Six months after the Federal Bureau of Investigation acknowledged that flawed testimony about hair analysis may have caused innocent people to be convicted of crimes, the State Public Defender’s office has created a new Wrongful Conviction Division “to determine whether similar errors have occurred in Iowa cases” and to “pursue available legal remedies.” I enclose below the press release announcing the new office, which will collaborate with Iowa Division of Criminal Investigation, the Innocence Project of Iowa, and the Midwest Innocence Project. People seeking to have their cases reviewed can submit this 12-page intake questionnaire (pdf).

State Public Defender Adam Gregg deserves credit for making this happen less than a year after Governor Terry Branstad appointed him to the job. (A former legislative liaison for Branstad, Gregg ran unsuccessfully for Iowa attorney general in 2014.) The press release indicates that Gregg repurposed a vacant position in his office using existing appropriations. Taking that route allowed him to move more quickly than if he had lobbied state lawmakers for funding to create a Wrongful Conviction Division. Gregg also hired a serious person to run the new division in Audrey McGinn, who spent four years as a staff attorney for the California Innocence Project. Scroll to the end of this post for more background on McGinn’s work.

Radio Iowa’s O. Kay Henderson reported from the October 26 press conference,

“What’s an acceptable error rate for our criminal justice system?” State Public Defender Adam Gregg asked this morning. “Even if we get it right 99 percent of the time and only get it wrong one percent of the time, that would mean there are over 80 innocent people currently incarcerated in Iowa prisons. And at what cost? To the state, it’s about $34,000 per year per inmate. But what about to their families, to their lives and to their sanity? And at what cost to public safety?”

Gregg said when the wrong person is convicted, that means the real criminal isn’t held accountable. The first batch of cases to be reviewed by this new division date back to the 1980s and early ’90s.

Criminal defense attorney Nick Sarcone commented to Bleeding Heartland, “I think this is an important step towards ensuring the integrity of our justice system. However, we need to spend more time, energy and money fixing the substantial issues which plague our system at the trial court level. We need to ensure this new unit is not investigating cases from 2015 in 2030.”

UPDATE: Added below criminal defense attorney Joseph Glazebrook’s reaction to this news.

Joseph Glazebrook commented to Bleeding Heartland,

I love the idea of this program. I give full credit to the administration and to Mr. Gregg in particular for taking the initiative to come together on an issue that should trouble Iowans of all stripes. Time after time, I have seen people in our system who haven’t gotten a fair trial. They may get a less than zealous defense attorney. They may get one of the many prosecutors in this State who has an attitude that its more important to get a conviction than to do justice. And while I support this effort, I also think it is vital to invest more in the procedural protections on the front end that prevent this sort of thing. That would effectively mean more funding for the public defenders office and for state contract attorneys–probably a modest increase in pay as well. It would also mean making it easier for defendants of all economic backgrounds to qualify for state funded investigatory tools and expert witnesses.

October 26 press release:

Governor, SPD Announce Creation of Wrongful Conviction Division

(DES MOINES) – Today, during the Administration’s weekly press conference, Gov. Terry Branstad and State Public Defender Adam Gregg announced the creation of the Wrongful Conviction Division at the Office of the State Public Defender. The Wrongful Conviction Division will systematically review and identify potential cases involving wrongful convictions and pursue available legal remedies.

The Federal Bureau of Investigation recently admitted to serious errors in its testimony in cases involving hair comparison analysis. The Wrongful Conviction Division is partnering with the Iowa Division of Criminal Investigation, the Innocence Project of Iowa, and the Midwest Innocence Project to determine whether similar errors have occurred in Iowa cases. If such errors are identified, the Wrongful Conviction Division will pursue existing legal remedies, such as post-conviction relief.

“In Iowa, we have great confidence in our criminal justice system,” said Branstad. “However, even in a well-regarded system, we know issues can arise. The creation of the Wrongful Conviction Division within the State Public Defender’s Office, and its collaboration with the Division of Criminal Investigation and existing innocence organizations, will help us ensure that our criminal justice system gets it right.”

The Wrongful Conviction Division will be led by Audrey McGinn, formerly of the California Innocence Project. During her time at the California Innocence Project, McGinn had a hand in seven exonerations, and helped found ten innocence projects throughout Latin America. Her position was created by repurposing a vacant full time employee position, using existing appropriated funding.

Recognizing a shared interest in exonerating Iowa residents convicted of crimes they did not commit, The Wrongful Conviction Division of the Office of the State Public Defender (SPD), the Innocence Project of Iowa (IPI), and the Midwest Innocence Project (MIP) have entered into a collaborative agreement to further promote justice and secure exonerations within Iowa. Together, these organizations will identify, investigate, and litigate cases of individuals who are claiming factual innocence of the crimes for which they were convicted.

Under this agreement, they will jointly conduct the review process of an inmate’s claim of innocence. An inmate may fill out the initial intake questionnaire, located here and mail to the MIP for further review by the group. For the cases where our joint investigation and review reveals proof of the inmate’s innocence, experienced attorneys from the SPD, IPI, and MIP will determine potential avenues for post-conviction relief.

Together, the SPD, MIP, and IPI will combine efforts to focus on investigating Iowa cases and ensure the integrity of the Iowa criminal justice system.

Contact us at exonerate@spd.state.ia.us .

Intake Questionnaire

Background on Audrey McGinn, taken from her official bio on the California Innocence Project’s website.

Audrey has been an attorney with the California Innocence Project since 2011.
Audrey began as a student volunteer in the Project and later joined us as a clinic student. Realizing her passion for assisting the wrongfully convicted, she joined the Project as a staff attorney upon passing the California State Bar.
Audrey is fluent in Spanish and is the Project Coordinator of Red Inocente, a network of innocence organizations. Audrey has helped coordinate efforts to establish innocence organizations in other countries, including: the Argentinian Innocence Project, Colombian Innocence Project, Chilean Innocence Project, and the Mexico Innocence Project.
Over the course of her career, she has helped broaden the Project’s outreach to Spanish speaking clients who may be innocent so that we could pursue their cases. She currently authors petitions filed on behalf of the Project’s clients. She also directs and supervises clinic student casework and all of the Project’s volunteer students and lawyers.