Richard Rosario has served 15 years in prison for a 1996 Bronx homicide that occurred when he was more that a thousand miles away in Florida - an alibi confirmed by 13 witnesses. Despite the overwhelming evidence of his innocence, his post-conviction motions were denied largely on procedural grounds. At the request of Richard and his attorneys at Morrison & Foerster and the NAACP LDF, EXI is reinvestigating his case and preparing to return to court to see that justice is finally done.

Read what the NY Times had to say about Richard's case

EXI is investigating the case of Rafael Jiminez, who has spent 18 years in prison for a 1992 Bronx murder that we believe he did not commit. Rafael, a New York born Puerto Rican, was 17 years old at the time of the crime. Both eyewitnesses - who were also Puerto Rican - told police that the shooter was a 24 to 26 year old Dominican man who spoke with a recognizable Dominican accent. Rafael did not match other aspects of the killer's physical appearance that they described, either. The only witness to identify him in a lineup prior to trial viewed a "wanted" poster featuring his photo shortly before making the identification.

Cory Epps was convicted of a 1997 Buffalo murder that was supposed to have stemmed from a road rage dispute. Based on the description provided by the only eyewitness, police created a composite of the killer's appearance, which resembled Cory. Cory was identified after he volunteered to stand in a lineup that he believed would exonerate him. Foreshadowing what we now know about eyewitness identification, the trial judge expressed strong doubts about the reliability of the uncorroborated identification testimony when sentencing Cory. EXI is currently investigating evidence that originally surfaced before Cory's conviction was final - evidence which points to the real killer.

Derrick Deacon has served 24 years in prison for a murder he did not commit. Two federal cooperators who were insider gang members knew the real killers, who confessed to them. An eyewitness to the crime also recanted her trial testimony. EXI investigated the case and advanced it to litigation, and then referred it to attorneys from Paul, Weiss, Rifkind & Garrision for litigation of the post-conviction hearing. Unfortunately, the motion was denied, but EXI is optimistic about Deacon's appeal which has been submitted to the Appellate Division, Second Department. The appeal raises compelling issues, including the lower court's refusal to even consider testimony from one of the exonerating witnesses.

EXI filed an amicus brief in support of Deacon's appeal, and in an effort to advance doctrinal law in the Second Department - namely, that fairness requires state courts to take a comprehensive, integrated view of the evidence when considering post-conviction newly discovered evidence claims, especially in non-DNA innocence cases.

EXI is proud to announce that we recently received a $100,000 grant from the Guggenheim Foundation. We have also received a $10,000 donation from the Vital Projects Fund. Most not-for-profits are struggling and many are folding, but our resilience and successes have certainly paid off. We are extremely enthusiastic about our organization's future, and see an opportunity to acquire additional funding needed to process our growing caseload and sustain our mission of exonerating the actually innocent.

In-depth factual investigations are essential to proving innocence without DNA evidence. Our investigations are painstaking, costly and time consuming because they frequently relate to events which occurred decades ago, before the advent of electronic records. In the intervening years, witnesses have relocated; names have changed; memories have faded; and documents have been lost or destroyed. But that isn't going to stop us.

Check out some of the cases we're investigating

Valance Cole has served more than 23 years in prison for a homicide he did not commit. This injustice has continued despite a judge's finding in 2003 that he was "probably innocent," because Cole failed to meet technical legal requirements that had nothing to do with guilt or innocence. Since then, EXI has found the true killer, Denzil Smith, who EXI's investigation has shown to be the same person that was named as the killer by five eyewitnesses in 2003. Smith has made multiple, detailed confessions to the 1985 Brooklyn homicide for which Cole was convicted, and his photograph was identified by an eyewitness to the shooting. In addition, unlike Cole, Smith matches every eyewitness description of the shooter ever provided, including the description provided by the prosecution's key witness.

EXI filed a motion to exonerate Cole based on this new evidence of innocence on February 2, 2011, and the District Attorney opposed the motion almost entirely on procedural grounds. We are currently awaiting a decision from the Honorable William E. Garnett.