One of the public interest extracurriculars available to join at Duke is the Innocence Project, the organization of students, teachers and legal advisers that work to overturn wrongful convictions. When I mentioned this to Brandon he said something along the lines of, "Oh, that's great. So you're going to work on that, right?" Right. How could I not. It is right up my bleeding-heart alley. I do believe there are people in our prison system who have been wrongly convicted of crimes the didn't commit. I don't think there are enough people out there fighting for justice in their cases.
Today I went to the first informational meeting about working on the Innocence Project. They have been careful to tailor categories of work so that each student can offer as much or as little of a commitment as she feels she can handle. I'm definitely in. (Now, don't worry, this will build on and enhance my law school experience, not take time away from it.)
This morning, due to some very long term work of Duke Law students and some dedicated (Duke alumni) council Dwayne Allen Dail has been given back his freedom. Eighteen years ago he was falsely convicted of raping a twelve year old girl. Last week the evidence from the trial, which had been "lost" for eighteen years, showed up when an officer retired. One account in the news says that the box was mistakenly stashed away in a corner of his office. Another article says that a pair of officers found it while cleaning out a storage room. Completely unconfirmed accounts said something about a motorcycle shed at the officer's home. Regardless of why the evidence was missing for 18 years, it contained DNA evidence that conclusively cleared Dail.
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