After success in advocating for wrongfully convicted individuals, the North Carolina Innocence Inquiry Commission is looking to expand its reach through increased funding from the state government.
The NC Commission, established in 2006, is an independent agency that reviews claims of innocence from people who believe they have been wrongly convicted of a felony. The commission, the first of its kind in the nation, has worked side by side with Duke Law's Wrongful Convictions clinic in court-related innocence work. The NC Commission remains the only neutral state-sanctioned commission with subpoena power in the nation, giving it unique authority in solving innocence cases.
“It is the only state that has such a commission, and it can work relatively quickly, which is a good thing,” said Paul Cates, communications director at the Innocence Project, a national nonprofit that aims to exonerate the wrongfully convicted and advocate for reforms to the criminal justice system.
Innocence work in North Carolina is unique, because the NC Commission has neutrality and subpoena power. Usually reserved for the state, subpoena power allows the commission to take custody of evidence and test it without having to go to court.
Kendra Montgomery-Blinn, School of Law '03 and executive director of the NC Commission, said that subpoena power has allowed them to experience success in fact-finding in difficult cases.
“There have been 18 cases where the court was told evidence was no longer existing, and the NC Commission has been able to locate it,” said Montgomery-Blinn, who served as student director of Duke's Wrongful Convictions clinic during her time in law school. “Some of our cases are from the 1970s—when we go in to look for physical evidence, it’s often just missing."
Montgomery-Blinn noted that unlike the Innocence Project, which is a non-profit that does both innocence work and policy advocacy, the NC Commission does not get involved in policy recommendation in order to maintain its neutrality.
“We have a very narrow focus—our job is only to investigate and evaluate the case as fact-finders,” she said.
The NC Commission is also unique because it receives state funding. Cates noted that the Innocence Project faces back-logs nationally because of lack of staffing to meet demand. The NC Commission, on the other hand, receives a combination of state and federal grant funding to counter such problems.
This year, the NC Commission is requesting $100,000 from the state for DNA testing, forensic testing and consulting with scientific experts—an increase from the only $14,921 provided for this purpose in previous years. Federal funds from the National Institute of Justice have supplemented their state funding in the past but it is uncertain whether this will be renewed as the grant expires in 2015.
Already, the NC Commission has experienced more demand for its services than it can account for. With more than 1,600 claims submitted in the past eight years and eight successful exonerations, Montgomery-Blinn said, other states have taken note.
“Where I’d really like to expand is other states—North Carolina is still the only state with an Innocence Inquiry Commission that does this type of work,” she said.
Montgomery-Blinn noted that several states have approached her and some have written proposals for similar commissions, though it remains to be seen whether other states will follow through.
“I’m really hopeful that we won’t be the only one for now,” Montgomery-Blinn said.
The commission has been responsible for the release of prisoners such as Joseph Sledge—exonerated this January after 36 years behind bars for murders he did not commit, as the commission proved with DNA evidence.
James Coleman, co-director of Duke Law's Wrongful Convictions Clinic and the John S. Bradway professor of the practice, noted the importance of innocence work—though it does not come without pushback.
“There’s concern that too many exonerations undermines perceived legitimacy of the justice system,” he said.
But rather than undermining the system, Coleman said he believes innocence work represents a safety valve in the system, showing that judges and prosecutors are human and sometimes make mistakes.
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