Downstate Illinois Innocence Project®
Activities
The Downstate Illinois Innocence Project also regularly conducts educational programs designed to bring attention to actual innocence cases it is working on and inform the public about many of the major failings of the criminal justice system. Public programs have included the following:
- Two presentations by Professor Gary Wells, a national expert on witness misidentification. He spoke at two forums on May 9, 2002. He presented a workshop on witness misidentification for local attorneys, and he lead a form that included UIS students, who will shared their work on the Keith Harris case. The second event was open to the public and a reception immediately followed the presentation and discussion.
- Presentations and panel discussions in 2002 and 2003 that included Thomas Frisbie, author of the book, Victims of Justice, a book covering the erroneous convictions of Orlando Cruz and Alejandro Hernandez for the murder of Jeanine Nicarico in Naperville, Illinois. The presentations and discussions addressed the issue of the “prosecution complex”, as well as others.
- A forum on DNA with DNA expert Brenda Phillis, Director Bob Davis, and former administrator Richard Dunn from the State of Illinois Police Forensic Science Laboratory.
- A presentation on October 23, 2003, by Diane Fanning, author of Through the Window: The Terrifying True Story of Cross-Country Killer Tommy Lynn Sells, who discovered the truth regarding Julie Rea Harper’s innocence when Sells confessed to her that he, not Rea, had committed the murder. The program was preceded by a cocktail reception at 5:30 p.m. Both events were free and open to the public. Over 75 people attended