The Innocence Project

Cheydrick Britt served 9 years for a sexual-battery conviction in Florida. He was exonerated in 2013 after DNA testing by DDC showed that he did not contribute to the evidence on the victim’s underwear.
“DNA testing is a powerful tool to help uncover the truth, and its value is especially evident in cases like this where it helps a wrongfully-convicted man be set free,” said Dr. Julie Heinig, leader of the DDC Forensics team.

Mr. Britt rejoiced, “I would like to thank Dr. Heinig and her entire staff for the tireless efforts in pursuing justice. My family and I greatly appreciate their services and patience that they have showed in my case, and I am very proud of their work.”

Mr. Britt’s legal team, including attorneys with the Innocence Project Florida, meticulously reviewed and worked through the original testing files and requested testing. DNA testing conducted by DDC identified a DNA profile on the victim’s underwear that excluded Mr. Britt. He was released from incarceration shortly before Christmas.

Kerry Porter served 14 years for the Kentucky shooting death of his ex-girlfriend’s husband: a crime he insisted he didn’t commit. He was exonerated in 2011 after DNA testing by DDC excluded him.
Melanie Lowe, an attorney with the Kentucky Innocence Project worked on Mr. Porter’s case for five years prior to contacting the DDC Forensics team to request forensic testing on previously-untested evidence: duct tape used to make a homemade gun silencer found at the crime scene.

DNA analysis of this key piece of evidence excluded Kerry Porter as a contributor to the genetic material identified on the duct tape. The Louisville Metro Police Department’s cold-case unit worked closely with the Innocence Project and was also instrumental in the dismissal of charges and Mr. Porter’s exoneration.

Mr. Porter was released from the Eastern Kentucky Correctional Complex around Christmastime in 2011 after wrongfully serving 14 years. His story is another example of how post-conviction DNA analysis, which often includes testing severely degraded or difficult samples, can free the innocent and change a life forever.

Largely based on being chosen from a photo lineup, Derrick Williams was convicted of kidnapping and raping an adult female in Palmetto, Florida in 1992. In 2011, he was exonerated with the help of DNA evidence.
On the night she was kidnapped and assaulted in an orange grove near her home, a woman managed to get away from her attacker while he was distracted and drove away in his car, leaving him behind. The car still contained his t-shirt, as well as a white cloth he’d been holding.

Inexplicably, most of the evidence collected at the time of the crime, including a rape kit, was destroyed by the Manatee County Sheriff’s Office. Ultimately, Mr. Williams was convicted of the crimes, largely based on being chosen from a photo lineup. He served 18 years before his defense team with Innocence Project Florida worked to free him. Part of that process was contacting DDC to perform DNA testing.

The DDC Forensics team was able to exclude Mr. Williams through DNA analysis on one of the few remaining pieces of evidence that had not been destroyed: the t-shirt from the assailant’s car, and after nearly two decades in prison, Mr. Williams’ conviction was vacated.

James Bain spent more time in prison for a crime he didn’t commit than nearly any other American exonerated through DNA evidence. He entered prison at age 19 and left a free man— at age 54.
In 1974, a nine-year-old boy who had been sleeping at home was dragged to a baseball field and raped. Despite Mr. Bain’s alibi and conflicting serological evidence, he was convicted and sentenced to life in prison. The prosecution’s case rested largely on the young victim’s identification of Bain in a photo lineup.

In 2001, Mr. Bain took advantage of a new statute making it possible for certain cases to be reopened for DNA testing and filed motions with the court. He was denied five times. With the help of with Innocence Project Florida and Public Defender Bob Young, DNA testing by the DDC Forensics team took place in 2009. Analysis of the DNA on the boy’s underwear excluded Mr. Bain, and he was ultimately exonerated.

Bain isn’t angry about spending 35 years of his life in prison for a horrific crime he didn’t commit. “How can I be?” he told the press. “You can’t go back.” Since his release, Bain has been a leading advocate for the innocence movement and shares his story with students across the country.

The Supreme Court of Florida reversed a two-count murder conviction and death penalty sentence for the 2007 murder of Wright’s ex-girlfriend Paula O’Connor and their son Alijah.

On July 6, 2007, Paula O’Conner and her 15-month-old son Alijah were found deceased in their Tampa, Florida home. The mother had been strangled and her baby had been suffocated. Ralph Wright Jr., then an Air Force sergeant stationed nearby, was O’Conner’s boyfriend at the time, came under suspicion, and was charged with two counts of first-degree murder.

There had been disagreement between Wright and O’Conner over whether or not Alijah was Wright’s biological child, and in addition to this motive, the state’s case also focused on a single black glove that was at the crime scene. That glove was the same type issued for Wright’s military unit, but DNA testing by DDC could not match the glove to Wright nor could it be absolutely determined whether or not that glove actually came from Wright’s Air Force base.

Despite the lack of forensic evidence, Wright was found guilty on both murder counts and sentenced to death in 2014. The convictions were appealed to the Florida State Supreme Court. Based on many factors, including the results of the DNA testing performed by DDC, in May of 2017 the court unanimously vacated Wright’s conviction for the murders, ruling that the evidence against him was “purely circumstantial.”

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