Maren Reeder is a dedicated and hardworking volunteer who supports the Great North Innocence Project in administration and community outreach work. We sat down with Maren to learn more about her volunteer experience so far. Great North Innocence Project: Tell us about yourself. Maren Reeder: have lived in Chanhassen for 22 years with my husband…
Read MoreFarewell to longtime GNIP Board Member Jon Hopeman
Jon Hopeman, longtime Great North Board member, has seen the Great North Innocence Project through numerous stages of organizational development; worked on innocence case litigation, including helping to free innocent Great North client Javon Davis from prison in 2020; and provided critical leadership during times of organizational transition. Current Great North Board Co-Chair Kevin Riach…
Read MoreVolunteer Spotlight: Elissa Mautner
Elissa Mautner is an energetic, dedicated, and passionate volunteer with the Great North Innocence Project. She supports our work in numerous ways as an administrative and events volunteer including fielding inquiries about our work, checking and logging Great North mail, keeping tabs on innocence-related news stories, and providing event support before and during the Benefit…
Read MoreThe Great North Innocence Project celebrates client’s release from prison after Minnesota Conviction Review Unit’s investigation
The Great North Innocence Project announced today that their client Thomas Rhodes will be released from Moose Lake Correctional Center after spending nearly 25 years in prison. His release is the result of a comprehensive review of his case by the Minnesota Conviction Review Unit, a partnership between the Great North Innocence Project and the…
Read MoreHair Microscopy Analysis: A junk science that dominated forensics for decades.
From the 1950s and during several decades onwards, investigators used hair microscopy to connect hair samples found during the course of a criminal investigation to hairs taken from suspects. The analysis involves an examiner using a high powered microscope and their own visual judgment to compare the unknown hair found during the investigation to several…
Read MoreBloodstain Pattern Analysis: Another Subjective “Science” Convicting Innocent People
On October 13, 1997, serial killer Tommy Lynn Sells stabbed 10-year old Joel Kirkpatrick to death in his bedroom. Joel’s mother, Julie Rea, awoke to his screams and rushed to his bedroom where Sells attacked her. She chased him, breaking two glass doors on their way out of the house, where Sells attacked her again…
Read MoreTwo of this year’s Pro Bono Champion Award Winners Reflect on their Innocence Work with the Great North Innocence Project
Mark Bradford and Samuel Lockner make up one half of the 2022 Pro Bono Champions of the Year award winners. Along with Megan Christner and Alexandra Olson, Mark and Sam work with GN-IP staff attorney Jim Mayer representing current client, Robert Kaiser. As of this writing, Robert and his team are preparing for an upcoming…
Read MoreThe Great North Innocence Project granted $500,000 to fuel the statewide Conviction Review Unit
The Great North Innocence Project (GN-IP) announced today that it has received a two-year, $500,000 grant from the U.S. Department of Justice that will fuel the ongoing work of Minnesota’s first-ever Conviction Review Unit (CRU). This DOJ grant represents an increased investment from the previous $300,000 two-year grant GN-IP received to launch the CRU in…
Read MoreForensic Odontology: A Dangerous, Debunked “Science”
When Kennedy Brewer walked out of prison in 2007, exonerated with DNA from killing his girlfriend’s three-year-old daughter, he had spent over a third of his life in prison based wholly on two opinions. The medical examiner believed he found bite marks on the child’s body, and a forensic odontologist stated the marks, without a…
Read MoreCan fiber and hair analysis really solve crime?
Among the list of “scientific” techniques often put forward as reliable in solving a crime is fiber and hair analysis. According to scientists and experts, however, this process is not one that can conclusively point to a crime’s perpetrator, and its use has resulted in previous wrongful convictions. Fibers are small units of textile material…
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