INUK Conference November 2011

Being in my 1st year and not really knowing a lot about The Innocence Project as a whole, this conference which was held in the Norton Rose building in London really helped me gain an understanding of what it is all about. The Innocence Network UK (INUK) is an organisation that is 'educating to overturn and prevent the wrongful conviction of innocent people.' This was the 6th annual conference and was held over two days 25-26th November. I unfortunately was unavailable to attend the first evening which was held between 5:30pm-9pm. This session consisted of 2 speakers Keith Hyatt and Michael O'Brien who spoke about their experiences of being wrongfully convicted and how the Innocence Project managed to overturn their case. This session would have been really interesting to me however I did read about it online to find out more about the case.

Dr Michael Naughton

The second session on Saturday 26th November started at 9:30-5:30 (a long day some of you might say) however the conference was in fact very interesting. The conference was introduced by Dr Michael Naughton who is the Director of the Innocence Network UK (INUK). He established INUK in the School of Law at the University of Bristol in 2004. He has written about issues relating to miscarriages of justice and the wrongful conviction of the innocent for leading academic journals and is a regular contributor to media debates. The majority of students at the conference were from Bristol University and consisted mainly of potential lawyers. This was intimidating at first however it was established later on by Dr Eamon O'Neil who is a investigative journalist that in fact journalists bring a different view into the innocence project. 

Mark George QC -
Garden Court North

One of the sessions was given by Mark George QC who is a highly experienced defence  trial advocate (barrister) of more than 30 years call. He is regularly instructed in cases of murder, manslaughter, rape and other serious sexual cases. Before he took his silk he was regularly briefed in serious cases of historic sexual assault, often representing teachers and carers - in silk he continues to defend in such cases. He is an opponent of the death penalty and has a strong interest in death penalty cases in the USA. 


Mark gave a session called 'Whats in the boxes?' which was about different types of case documents and provided a method on how to sort out the case papers systematically. 


Mark told us a piece of advise he was once given 'If you can't find a document in 30 seconds you may as well not have it.' This sums up his overall talk as he claims that if you can't find a document to make your point, then you may miss out on the chance to overturn a case. This point was directed towards the majority of law students who were wanting to become lawyers. However it is still important for journalists working on the Innocence Project as it is vital that all documents are organised.


Mark started his talk by telling us about a group of journalism students in Illinois that in 1998, uncovered information on a number of death row inmates that freed them from being put to death for crimes they had not committed, in some cases several days before their scheduled execution. It was this overturning of wrongful convictions that eventually led to the death penalty being abolished in Illinois in 2011.

Mark's advice on managing case papers:

1. Sort the files
2. Index everything
3. Separate important documents
4. Keep records of all work you do
5. Keep all correspondence on files

You should make notes of:

1. Has there been an appeal before?
2. Have any issues already been raised and ruled on before?
3. What has happened in the case already.
4. The date and judgement of the appeal.

Unused material are a historic problem and key reason for Miscarriages of Justice. These may include:

• Exhibits
• Statements
• Actions
• Messages 
• Documents
• Reports

If anything is missing, think about where it might be.

• Ask the original solicitors
• Ask the client themselves
• Ask the CPS- but be nice!
• Registrar of Criminal Appeals - RCJ Strand

Gabe Tan- Executive Director of INUK

Another helpful talk was given to us by Gabe Tan - a research assistant in the School of Law at the University of Bristol where she works exclusively as Executive Director for the INUK. She oversees all of INUK's casework, including eligibility assessment of applications from prisoners and the referral of cases to member innocence projects. Gabe has published articles and contributed to books on the topic of wrongful convictions and has had work published in leading peer-reviewed academic journals. 

Gabe's talk was 'An Introduction to Investigating a Claim of Innocence' - it's aim was to provide the framework for a methodology on how to go about investigating a claim of innocence.

Her main points were:

- Assess the strength of the evidence that led to the conviction

- Try and find new methods that could prove innocence (DNA testing)

- Re- examination of the case to find out if a claim for innocence is genuine

1.  Ensuring the retention of evidence and case papers

Gabe then went through a 6 step procedure that should try to be followed:

All of the relevant paperwork must be collected such as interviews and evidence to help further forensic analysis.

2.  Prosecutions case

Understanding what the prosecutions version of events was.

The defences case- evidence that was given by the defence to support its case: alibi, witness statements.

3.  Going beyond trial documents

The unused material must be looked at as well as the forensic files and other

Obtaining the documents: clients previous solicitors are your first point of call

Other legal routes include FOI Act 2000 and the Data Protection Act 1998 that allows you to get police disciplinary records as long as they aren't going to be used in legal proceedings.

