Background of KIP
With the advent of the ability to identify persons by their genetic code, the
1980s saw the prosecution of criminal cases become more exact in
identifying perpetrators by using traces of bodily fluids or materials from the
suspect or the victim. But this method of identification also had an equal
power to exclude, thereby becoming a critical tool for the defense as well.
The utilization of DNA testing has now become essential in appropriate
criminal cases to ensure that not only the guilty are convicted, but that the
innocent are not. Unfortunately, many crimes committed before the use of
DNA testing may not have been as accurately solved. Also, even after the
inception of DNA testing, there have been cases in which it could have been
used but was not. Furthermore, constant improvements in DNA testing,
increasing its sensitivity and accuracy, have resulted in the need in some
cases to re-examine previous unsuccessful or equivocal testing.
Because of their belief that DNA could show many persons had been
convicted and incarcerated despite their innocence, attorneys Barry Scheck
and Peter Neufeld established the Innocence Project in 1992 at the Cardozo
School of Law in New York. It was the Innocence Project that represented
William Gregory, who, in 2000, became the first person in Kentucky
exonerated by DNA evidence. Gregory had been convicted in 1992 and
sentenced to 70 years in prison for a rape, attempted rape and burglary for
which he was actually innocent. The Kentucky Innocence Project was
established the year of Gregory’s release. (????)
Although the Kentucky Innocence Project was founded on the model of
Scheck and Neufeld’s Innocence Project, unlike the Innocence Project and
many other such projects across the country, the Kentucky Innocence Project
does not limit its cases only to those involving DNA evidence. The Kentucky
Innocence Project strives to exonerate all wrongfully convicted Kentuckians.
The Kentucky Innocence Project combines the resources of the Kentucky
Department of Public Advocacy with several of the Commonwealth’s
educational institutions to investigate and litigate claims of innocence by
persons convicted in Kentucky. Northern Kentucky University’s Salmon P.
Chase School of Law, the University of Kentucky College Of Law, the
University of Louisville Brandeis School of Law and Eastern Kentucky
University’s Graduate School of Justice & Safety offer students the
opportunity to participate in the Kentucky Innocence Project Externship.
These students receive the opportunity to sharpen professional skills while
performing a valuable service to the wrongfully incarcerated men and
women of the Commonwealth.
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