Three Florida casea: Jerry Rogers, Peter Ventura, and Roy Swafford

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	• The Innocents Peter Neufeld, Barry Scheck Umbrage Editions, 2003 - 136 pages average customer review:based on 6 reviews view larger image
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highly recommended

mandatory reading for anyone in the judicial system

This book is phenomenal. Not only in its ironic ability to tell these tales, but for also revealing the clear errors that the judicial system cranks out. Anyone interested in those who are falsely convicted should check out www.wm3.org.

4 stars: a SOFTcover edition cost self and Mother Earth less

Medium: Book
ISBN: 1-884167-18-7
Book Type: Hardcover with Jacket
Pages: 112 pages, 104 4-color illustrations
Size: 12.5 x 10 inches
Item #: 11430
Name: The Innocents
About this book...
This compelling book of photographs and interviews with the wrongfully convicted by Taryn Simon includes commentary and case profiles by Peter Neufeld and Barry Scheck. The failings of the criminal justice system and the use of the death penalty in this country are currently under close scrutiny and an important topic of public debate. The images and voices of The Innocents mark this historic turning point in America.

The Innocence Project, founded by leading civil rights attorneys Peter Neufeld and Barry Scheck, is responsible for most of the postconviction DNA exonerations in the United States today, many of which are included in this book. On the ten-year anniversary of its founding, the Project continues to free the innocent, striving to transform criminal justice into a more equitable and reliable system.

Photographer Taryn Simon brings us face-to-face with individuals falsely accused and convicted. While mugshots and photoarrays are used to condemn and imprison these innocents, Simon has turned the camera around to document these victims of mistaken identity and perverted justice. Simon photographed the wrongfully convicted at locations that were crucial in these legal cases: the scene of misindentification, the scene of arrest, the alibi location, or the scene of the crime. Through Simon's interviews with each, the men and women in this book confront the paradox of innocence and imprisonment, the inability to recover the years stolen from them, and the states' unconscionable refusal to compensate them or ease their traumatic transition to civilian life.

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A Human Face on the flaws of our system

"The Innocents" is a jarring photo documentation of the issues raised by the scores of false convictions which have been overturned, primarily as a result of DNA evidence. As with Barry Scheck's book, "Actual Innocence", one of the most disturbing conclusions is that there are many more falsely-convicted individuals who never will be cleared because their alleged crimes did not leave DNA evidence behind.

The pictures in this book put a human face to the exonerated. The simple, direct accompanying text and quotes from the former prisoners tell the story over and over. I highly recommend this book in conjunction with Actual Innocence which discusses the causes of false convictions and attempts to articulate solutions to this ongoing problem with our legal system (even though it is one of the best legal systems in the world).

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Three Florida casea: Jerry Rogers, Peter Ventura, and Roy Swafford

Jerry Layne Rogers, Sr. -- wrongfully convicted and innocent. From 1989 - 1992, I was his investigator at CCR.

Mr. Rogers' case consisted in 1992 of at least 80 boxes of documents, from court files, prosecutor and law enforcement files, trial and evidentiary hearing transcripts, etc. Mr. Rogers's case was the largest and most complicated that CCR [The Office of Capital Collateral Representative -- a state agency in the judicial branch of Florida government] has ever represented that I am aware of.

The second largest and most complicated was that of Mr. Gerald Stano, whose lead attorney during most of the development of his case was Mark E. Olive.

In 1995, Mr. Rogers began receiving pro bono representation from the Washington, D.C. law firm Covington and Burling. The result was an unanimous Florida Supreme Court (FSC) 26 page opinion ordering a new trial in Mr. Rogers' case due primarily to prosecutorial misconduct, in particular Brady v. Maryland violations.

To read the opinion, go to the FSC website, then at "Public Information", to the recent opinions, to the year 2001, then toward the bottom at February 15, 2001, one will find the FSC opinion.

During the summer of 2002, Mr. Rogers was re-convicted, however sentenced to life upon the jury recommendation. Now twice Mr. Rogers has been wrongfully convicted.

In 2004, the Florida 5th District Court of Appeal denied relief. The FSC declined to accept jurisdiction and thus denied the petition for review.

Mr. Rogers' case is pending Federal review.

For those interested in reading the narrowly decided by four to three vote Florida Supreme Court opinions regarding two more death sentenced persons whose innocence is an authentic issue, please go to the FSC website, then go to the recent opinions, then chose the correct year and scroll down to the following two cases:

Roy Swafford: April 18, 2002

Peter Ventura: May 24, 2001

Additionally, the issue in the below cases is DNA testing that proves that Roy Swafford did not rape Brenda Rucker:

Roy Swafford: March 26, 2004 Case Nos. SC03.931 and SC03.1153

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Beautiful photographs of those falsely accused

There are emerging artists whose work tends to emphasize style over substance, of which there are many (Notable examples include Williamsburg, Brooklyn, NY artist Anissa Mack, perhaps best known for her performance piece "Pies for a Passerby" and most, though not all, of the emerging artists represented in the recent Brooklyn Museum exhibition "Open House: Working in Brooklyn".). And then there are those who can produce stylishly beautiful work, and make profound statements about culture, society, etc. through their art. Fellow Brunonian Taryn Simon - she studied photography primarily at the Rhode Island School of Design, widely regarded as America's premier art school, while still an undergraduate at Brown - is unquestionably one of these, with a distinctive documentary style which harkens back to Walker Evans's sympathetic black and white photographic portrayals of people in Depression-era America. However, here Simon has worked deliberately in color, using the conventions of commercial fashion photography to create memorable images. Hers is a splendid, mature body of work, replete with much empathy for her subjects; former convicts who were falsely accused and convicted. Each photograph is accompanied with commentary from the two attorneys in charge of the Innocence Project, Barry Scheck and Peter Neufeld. Through their Innocence Project, attorneys Scheck and Neufeld have freed scores of people who were wrongly convicted. Simon received a Guggenheim Fellowship in Photography for this project; an award normally given to artists who are in mid-career or further along, not to an emerging artist. Simon's work has been exhibited at New York City's International Center of Photography and P. S. 1 Contemporary Art Center; an international tour of these photographs had its first stop at P. S. 1. As both a fellow alumnus of her college and a fellow photographer, I eagerly look forward to yet another impressive body of work from Ms. Simon.

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reviews: page 1, 2

Leading civil rights attorneys Peter Neufeld and Barry Scheck of The Innocence Project commissioned photographer Taryn Simon to travel across the United States photographing and interviewing individuals who were convicted of heinous crimes of which they were innocent. Simon photographed these innocents at sites of particular significance to their illegitimate conviction: the scene of the crime, misidentification, arrest, or alibi. Simon's portraits are accompanied by a commentary by Neufeld and Scheck.

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