview subject (who then used it to buy drugs). That certainly makes it a little more clear as to why prosecutors were looking for more info, but it still seems like the overall request went beyond what was reasonable. It certainly looks more like an intimidation tactic than any attempt to get to the bottom of the case.Thank you for reading this Techdirt post. With so many things competing for everyone’s attention these days, we really appreciate you giving us your time. We work hard every day to put quality content out there for our community.
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Filed Under: innocence project, journalism, medill, students, witnesses
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Er, citizen journalism? They're in school FOR journalism, which would suggest to me that they're more in the traditional mold, no?
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You mean like Glenn Beck?
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British tabloids pay people all the time.
It makes the students bad journalists, but I don't see how it makes them any more guilty of committing a crime.
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"...a 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."
What were you saying again about this not being "...a project to free convicted crimintals"? I suppose the word "free" may have been a poor choice, since exonerate was more appropriate, but in a layman's mind...
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This is the EXACT reason why the earlier request was made
The Prosecutor is still bound by the laws on what can and cannot be admitted to court, and is still subject to having any evidence thrown out if these laws are not followed.
The prosecutor in this case is simply dotting his I's and crossing his T's. If these students do manage to free this guy from jail with the evidence they found, it's the prosecutors job to insure that they are releasing an innocent man and not just a lucky criminal that managed to work the system to their advantage.
It's just as easy for the criminal to be wrongly released as it is for them to have been wrongly convicted.
If these students get a convicted criminal released from jail, there is no going back and putting them back in jail if they are later found guilty of this same crime. Double jeopardy prevents that.
These students NEED to be brought under a magnifying glass because the consequences of their actions could just as easily put a mass murderer back on the streets as it could be putting an innocent man back on the streets.
They will not be held accountable if they release the mass murderer, but they will be praised for releasing the wrongly accused.
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The students wont be held accountable? Since when are prosecutors held accountable? They have immunity from almost everything.
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Any time you get involved with the legal system you open yourself up to these sorts of things, either by a defense attorney (which probably happens more often than from a prosecuting attorney) or by a prosecuting attorney. Is it any wonder that a lot of people do not wish to come forward as a witness for the state?
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Oh, and left over money from a cab fare was used to buy drugs ... just how much is a cab fare in new yuk?
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In my line of work I can't even give my client a nutri-grain bar without crossing the line into bribery. The kids probably didn't even think of it as a bribe, and it was a pretty crappy bribe too if it was.
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Sounds like someone is saying it was a bribe...
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Just wondering
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re: Citizen journalists
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Hey!
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WTF? What world are you in? No, it is NOT just as easy for a criminal to be wrongly released as it is for an innocent person to be convicted. Bad conviction happen all the time for various reason, some good, some very very bad. But releases? Especially releases that are accompanined by that all important scrubbing of the record? No, those are not easy to come by and are in fact VERY rare. Even when they should be done it often takes years for the aggrieved person to get it all sorted.
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Trying to think of an argument for the relevance of the grades...
Even so, seems like a clear cut violation of FERPA to turn over grades - though I admit to not being as up on what happens if FERPA intersects a criminal investigations.
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