KIP Attended the International Innocence Network Conference in New Orleans, LA.
September 6, 2024
KIP Attended the International Innocence Network Conference in New Orleans, LA.
KIP is the recipient of the Bloodsworth grant from the BJA. It is through this grant that KIP has hired additional staff to identify cases where post-conviction DNA testing may prove a wrongfully convicted person’s innocence. KIP applies rigorous standards of review and investigation before determining a person has a claim of innocence, and if there is untested evidence or prior inclusive testing, that may not be tested to support that claim of innocence. The grant funded staff has worked on this identification and review process since 2020. In this review process a number of cases have been identified for investigation of an innocence claim. To date a number of motions have been filed in courts across Kentucky seeking DNA testing. KIP has secured three agreements from prosecutors in Jefferson, Scott and Adair counties to conduct the grant funded testing through state and private forensic laboratories.
Update: KYSC denies AG’s Motion for Discretionary Review, COA Opinion Reversing Circuit Court’s Denial of DNA Testing Stands. KIP presently represents Mr. Burden on a post-conviction DNA testing motion. Mr. Burden seeks DNA testing in a murder case from 1986. Mr. Burden entered an Alford plea after threat of the death penalty. The Alford plea allowed Mr. Burden to plead guilty, acknowledging there was evidence against him that may result in a guilty verdict at trial while maintaining his innocence of the charges. Mr. Burden sought testing of crucial evidence from the crime scene that would definitively point to the true perpetrator of the crime. The original trial court denied his request for DNA testing. KIP appealed this denial, and Mr. Burden’s appeal is currently set for oral argument before the Kentucky Court of Appeals on September 20, 2023. Mr. Burden is represented by Miranda Hellman, staff attorney at KIP.