The Exoneration Initiative is a free legal assistance program dedicated to exonerating the wrongfully convicted. We emphasize factual innocence, not technical claims, as we select and advance our cases.
Our mission is simple and steadfast: To exonerate the actually innocent.
To that end EXI:- Provides free legal services to indigent prisoners in New York State with compelling claims of innocence;
- Conducts impact litigation to advance legal precedent favorable to potentially wrongfully convicted persons; and
- Informs and educates the public, the legal profession and the judiciary about the causes of wrongful convictions and the fallibility of the criminal justice system.
EXI is a not-for-profit incorporated pursuant to the laws of New York State with tax-exempt status under Section 501(c)(3) of the United States Internal Revenue Code.
WHY NEW YORK?
Problems with New York's criminal justice system make it an especially vulnerable area for wrongful convictions where EXI can make a significant impact.
New York has one of the largest prison populations in the nation, and some of the harshest sentencing laws. Until recently, New York ranked among the lowest nationwide in compensation for court appointed counsel, including in New York City where the cost of practicing law is the most expensive. Bad lawyering at the trial and appellate stages due to years of underfunding, especially in serious cases like homicides and rapes, has undoubtedly contributed to wrongful convictions.
The recent establishment of New York's Justice Task Force on Wrongful Convictions by Chief Judge Jonathan Lippman of the Court of Appeals is an acknowledgement at the highest level of our State's judiciary that there is a serious problem in New York that must be addressed.
In addition, the Second Look Program at Brooklyn Law School, a prolific non-DNA innocence project in New York, recently closed its doors. This has left a huge void in the evaluation of cases and the representation of wrongfully convicted people in New York - a void EXI is prepared to fill.
10 April 2012
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
09 April 2012
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.
