NIU Law to Host Innocence Project Presentation
Liberty and Justice for All?
March 24, 2006
DeKalb, Ill. -- Criminal justice reform advocates, including two men who were pardoned after serving prison time for crimes they did not commit, will speak at the Northern Illinois University College of Law's 2006 Innocence Project presentation, Liberty and Justice for All? at 6 p.m. on Tuesday, March 28, in the Francis X. Riley Courtroom, Swen Parson Hall. "We are trying to raise people's consciousness about how the Illinois criminal justice system works, or doesn't work," explained Yvonne Lapp Cryns, a third-year NIU Law student who organized the event. "Reforms are needed to repair certain issues in our broken system that ensnares innocent people."
Among the speakers is LaFonso Rollins, of Chicago, who was wrongfully convicted and sentenced to 75 years in prison in 1994. He was exonerated in 2005 when post-conviction DNA testing proved his innocence. Rollins and his lead counsel, NIU Law graduate Robert W. Fioretti, made headlines earlier this year after winning a $9 million settlement from the City of Chicago for violating Rollins' civil rights. According to Fioretti, this was the largest settlement by the city for false arrest. The exoneration also opened an investigation into the detectives and crime lab analysts who handled the case. At the presentation, Fioretti will discuss the case from an attorney's perspective and address the legal issues in wrongful convictions.
Speaker Gary Gauger, of Richmond, Ill., also will share his story of being wrongfully convicted and sentenced to death for the murder of his parents in 1993. He was exonerated in 1996. An active speaker against the death penalty and other problems in the criminal justice system, Gauger's story has been played out both on stage and on the screen.
Although they both lost family members to murder, speakers Bill Jenkins and his wife, Jennifer Bishop-Jenkins, are staunch opponents against the death penalty. Bill's son was murdered in 1997 and Jennifer's sister, brother-in-law, and their unborn child were shot to death in 1990. The Jenkins, of Northfield, Ill., are founding board members of Murder Victims Families for Human Rights. Bill authored What to do When the Police Leave: A Guide to the First Days of Traumatic Loss, and also was featured in the documentary Deadline.
Jennifer has testified before several governmental bodies, including the Illinois Governor's Commission on Capital Punishment and in the death penalty clemency hearings before the Illinois Prisoner Review Board. In addition, her testimony before the U.S. Supreme Court is included in an amicus brief that led to the historic overturning of the Juvenile Death Penalty in the country. Jennifer also appeared in the 2003 Emmy-winning documentary on the death penalty, Too Flawed to Fix.
This event is free and open to the public. For more information, contact Cryns at ycryns@yahoo.com or (815) 678-7531.
NIU Law gratefully acknowledges the American Bar Association Law Student Division for its support of this presentation.
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The only public law school in the greater Chicago area, NIU Law has previously been ranked first in the nation for government placement, according to U.S. News and World Report. Nearly one-third of its graduates choose a career in public interest, including more than 50 alumni in the judiciary -- a remarkable accomplishment for a law school with less than 3,000 graduates. In honor of its commitment to public service, NIU Law received the 2001 Excellence in Pro Bono and Public Interest Service Award.
For more information, contact:
Melody Mitchell
Director, Alumni Events & Public Relations
815/753-9655l