Group studies wrongful convictions
While serving as a state Senator, Dan
Weinberg first learned more about issues facing the justice
system.
Then Weinberg, of Whitefish, learned
about the Barry Beach case. After nearly three decades in prison,
Beach is seeking to prove his innocence. Beach was convicted of and
received a 100-year sentence for the 1979 murder of a 17-year-old
Poplar girl.
“I don’t think he committed this crime
— justice isn’t being done,” Weinberg remembers thinking about the
trial.
Legal proceedings to determine whether
a new hearing will be held in the Beach case are ongoing in Fergus
County District Court. Beach claims he gave a false confession to
the crime and none of the physical evidence links him to the
murder.
It was more than three years ago that
Weinberg first learned about Beach. Since then he has educated
himself more about wrongful conviction and created an organization
to assist those who claim innocence.
The Montana Innocence Project, founded
in 2008, is a statewide nonprofit organization dedicated to
exonerating inmates who are wrongly convicted and preventing
wrongful convictions. MTIP provides pro-bono legal and
investigative assistance to prisoners who pass screening.
Much of the project’s work focuses on
using DNA-testing for physical evidence. Around the country, some
273 people have been exonerated on the basis of DNA testing,
according to the national Innocence Project.
“DNA has shown us how fallible forensic
science can be — it has turned it on its head,” Weinberg said. “Eye
witnesses are not as accurate as we once thought, hair comparison
isn’t reliable and confessions can be coerced.”
Weinberg, who serves as president on
the group’s board of directors, brought along several Whitefish
residents to the MTIP. Vice president is Frank Sweeney and serving
on the board of directors are retired United States Magistrate Bart
Erickson, Paula Sweeney and Parker Kelly.
Weinberg, along with other involved in
MTIP, gathered in Whitefish last week. MTIP participated in the
state Office of Public Defender conference held at Grouse Mountain
Lodge. In addition to assisting with a training session, MTIP
brought Kirk Bloodsworth to the conference. Bloodsworth spoke about
his experience as the first death row inmate in the country to be
exonerated on the basis of DNA testing.
Erickson points to cases like
Bloodsworth’s for why he is involved in MTIP. In addition to
serving as a federal judge, Erickson has served as a public
defender and says he’s worked both sides of the courtroom.
“The worst thing that can ever happen
to a defense attorney, prosecutor or judge is for an innocent
person to be in prison,” he said. “I firmly believe that.”
The worst outcome is that the wrong
person is in jail and the guilty person is free, he noted.
Attorney Paula Sweeney agrees. Sweeney
served as a trial lawyer in Dallas, a place she said that leads the
nation in exonerations. When she first learned that she thought it
must be because Dallas was worse at convicting the wrong
person.
“But it isn’t that they make more
mistakes,” she said. “It’s the policy they had to keep evidence.
Prisoners have been exonerated because they were able to use
DNA-testing on that evidence. That’s why it’s so important to
preserve evidence, but it doesn’t always happen.”
The MTIP is advocating for holding onto
evidence that could exonerate those who are innocent. A bill in the
state Legislature that would have allowed inmates convicted in
homicide and sexual assault cases to request long-term preservation
of DNA evidence died in committee during the 2011 legislative
session.
“Having that evidence to free people is
important,” Weinberg said. “We’ve got the technology that we didn’t
have 15 to 20 years ago to look and see if there is reason to think
someone is innocent.”