Exoneree (Written) Profile

For this assignment, you will present a case from the database from the National Registry of Exonerations.  In this paper, you will detail who your (hypothetical) client is, what injustices occurred, and what  the government should do to correct the mistakes made.
 
You will use the National Registry of Exonerations (NRE) for ideas of cases where justice was mostly not served. Every person listed in this registry has been formally exonerated by some court of lawso you can choose any case from this registry as your chosen client. The database lists cases where a person was wrongly convicted of a crime later cleared of all the charges based on new evidence of innocence. Browse through the cases and find a case that you find interesting and compelling!
 
Youll find that each exoneree has a short write-up in the NRE database, but youll need to find more information on the individual to help you argue your case. The key to these cases is that something went wrong, procedurally, to cause the injustice to occur. You need to investigate what went wrongsometimes it is witness misidentification, other times it is government misconduct or coercive police tacticsand discuss how this led to the miscarriage of justice. Because all of these cases have proceeded to the appellate level, there are legal documents that you can review to learn more about the case, and in particular, what went wrong. I will bring in a librarian to help you learn to access legal materials related to the cases appellate process.
 
Your assignment is to argue for your client. To do this, youll need to detail:
           

What this case is about, briefly
What went wrong: what injustices occurred
Cite the SPECIFIC constitutional amendment which you believe has been violated (4th, 5th, 6th, or 8th) (and cite your reasoning for choosing this amendment) (this is a KEY piece of your paper).
Cite any precedent (discussed in class, from your textbook, or in the materials you find on the particular case) that could be used to support your case for exoneration, you may cite it even if it would not be technically allowable in court because it might be from another state. For the purposes of this exercise, you may cite it to demonstrate you understand the underlying legal conceptseven if specific idiosyncratic state rules might prohibit this in real life .
Explain what you think should happen to rectify the injustice. You can be creative: compensation, the censure of officials involved in the case, or some other remedy. Since this is a real person but only a hypothetical argument, feel free to argue for what you believe might be appropriate in this case. What responsibility does the state have to make it right?

This should be approximately 4 pages (typed, Times New Roman font, double spaced) in length. Cite all materials used in a bibliography according to APA style.
 
Pro Tip: If you are having trouble finding additional information on the person youve chosen, try another exoneree where you can easily access information about them.