KALAMAZOO, MI (WKZO AM/FM) — The Department of Justice has awarded a grant to a program designed to help prove the innocence of wrongly-accused felons.
The Wayne County Prosecutor’s Office and the Western Michigan University Cooley Law School Innocence Project have received $550,000 from the DOJ to collaborate on case review and DNA testing in post-conviction cases.
The grant will assist in mitigating the costs of DNA testing, evidence location, and case review. It will also allow for training of personnel in the project’s efforts.
Previous grants have helped prove the innocence of at least four individuals.
The WMU-Cooley Innocence Project currently has over 200 Wayne County cases under review and is the only post-conviction DNA innocence organization in the state.
Since its inception, the office has screened over 6,000 cases and is responsible for the exoneration/grant of relief for eight individuals: Kenneth Wyniemko (2003), Nathaniel Hatchett (2008), Donya Davis (2014), LeDura Watkins (2017), Kenneth Nixon (2021), Gilbert Poole (2021), Corey Quentin McCall (2021) and George DeJesus (2022).
The project is staffed by WMU-Cooley Law School students, who work under the supervision of WMU-Cooley Innocence Project attorneys.
Those interested in donating and supporting the work of the WMU-Cooley Innocence Project can do so at https://www.cooley.edu/
