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Tag: conviction review unit
Media
🦄 Prison
Minnesota Ends Conviction Review Unit With 160 Cases Still Under Investigation
Minnesota's Attorney General Keith Ellison has decided to "eliminate" the state's Conviction Review Unit (CRU) less than six years after he created it. The closure is a devastating blow to around 160 CRU applicants in Minnesota prisons whose cases were pending final investigation into their claims of wrongful conviction.
🦄 Prison
New Report and Ruling Dim Philip Vance’s Hopes of Postconviction Relief
Serving life in prison for a crime he says he didn't commit, Philip Vance's hopes for freedom took a blow last month when a judge denied his fifth postconviction relief petition.
🦄 Prison
Bryan Hooper Sr. Freed From Wrongful Conviction After ‘Sordid’ 27 Years in Prison
Bryan Hooper Sr. walked out of a Minnesota prison on Sept. 4 after 9,999 days of captivity for a murder he was wrongfully convicted of.
🦄 Prison
Broken Scales: Seeking Justice for Philip Vance
Two decades ago, Philip Vance’s life was set on the scales of justice. And found wanting. Convicted of murder, he was sentenced to life in prison. A jury found him guilty on all three counts: second-degree intentional, first-degree intentional, and first-degree premeditated. In just eight…
🦄 Prison
Philip Vance’s Postconviction Filing Kicked Back by Prosecutors to Wait For CRU Report
Philip Vance is serving a life sentence for a 2002 murder in South St. Paul during a robbery of Sabreen’s Supermarket, but his supporters have long believed this was a false charge after hearing Vance’s pleas of innocence. After waiting more than three years since…
🦄 Prison
Done Waiting on CRU, Philip Vance Readies to File Legal Petition for Wrongful Conviction
MCF-Rush City, MN — Serving a life sentence for a deadly robbery in South St. Paul in 2002, Philip Vance has always insisted he is innocent. Since his conviction, he’s been exhausting all legal options to get another chance in court to prove he’s been…
Recanted Jailhouse Testimonies Lead to Renewed Calls to Release Bobo and Ferguson
Minneapolis, MN — Family members and advocates of two men serving life sentences in Minnesota — Deaunteze Bobo and Jermaine Ferguson — renewed their demands for their loved ones to be released from prison, saying they were wrongfully convicted.
During a press conference in the…
Marvin Haynes Exonerated and Released From Prison After 19 Years
Minneapolis, MN — In a historic ruling, Hennepin County Judge William Koch vacated Marvin Haynes’ murder conviction, dismissed his charges with prejudice, and ordered his release from prison where he was sentenced to serve life. Haynes walked out of MCF-Stillwater as an exonerated man into…
🦄 Prison
Limited Funds Stunt Minnesota’s Conviction Review Unit — Families Want Expediency
Minnesota’s Conviction Review Unit (CRU) has received nearly 1,000 applications of wrongful incarceration to review but with only a couple paid staff and four grants in two years, impacted families complain about lengthy waits while the CRU say they lack capacity and funding. Created to…
Marvin Haynes’ Family and Supporters Demand His Release from Prison
Minneapolis, MN — “We are asking for his immediate release!” Cynthia Haynes demanded passionately, calling for her brother’s release from prison while holding two signs – one read “Free Marvin Haynes Now,” the other, “Justice 4 Marvin Haynes.” As the case of Marvin Haynes starts…