Congratulations to Mr. Pittman on his exoneration after 21 years of wrongful conviction. Marcellous Pittman was framed and wrongfully convicted of shooting a police officer in 2001. When his name surfaced as someone who lived in the area and news reported him as a suspect, Mr. Pittman did what most innocent teenagers with strong family…
Read MoreDavid Wright Freed After 28 Years in Prison
After spending 28 years being wrongfully incarcerated, David Wright was released from custody last Friday, two weeks after his conviction was vacated on August 30 at the conclusion of a post-conviction hearing. Wright was just 17 in 1994 when he was arrested for a crime he did not commit. He turns 46 tomorrow. He came…
Read MoreWrongful Conviction Day 2022
We recently celebrated the 9th annual #WrongfulConvictionDay! To recognize this important day, we gathered with the community of impacted individuals for discussions, food, games, and a resource fair. The #collectiveimpact of wrongful convictions is felt by so many and continues long after release. We hope to continue to support this incredible community with more events…
Read More‘Exoneration Day’: Families Celebrate Mass Exoneration
“For Chicago, this was Exoneration Day.”— Marissa Perlman, CBS 2 News “A mass exoneration event like no other.”— Charlie Wojciechowski, NBC 5 News “A monumental day for the Illinois justice system.”— Irika Sargent, CBS 2 News On August 9, 2022, exonerees, families and supporters celebrated the unprecedented mass exoneration of eight wrongfully convicted victims of…
Read MoreWatts Team Scandal
Disgraced former Chicago Police Sergeant Ronald Watts and his team of corrupt officers are responsible for hundreds of false drug convictions. To date, more than 200 such convictions have been thrown out in the largest mass exoneration in Chicago history. Those victims, later adjudicated innocent, were sentenced to over 274 years in prison. Joshua Tepfer,…
Read MoreStephanie Spurgeon
After 8.5 years in prison for a wrongful manslaughter/abusive head trauma conviction, Exoneration Project client Stephanie Spurgeon shares her story with Jason Flom on the Wrongful Conviction podcast. We co-counseled with the Center for Integrity in Forensic Sciences & the Innocence Project of Florida.
Read MoreJimmy Soto
We are so proud of our client, Jimmy Soto, whose words were used in a song featured by White Snake Projects. Jimmy’s poem is part of the “Sing Out Strong: Incarcerated Voices” series and includes imagery from his experience incarcerated. “Abolish 13th Amendment – don’t try to cage us.Free us from incarceration,Give us true liberation,Like…
Read MoreBen Baker
In 2016, Ben Baker overturned his 2006 conviction for possession of a controlled substance with intent to deliver after the Exoneration Project obtained exculpatory FBI documents through the Freedom of Information Act. The materials prove that Bakers’ allegations against a corrupt Chicago Police tactical team were corroborated by investigative materials that were available at the …
Read MoreJames Kuppelberg
James Kluppelberg was wrongfully convicted of a possible arson and related six-person homicide which occurred in the early morning hours of March 1984 on the south side of Chicago. Nearly four years passed until Kluppelberg was interrogated and arrested for setting the fire. Detectives severely beat Kluppelberg, causing injuries so serious that the court concluded …
Read MoreJose Montanez
In 2016, after twenty three years of wrongful incarceration, a Cook County judge vacated the convictions and dismissed all charges against Jose Montanez, and his co-defendant, Armando Serrano. In February 1993, Montanez and Serrano were each sentenced to 55 years in the killing of a west side Chicago man.
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