After Innocence - DNA Finds Convicts Not Guilty

Documentary by Jessica Sanders Tells Story of Exoneration and After

Nov 8, 2009

New technology and DNA have revealed the innocence of many inmates. But what happens when more than a decade of your life was stolen and you are left with nothing?

When a prisoner is exonerated by DNA evidence, it is only the beginning for that man or woman. Jessica Sanders has followed several inmates who were found innocent due to new technology and shown how their release impacted them. The anger for suffering for crimes for which they were wrongly convicted, the unjust treatment while incarcerated, and being released with virtually nothing (one man was given $5.37 upon release) contribute to the difficulties with which each prior prisoner must deal.

One rape victim was found by DNA to have had sperm from four men within her, yet none matched the man convicted for the rape. When some cases were reviewed due to DNA technology, reviewers were incredulous that these men were ever brought into the criminal justice system at all, with so little evidence.

The Documentary After Innocence Reveals Serious Problems in Criminal Justice System

The Innocence Project is in a race against time, with thousands of innocent people incarcerated for crimes they did not commit. In many cases, there is no biological evidence or it has been lost or damaged, making it virtually impossible to clear the person. This project utilizes young law students as well as seasoned attorneys to review old cases for which there may now be enough physical evidence to exonerate the inmate. One man received a private apology from the district attorney who prosecuted him; it was an earnest apology and the ex-prisoner said, "that felt good." He even hugged the DA because he knew it was heart-felt. Others have not been as fortunate, with some DAs remaining resistant and defensive.

One man, a former police officer, felt betrayed by the entire justice system when he was wrongly accused of murder; he never received any apologies. Some families lose their homes and all their savings trying to fight for justice in a system that was stacked against them. It was not until new technology offered a small ray of hope for release that some of these wrongfully convicted stood any chance at all for justice. But then comes release, and no employment, grown children, broken marriages, no starting point. Knowing that some of these imprisoned men were innocent, the difficulties that they have in reintegrating into society would indicate that the problems come from within the system, not within the prisoners, who were law-abiding citizens all along.

Jessica Sanders' film shows The Cost to the Convicted Goes Far Beyond the Years Spent in Prison

When the exonerated person is released, he has to process who he was before prison, who he became while in prison, and who he is now that he is released. For some, the grief for their families and what their false imprisonment has cost them is made clear upon release, when there is a huge gap between the family they remembered and what is left of it. For others, life becomes more difficult after prison than it was while incarcerated.

Some exonerated people have worked for compensation for the wrongly convicted, to help the innocent move forward. Sanders has shone a light on a dark subject in her film, a failed part of the criminal justice system, and the cost in human lives for our errors. It is easy to follow one story after another within the film, with a broad range of outcomes and attitudes, to understand the scope of the problems facing the freed people and the commensurate problems within our justice system.

The case of Bobby Poole and Ronald Cotton, a case of mistaken identity, highlights one of these problems within the justice system. A woman named Jennifer, the accuser and rape victim, mistakenly identified Ronald Cotton for the crime. When the real rapist, Bobby Poole, surfaced, Jennifer did everything she could to make amends to Mr. Cotton. Today they have a close relationship, both haunted by the "demon of error."

The single biggest cause of wrongful convictions has been the cases of mistaken identity; the U.S. is the only modern nation that still executes prisoners, despite the growing concern that those executed may not be guilty. Even after exoneration, the person's records may not be expunged, the DNA evidence may not entered into database files to help catch the guilty, and compensation rarely happens. This documentary is a good film about an important topic; its strength is in the honest, calm and sincere nature of the people it portrays.

The copyright of the article After Innocence - DNA Finds Convicts Not Guilty in Socio-Political Documentaries is owned by Barbara DeGrande. Permission to republish After Innocence - DNA Finds Convicts Not Guilty in print or online must be granted by the author in writing.