Breaking from talk at Ohio University's Pre-Law Day of how to get into law school and land a career in the legal field, a man wrongfully convicted of rape and murder and the man who helped free him from prison spoke about what happens when someone is jailed for a crime her or she did not commit.
The Ohio Innocence Project presentation was a part of Ohio University's Pre-Law Day - held from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. in Baker University Center - which was designed to help students explore different careers in the legal field through panel discussions and speakers.
The Ohio Innocence Project, founded in 2003, works to free inmates wrongfully convicted of crimes. Law students from the University of Cincinnati - supervised by attorneys - do most of the work. So far, the Ohio Innocence Project has freed nine people.
Clarence Elkins, who was convicted of rape and murder in 1999, and Mark Godsey, the director of the Ohio Innocence Project, told Elkins' story and discusses the steps it takes to exonerate someone of a crime.
Elkins was convicted of the rape and murder of his 68-year-old mother-in-law and the rape of his six-year-old niece, Brooke, after his niece told family members that the man who raped her and killed her grandmother looked like Elkins.
Wrongful convictions cause a lot of hurt in every way
Elkins said in his presentation. Not only to the victims who have been wrongly accused but the families and friends. It's a devastating thing to happen.
Godsey began the presentation with the short documentary Conviction: The True Story of Clarence Elkins, which provided the background of the crime, his trial and his struggle to be released from prison.
Elkins' wife Melinda was convinced her husband had not committed the crime, so she approached the Ohio Innocence Project for help, according to the documentary.
With the help of Godsey, the director of the project, and his team of law students, Melinda discovered the real perpetrator of the crime.
Earl Mann, a convicted sex offender, had been living near Elkins' mother-in-law at the time of the murder, and his DNA matched the DNA in the rape kit.
Although Brooke recanted her statement in 2002 and in 2004, DNA testing - paid for by Elkins - proved that his DNA did not match that taken from the crime scene, the court denied Elkins' motion for a new trial. It wasn't until Elkins obtained a DNA sample from Mann, who was being held in the same cell block as him on different charges, that he was freed from prison in 2005.
There was a list of evidence taken from the crime scene but ... within a couple hours of the police being informed of the crime
they surrounded me
Elkins said. There was no other investigation. There were no other suspects. It was me immediately. They focused solely on me.
In Elkins' case, sloppy police work led to a false conviction, he said. Investigators failed to use evidence to place Elkins at the crime scene, and prosecutors depended almost solely on the testimony of Elkins' six-year-old niece to prove his guilt.
Godsey said that although the legal system is flawed, most of the people in prison are guilty. Out of all the cases the Ohio Innocence Project agrees to test, only about one quarter of the results prove the prisoner is innocent.
We only have a sliver of cases that actually go to (DNA) testing
Godsey said in his presentation. A great deal of (those tested) are proven guilty. That's the best possible result ... because it means you don't have a perpetrator running around on the streets.
Although Elkins received compensation for his time in prison - $47,000 for each year he spent behind bars, plus reimbursement for expenses and lost wages - he said that no amount of money can make up for the time he lost.
The hardest part of my wrongful incarceration was not being there for my sons through their teens
Elkins said. It's a struggle every day for me
but it gets better as time goes (on).
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