4. Investigating the evidence that lead to the conviction

Key investigation techniques: research!

- Go through all unused material carefully

-Construct time lines

- Go through all forensic files

- Consult experts 

5. Proving innocence through DNA

-Was the applicant convicted before DNA testing was available?

- Was DNA testing conducted?

- Are there more advanced methods that weren't available then?

- Never assume what ought to be done, has been done

6.  Making an application to the CCRC

- Do not restrict yourself to 'fresh evidence', it is important to give the full story to put referral into context- tipping the balance.

- Ask for regular updates every few months on

- Use the media- always press release when a CCRC application is submitted.

Dr Eamonn O'Neil

A talk which I found incredibly interesting as it related to my own studies was Dr Eamonn O'Neil. Eamonn is an award-winning investigative journalist, is the Programme Director of the MSc in Investigative Journalism, University of Strathclyde, Scotland. He is also the Director of the University of Strathclyde Innocence Project. His work on miscarriages of justice includes the 11 years he spent investigating the Robert Brown case which ended with a 25-year wrongful murder conviction being overturned by the Court of Appeal, London in November 2002. His work has been honoured in national and international awards and he was the first British journalist to be awarded an American Investigative Reporters and Editors honour in the Special Award category for his lifetime's investigative work on miscarriages of justice.


Eamon has been an investigative journalist for 22 years so is highly experienced in what he does. He has featured on Dispatches programmes on Channel 4, ITV documentaries, and has work for print and online. The talk looked at the importance of going beyond the case papers by undertaking 'fieldwork investigations'. He also provided us with advice on how to conduct interviews and reconstructions. He emphasised the point that investigative journalists are important to overturning wrongful convictions as take action into finding new evidence that hasn't been found before.


'Fieldwork'
-Getting out of your office and away from your desk
- Better than desktop reviews
- Trace steps, visit scene, speak to witnesses etc
- Build up your own picture of what could have happened, compare whats on your sheet of paper to whats on the ground.


Why is fieldwork crucial?

1. Puts paperwork into action
2. Forces in-the-field comparison 
3. Forces us to reinterpret the case
4. Creates new location leads at/near locus
5. Sheds light on recorded events

As Gabe also said, you don't want the 'documents' - they are the 'official' versions, you want what was left out of those documents/minutes.

Why should IPs visit crime scenes?

In Eamonn's words: You'll immediately trump the CCRC if you..

1. Make sense of material
2. Check evidence gathering
3. Create a fresh and relative narrative
4. Understand the forensic process that occurred
5. Compare paperwork to the locus
6. Track down fresh leads

Incorporating fieldwork

-Use as factual context in narrative submission

- Reference it in notes and have a file available

- Ask the client new questions based on your visit

Most importantly- Emphasise to the CCRC that it done using strict protocols and intimate awareness of limitations and benefits

Limitations

- You are working from material that was gathered by others

- This is only as good as the personnel and protocols utilised at the time

- It might be inaccurate

Eamonn always emphasised the importance of looking up the Shirley McKie Case that involved a policewoman in Scotland being wrongly accused of leaving her fingerprints at a murder scene. The case rose questions about how reliable the fingerprint enquiry really is when used against someone at trial.

Other things covered at the conference included:

• A talk by Mark Newby who has been a solicitor since 1993 and became a Solicitor Advocate in 2004. He was the director of the Historic Abuse Appeal Panel that was set up in 2003 to help tackle historic allegations. His talk was based around 'Translating Evidence of the Innocence into Grounds of Appeal' which discussed 'fresh evidence' and how it can be used.
• The final speaker to bring the conference to a close was John Cooper QC who was called to the Bar of England and Wales in March 2010. He is a professor of Law at Cardiff University. He is also now recognised as being one of the leading barristers in London. He discussed 'How the Criminal Cases Review Commission fails the Innocent' where he talked in detail about how the CCRC aren't helping the Innocence Project like they should be in order to do something for those wrongfully convicted.

Overall, I think this conference was very interesting and allowed me to gain a greater understanding of what the Innocence Project is and ways that you can help prove people are wrongfully convicted. As I am only 1st year, I hope that I can experience more of these conferences and get involved to help Brian and the team investigate claims of innocence. Thank you Brian for giving me this opportunity so early on, it was beneficial and I cannot wait to get involved!

The provided conference booklet

The beautiful view from outside
Norton Rose