Historic conference to address timely issue: DNA Testing and The Innocence Project Helps Free Man Wrongly Imprisoned for 26 years
By Laura Sager,
Campaign for Justice Director
Last week, Michigan learned of yet another travesty of justice. Walter Swift, a Detroit resident, was exonerated after spending twenty-six years in prison for a rape and home invasion that he did not commit. He and his family paid a terrible price for his wrongful conviction. How many other families suffered while this innocent man was in prison the real perpetrator was free to commit more crimes?
Walter Swift is only the latest of several wrongful convictions reported in the press. How many will it take to convince the legislature to fix our broken public defense system?
In 1982, Swift’s public defense attorney neglected to present important forensic evidence that would have proven Swift’s innocence. His attorney also did not challenge the faulty eyewitness identification lineup procedure that was used to send him to prison for well over two decades. That attorney was disbarred multiple times in the last two decades for ineffective defense representation and other misconduct.
Horrific stories like these are preventable injustices. The level of justice received should not be dependent on whether or not one can afford to hire an attorney. In fact, the U.S. Constitution guarantees individuals accused of crimes the effective assistance of an attorney when they cannot afford to pay for one themselves.
However, Michigan’s public defense system has repeatedly been singled out as one of the worst in the nation, with inadequate funding, no oversight or performance requirements for trial court level public defense. This means that if you cannot afford to hire an attorney in Michigan:
o Even a competent attorney assigned to your case may be denied funding for investigators or experts to prove your innocence.
o You may not have the chance to meet with your attorney until just minutes before court hearings.
o Your attorney may try to do his or her best to defend you well, but faces towering caseloads and may have little experience or training for your specific case.
Our neighbors, family members or close friends who fall on hard times due to layoffs or other financial difficulties could find themselves facing criminal charges without effective defense representation. A U.S. Department of Justice survey showed that public defense attorneys represented 77 percent of African Americans in state prisons across the nation.
What is being done about Michigan’s public defense system?
A comprehensive evaluation of Michigan’s public defense system, conducted by David Carroll, the director of research and evaluation at the National Legal Aid & Defender Association and a national expert on public defense systems, will be released to the legislature and media the week of June 16. The study was commissioned in 2006 by a Senate concurrent resolution and is expected to reveal widespread violations of the right to effective assistance of counsel.
Joining the fight for reform
On June 19, concerned citizens, civil rights and community advocates, faith leaders, treatment and service providers, and legal and criminal justice professionals, are invited to attend a conference, “Reforming Public Defense, Serving Our Communities.” This first annual Michigan Public Defense Task Force conference will be an important opportunity to engage in a discussion about Michigan’s broken public defense system and the fight for reform through both the courts and the legislature.
Carroll will serve as the keynote speaker, and conference participants will join other national and local experts in discussing the Michigan system and needed reforms. Other speakers will include Mark Stephens of the Knox County Public Defender Community Law Office and Chief Justice Karla Gray of the Montana Supreme Court.
The one-day conference will be packed with opportunities to learn about a “day in the life” of Michigan’s public defense attorneys, the impact the system has on children, as well as ongoing reform efforts. Participants will also have an opportunity to explore how public defense attorneys can work with service providers to reduce recidivism and the connection between faith community values of compassion and support for public defense reform.
Finally, organizing efforts are underway to build a broad coalition of groups working to ensure that Michigan’s public defense system has adequate statewide funding and meets minimum national standards.
Reform of Michigan’s public defense system is long overdue. We must work together to ensure that what happened to Walter Swift will never happen to another adult or child in our community.
For more information about this issue, to register for the conference, or to find out how you can joint this effort, please go to www.michigancampaignforjustice.org or email info@michigancampaignforjustice.org.
CASE STUDY
On September 2, 1982, a 35-year-old Detroit schoolteacher was at home with her 8-month-old son when she was grabbed from behind by an intruder, pulled into her bedroom and raped.
Following a police investigation during which a picture of Walter Swift was one of eight picked out by the victim, Walter participated in a police line-up after which he was positively identified as the assailant, despite an alibi from his then girlfriend – later to become a police officer – stating that he was with her on the morning of the crime.
Arrested and charged with the rape, Walter was tried on November 8 and 9, 1982.
He was found guilty and sentenced to 55 years behind bars.
The Innocence Project brought to light a range of evidence which indicated Walter Swift’s innocence, most of which was never presented at the original trial.
* He does not resemble the victim’s description of the perpetrator.
* The lineup procedure that led the victim to misidentify Swift was flawed, which the jury never heard.
* Forensic testing done before Swift’s trial – but not presented at his trial – shows that he may not have been the perpetrator.
* His defense attorney failed to present evidence of his innocence at trial.
* He has an airtight alibi from a veteran law enforcement officer with 24 years of service who has no motive to lie.
* Swift forfeited all opportunities for parole since his imprisonment because he would not admit to a crime he didn’t commit.
Investigation revealed that the eyewitness identification of Swift, which formed the foundation of the prosecution case against him, was deeply flawed. Meanwhile, key people involved in the case, including the original prosecutor and investigating police officer as well as the lab analyst that conducted forensic testing, expressed doubt over the veracity of his conviction.
The case has highlighted discrepancies in the identification procedures used in Michigan. To make sure this doesn’t happen to other people, Michigan’s Legislature should pass a bill to improve eyewitness identification practices statewide. A bill to do this has been introduced and is currently pending.
The case study was obtained from
www.walterswift.com.
