The Innocence Files (2020)

The Innocence Files is a documentary series in nine parts which premiered on Netflix in 2020. It is about the criminal justice system in the US; more precisely it is about wrongful convictions in the US.

The series offers several examples of this phenomenon: a person (usually a man) is arrested, charged and convicted for a crime he did not commit. The crimes are serious and the sentences are often very long.

Wrongful convictions are often based on little or no evidence; in some cases they are even based on evidence that is falsified or manipulated by police officers or a public prosecutor whose primary motive is to close cases, even if the suspect is not always the guilty person.

The Innocence Project is an independent legal organisation that was founded in 1992 by two lawyers:

** Peter Neufeld (born 1950) 
** Barry Scheck (born 1949)

The purpose of this organization is to help prisoners who are victims of a wrongful conviction. The ultimate goal is to have the conviction overturned so the prisoner is released and exonerated. 

An exoneration is not a pardon. If you are pardoned, you are released, as an act of mercy, but you are still regarded as guilty of the crime for which you were convicted. 

An exoneration is different. An exoneration means the state admits that the conviction was wrong and that the prisoner was and is innocent of the crime for which he (or she) was convicted. 

Today the Innocence Project is a well-known organization. Every year it receives more than a thousand letters from prisoners who claim that they are innocent. But the organization has limited resources. The lawyers cannot respond to every case that is brought to their attention. What will they do? They will study the letters received and then they will try to select a few cases which seem worthwhile and pursue them.

Whenever they decide to take on a new case, two basic conditions must be met:

** They must be convinced that the prisoner is innocent

** They must be convinced that it is possible to prove the innocence of this prisoner in a court of law

Each case demands a lot of work and may take several years from the beginning to the end.

Since the founding in 1992, the Innocence Project has been able to help hundreds of prisoners by securing their release and exoneration.

In this series we can follow a few of these cases. Here is a list of the nine episodes:

# 1. The Evidence (Part One) - Indeed and without doubt
# 2. The Evidence (Part Two) – The truth will defend me

# 3. The Evidence (Part Three) – The duty to correct

# 4. The Witness (Part One) – The murder of Donald Sarpy

# 5. The Witness (Part Two) – The trials of Franky Carillo

# 6. The Witness (Part Three) – Making memory

# 7. The Prosecution (Part One) – Wrong place, wrong time

# 8. The Prosecution (Part Two) – Hidden alibi

# 9. The Prosecution (Part Three) – The million dollar man

RUN TIME 

** The Evidence: 58 + 51 + 58 minutes

** The Witness: 53 + 57 + 70 minutes

** The Prosecution: 86 + 74 + 66 minutes

Total run time: 573 minutes = 9 hours and 33 minutes

There are nine episodes. But this does not mean that we have more or less the same story nine times over. This would not work well. This would be boring.

Directors and producers know this. Therefore they have made sure that there is something new in each episode: a new location, a new type of crime, and a new type of evidence. The evidence discussed includes the following:

** Bite marks
** DNA evidence

** Eyewitness identification

What do reviewers say about this documentary series? Here are the results of two review aggregators:

81 per cent = IMDb
100 per cent = Rotten Tomatoes

As you can see, the ratings range from very good to excellent. I understand the numerous positive reviews. I think they are fully justified. This documentary series has an important story to tell and it is told in a highly professional way.

Watching The Innocence Files is depressing as well as uplifting. Why?

** It is depressing, because the stories which are told here are absolutely heart-breaking. We meet case after case where a man is sent to prison for a crime he did not commit. The man declares his innocence, but nobody will listen, nobody will believe him – except perhaps a few friends and some members of his family. When he tries to appeal, his appeal is denied. The system does not want to admit any mistake.

** It is uplifting, because the stories which are told here are the wonderful cases where justice is finally done. The prisoner’s innocence is confirmed. He is released and officially exonerated. The system resisted for a long time, but in the end it was unable to defend the original conviction. The system was forced to admit that the original conviction was wrong. After serving time behind bars for many years, the innocent prisoner is finally allowed to join his family and friends. Many years have been taken from him, but now he has a chance to start a new life in freedom.

Whenever a wrongful conviction happens, the criminal justice system does not produce justice. It creates an injustice. It should not happen, but it does happen. A few cases are corrected. But many cases are not corrected, because nobody has the time and the resources to look into them. 

How many cases are we talking about? Nobody knows. The cases which we do know may only represent the tip of the iceberg.

If you are concerned about human rights, this documentary series about wrongful convictions in the US is definitely something for you. I want to go all the way to the top with this product. I think it deserves a rating of five stars.

PS # 1. Patricia Cummings is a lawyer who appears in episode 7 of this series which is about a case in Philadelphia, PA. She works for the DA in Philadelphia. She is in charge of a special department called the Conviction Integrity Unit (CIU). The purpose of this unit is to study old convictions in order to see if they are sound or not. The unit must test the validity or the integrity of old convictions.

 

When she is presented, we are told she has "experience from Texas." This is true. But there are no details about her experience in Texas. If we look into her past, we will find that her performance as a lawyer in Texas is subject to debate and discussion. Her performance in Texas is seen as controversial. 

 

Let me explain:

 

In 2013 and 2014 she was the defence lawyer for Greg Kelley, a high school student and a football player, who was accused of sexual assault against a child who was only four years old. In 2013, Greg was arrested and charged; in 2014 he was tried in a court of law where he was found guilty. The sentence was 25 years in prison with no possibility for parole.

After the verdict, critical comments about Patricia Cummings began to appear. According to these comments, she did not provide an adequate defence for Greg. The police investigation was seriously flawed, but she failed to point out this fact in the court. The allegation is she failed her client. The critical comments come from several persons, including Greg Kelley's second lawyer Keith S. Hampton and Greg Kelley himself.

 

The story of Greg Kelley and his case is told in Outcry, a documentary series which premiered on US television (Showtime) in 2020. 

 

Because Patricia Cummings has a controversial past, some people are now saying that she is the wrong person to lead the Conviction Integrity Unit in Philadelphia. 

 

For details, see this article: 

 

Ralph Cipriano, "Head of DA's Conviction Integrity Unit lacks integrity," Big Trial, 24 April 2020.

 

PS # 2. Police officers in the US have almost total immunity. If an American police officer is caught breaking the law, he or she will almost never be punished in any way.

Police officers are allowed to lie when they question a suspect, but the suspect is not allowed to lie to the police!

PS # 3. Public prosecutors in the US have almost total immunity as well. If a public prosecutor is found guilty of prosecutorial misconduct, he or she will almost never be punished.

For more information on this topic, see this book:  

 

Conviction Machine: Standing Up to Federal Prosecutorial Abuse by Harvey Silvergate and Sydney Powell (2020).

PS # 4. Just Mercy is a historical drama (based on a true story) which premiered in 2019. It is about a case of wrongful conviction in a southern US state (Alabama).

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