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Tag: The Medill Justice Project

  • Medill Justice Project Discovers Revelatory Information in Shaken-Baby Syndrome Case Where Convicted Mother Maintains Her Innocence

    Medill Justice Project Discovers Revelatory Information in Shaken-Baby Syndrome Case Where Convicted Mother Maintains Her Innocence

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    Expert: Miller’s case is a “poster child” for “false conviction for shaken baby”; Multi-part examination co-published with Life of the Law

    Press Release
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    updated: Dec 20, 2016


    Battle Creek, MI, December 20, 2016 (Newswire.com)
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    A Medill Justice Project investigation has discovered several accidents and medical episodes experts say could have played a role in the death of a Michigan woman’s infant daughter. Accused of shaking her child to death, Tonia Miller was convicted of second-degree murder in 2003 and is serving a 20 to 30 year prison sentence.

    After a nine-month examination, MJP co-publishes with Life of the Law its multi-part investigation of Miller’s case, which includes a podcast—available in English and French—that delves into the infant’s short life; two in-depth articles that explore experts’ opinions on alternative explanations for her death and examine the use of demeanor to assess if someone is culpable of a crime; and a video that reveals the impact on Miller’s family and friends in the wake of the tragedy. The stories can be accessed via Life of the Law’s website at www.lifeofthelaw.org or via MJP’s website at www.medilljusticeproject.org.

    Since 2012, MJP has been probing shaken-baby syndrome, creating the world’s largest publicly available database of cases, uncovering evidence that played a role in a federal judge’s decision to free from prison a Chicago-area woman and partnering with The Washington Post on a two-part series published on page one of the newspaper. Its reporting on the subject has been honored with an IRE Award, a Robert F. Kennedy Journalism Award and a Sigma Delta Chi Award, among others. 

    About The Medill Justice Project

    The Medill Justice Project, founded at Northwestern University in 1999, is an award-winning national investigative journalism center that examines potentially wrongful convictions, probes national systemic criminal justice issues and conducts groundbreaking research. As journalists, MJP advocates only for the truth.

    About Life of the Law

    Life of the Law is a national podcast produced by award-winning investigative reporters, editors, producers, researchers and legal scholars. We ask questions, find answers and publish what we discover about the law in our sound-rich, bi-weekly podcast.

    For more information:

    Prof. Alec Klein, Northwestern University
    Director, The Medill Justice Project
    (847) 467-4476
    alec-klein@northwestern.edu

    Amanda Westrich
    Director of operations, The Medill Justice Project
    (847) 467-5307
    amanda.westrich@northwestern.edu

    Nancy Mullane
    Executive director/producer, Life of the Law
    (415) 250-5459
    nancy.mullane@lifeofthelaw.org

    Source: Medill Justice Project

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  • Medill Justice Project Investigates ‘Three-Strikes Law’

    Medill Justice Project Investigates ‘Three-Strikes Law’

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    Tulsa man convicted in spate of purse snatchings serving a life sentence. Oklahoma beginning to grapple with consequences of habitual offender law as other states reform sentences.

    Press Release
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    Sep 19, 2016


    TULSA, Okla., September 19, 2016 (Newswire.com)
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    In a 10-week investigation, The Medill Justice Project probed the complex issues involved in the three-strikes laws that have swept the country. The story examines prison overcrowding, the costs of incarceration, prosecutors’ discretion in pursuing convictions and the case of prisoner Rodney Fisher, a Tulsa man convicted of multiple burglaries and robberies in the 1980s and sentenced under the habitual offender law to 52 years in prison.

    In 2004, Fisher was found guilty of escaping from a minimum-security prison, yet again triggering the state’s habitual offender law. Typically, the sentence for a prison escape would range from two to seven years. But because Fisher had already been convicted of multiple felonies, the law allowed for the punishment to be multiplied. The range suddenly rose to six years to life.

    Fisher got life.  

    Under Oklahoma law, those convicted of murder can serve as little as 10 years. A robbery sentence can bring less time than that. Some nonetheless say Fisher, now 52, got what he deserved. Others point to action in states that have reformed draconian sentences. In Oklahoma, leaders are beginning to grapple with the consequences of one of the highest incarceration rates in the nation and the consequences of its habitual offender law.

    “The three-strikes laws raise important issues about crime and punishment in the United States that need to be addressed but offer no easy answers,” said Northwestern University Prof. Alec Klein, MJP’s director.

    Three Northwestern University students at The Medill Justice Project worked in collaboration with Oklahoma Journalists for Justice, a nonprofit investigative journalism organization based in Tulsa.

    The story is available at www.medilljusticeproject.org.

    About The Medill Justice Project

    The Medill Justice Project, founded at Northwestern University in 1999, is an award-winning national investigative journalism center that examines potentially wrongful convictions, probes national systemic criminal justice issues and conducts groundbreaking research. As journalists, MJP advocates only for the truth.

    For more information:
    Prof. Alec Klein, Northwestern University
    Director, The Medill Justice Project
    (847) 467-4476
    alec-klein@northwestern.edu

    Amanda Westrich
    Director of operations, The Medill Justice Project
    (847) 467-5307
    amanda.westrich@northwestern.edu

    Source: Medill Justice Project

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  • Medill Justice Project Podcast Provides Rare Behind-the-Scenes Look at Investigation of Death Row Inmate’s Case

    Medill Justice Project Podcast Provides Rare Behind-the-Scenes Look at Investigation of Death Row Inmate’s Case

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    Seven-episode series follows MJP staff and students who spent 10 weeks examining Tommy Zeigler’s conviction. Listen to class strategy sessions, extended cuts of interviews with key subjects and students’ reactions as they search for the truth.

