The Innocence Institute of Point Park University
An investigative reporting organization that probes allegations of wrongful convictions.
By Darlene Natale
Just before Danny Tyus’s retrial for murder, the prosecution’s case fell apart when the eyewitness admitted he lied. Tyus pleaded guilty to a lesser charge on the advice of counsel and was released from prison for the time he already served.
Don Ray Adams lost his brother and the family business while serving time for a double-homicide. When the eyewitness recanted, Adams …
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After 25 years in prison in the ‘Bear Rocks Murders,” Former Latrobe Man Released Pending Outcome of Appeal
By Leah Welch and Darlene Natale
The Innocence Institute of Point Park University
PITTSBURGH—As a bare-headed and graying David Munchinski, still wearing drab blue prison garb, emerged into a steady downpour from prison for the first time in 25 years, he first stumbled …
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After 25 years in prison in the “Bear Rocks Murders,” Former Latrobe Man Released Pending Outcome of Appeal
By Bill Moushey
The Innocence Institute of Point Park University
PITTSBURGH-- Just a month after she deemed David Munchinski’s conviction in a 1978 double-murder unworthy of confidence, a federal judge ordered the former Latrobe man’s release after 25 years in prison as he …
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Munchinski Ordered Released on Bond
David Munchinski, the first subject of an Innocence Institute of Point Park University investigation, was ordered released on bond this morning after 25 years in prison by a federal judge who said "I don't think he should have been convicted....see more later today at www.innocenceinstitute.org.
Bond Hearing Scheduled for Munchinski
A hearing to …
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Don Ray Adams served almost 20 years before acquittal in 1990 double murder
By Darlene White Natale
The Innocence Institute of Point Park University
In 2005, when the U.S. Supreme Court rejected a late-stage appeal on his 1990 double-murder
conviction, Don Ray Adams resigned himself to life in prison for something he always
maintained he didn’t do, and told his family to forget about …
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Memorandum Opinion David Munchinski
A Federal Judge Rules No Reasonable Trier Of Fact Could Have Convicted David Munchinski
By Bill Moushey
The Innocence Institute of Point Park University
Rebuking Fayette County prosecutors for numerous constitutional violations and stating David Munchinski “has prevailed in his gateway claim of innocence,” a federal judge has ordered a new trial in …
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"... a perverse injustice has been done." -- Attorney Noah Geary
By Bill Moushey
bmoushey@pointpark.edu
PITTSBURGH, Pa. -- From the time he was implicated in a 1977 drug-related double-murder, David Munchinski has claimed innocence and that he was framed by a lying, double-dealing informer who later hanged himself in an Oklahoma jail.
He maintained that stance during his first trial that …
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Stacy Lee authored a series for the McKeesport Daily News, which covers the area where Whitley was implicated in a murder. The first two parts of the series have run. Please stay tuned for the rest.
Part 1: "Man still struggling 4 years after release"
Part 2: "Innocence Institute played key role in overturning conviction"
Part 3: "Inconsistencies abounded at Whitley trial" …
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By Faith Cotter
inn_inst@pointpark.edu
Four years after being released from almost 19 years of wrongful imprisonment, a federal judge has dismissed a lawsuit filed by Drew Whitley, stating that while the probe that resulted in his murder conviction was substandard, the lawmen involved are covered by prosecutors immunity because they did not commit a crime during the faulty investigation.
In …
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The following is a press release from Eric Ferrero, Director of Communications at The Innocence Project in New York City
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(NEW YORK, NY; Thursday, February 4, 2010) A Rochester, New York, man who was wrongfully convicted of rape 33 years ago is being exonerated with DNA testing today, in what the Innocence Project said is the 250th DNA exoneration in the United …
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