    Press Release
    –

    Jul 13, 2016


    EVANSTON, Ill., July 13, 2016 (Newswire.com)
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    ​​For the first time, The Medill Justice Project releases a podcast series offering listeners exclusive access to its investigation of a potentially wrongful conviction.

    Over 10 weeks this spring, a team of Northwestern University undergraduate and graduate students examined a 40-year-old murder case, discovering significant details overlooked and ballistics evidence that points away from Tommy Zeigler, who was convicted of the crime.

    The students investigated the case as part of a journalism class MJP supports at the Medill School of Journalism, Media, Integrated Marketing Communications.

    “The Medill Justice Project is a unique program,” said Northwestern University Prof. Alec Klein, MJP’s director. “There’s no other known program like it in the world where students at a university, as part of a class, investigate a real murder case where the accused says that he or she has been wrongfully convicted or charged and then we publish our findings for the world.”

    The podcast is available as at http://www.medilljusticeproject.org/mjp-radio/.

    In June, MJP published its investigation of the case, shedding light on two witnesses who call into question Zeigler’s guilt but whose accounts never made it into the trial. Prosecutors argued Zeigler shot himself in the lower torso to make it appear he was the victim of a robbery. But experts say it is practically unheard of for someone to shoot themselves in such a critical place, risking death, to cover up a crime. And the two key witnesses against Zeigler offered accounts of the night of the crime that have changed over the years while details have disappeared.

    About The Medill Justice Project

    The Medill Justice Project, founded at Northwestern University in 1999, is an award-winning national investigative journalism center that examines potentially wrongful convictions, probes national systemic criminal justice issues and conducts groundbreaking research. As journalists, MJP advocates only for the truth.

    For more information:

    Prof. Alec Klein, Northwestern University
    Director, The Medill Justice Project
    (847) 467-4476
    alec-klein@northwestern.edu

    Amanda Westrich
    Director of operations, The Medill Justice Project
    (847) 467-5307
    amanda.westrich@northwestern.edu

    Allisha Azlan
    Associate, The Medill Justice Project
    (847) 491-5840
    allisha.azlan@northwestern.edu

    Source: The Medill Justice Project

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  • Medill Justice Project Investigation Finds Crucial Details Overlooked in Case Against Florida Man Condemned to Death Row

    Medill Justice Project Investigation Finds Crucial Details Overlooked in Case Against Florida Man Condemned to Death Row

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    Ballistics Evidence Points Away From Prisoner Tommy Zeigler, Experts Say. Zeigler’s fate is in play as he seeks new DNA testing in the wake of a U.S. Supreme Court decision striking down Florida’s death penalty.

    Press Release
    –

    Jun 13, 2016


    ORLANDO, Fla., June 13, 2016 (Newswire.com)
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    ​​​​​​In an investigation of a 40-year-old Florida murder case, a team of Northwestern University undergraduate and graduate students has discovered significant details overlooked in the case and ballistics evidence that points away from Tommy Zeigler, who was convicted of the crime. The students’ investigation (www.medilljusticeproject.org) also found conflicting accounts from key eyewitnesses that raise questions about what happened when four people were killed in a bloody massacre in a furniture store in Winter Garden, near Orlando, Florida.

    “What the students have uncovered is remarkable and significantly challenges the conviction of a man who faces the death penalty,” said Northwestern University Prof. Alec Klein, director of The Medill Justice Project, who oversaw the 10 students’ work as part of a class he teaches.

    “What the students have uncovered is remarkable and significantly challenge the conviction of a man who faces the death penalty.”

    Alec Klein, Northwestern University Professor and Director of The Medill Justice Project

    Among The Medill Justice Project’s findings:

    • Two witnesses call into question Zeigler’s guilt but their accounts never made it into the trial. Those witnesses, Ken and Linda Roach, heard 12 to 15 gun shots within four seconds as they were driving by the furniture store where the murders took place. The Roaches said authorities were not interested in hearing their story and wouldn’t provide information for them to contact the defense attorneys. Ballistics experts interviewed for this story say it would be virtually impossible for a single person to fire a non-automatic weapon so quickly.
       
    • Zeigler, who has always maintained his innocence, was discovered at the crime scene with a bullet hole through his lower torso. At trial, the prosecution argued Zeigler shot himself to make it appear he was the victim of a robbery. But experts interviewed for this story say it is practically unheard of for someone to shoot themselves in such a critical place, risking death, to cover up a crime. The experts also note the angle of the bullet, as it passed through his body, would have required him to use his non-dominant left hand to fire the weapon. And based on ballistics evidence, Zeigler would have had to shoot himself with the gun positioned away from his body, depriving him of the ability to stabilize the gun’s muzzle against his body.
       
    • The two key witnesses against Zeigler offered accounts of the night of the crime that have changed over the years while details have disappeared, according to interviews with sources, police records, trial transcripts and other court documents as well as investigative reports.

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    Other media outlets can run this story with the accompanying photos, videos and audio clips as long as the material is not edited and The Medill Justice Project is credited in the byline.

    About The Medill Justice Project

    The Medill Justice Project, founded at Northwestern University in 1999, is an award-winning national investigative journalism center that examines potentially wrongful convictions, probes national systemic criminal justice issues and conducts groundbreaking research. As journalists, MJP advocates only for the truth.

    For more information:

    Prof. Alec Klein, Northwestern University
    Director, The Medill Justice Project
    (847) 467-4476
    alec-klein@northwestern.edu​

    Amanda Westrich
    Director of operations, The Medill Justice Project
    (847) 467-5307
    amanda.westrich@northwestern.edu

    Allisha Azlan
    Associate, The Medill Justice Project
    (847) 491-5840
    allisha.azlan@northwestern.edu

    Source: The Medill Justice Project

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