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Clarence Elkins was convicted in 1999 of murder and rape and sentenced to life in prison. In 2004, DNA testing conducted by the OIP proved not only that Elkins was innocent, but that a convicted sex offender named Earl Mann was the true perpetrator. Elkins was released in 2005, and Earl Mann faces trial for these crimes in 2008. The OIP's workon the Ellkins case was featured in news outlets around the world, including Larry King Live, Peoplemagazine andDateline NBC. A documentary film titled, Conviction:The True Story of Clarence Elkins, featuring several OIP students, won the 2008 Big Sky Documentary Film Festival.
Chris Bennett was convicted in 2002 ofvehicular homicide for allegedly driving drunk and causing an accident which killed his best friend, Ron Young.OIP students investigated his case and were able to prove that Bennett wasactually the passenger, not the driver, of the car.Evidence includedDNA evidence in the form of Bennett's blood found on the passenger side of the vehicle and a new witness who saw Bennett in the passenger seat.Mr. Bennett was released on Mother's Day 2006 after serving four years of his nine-year sentence.Chris Bennett's case was featured in a documentary on Court TV in October 2007.
Gary Reece served 25 years in prison for a crime that did not happen. He was convicted in 1980 for attempted murder and rape based solely on the eyewitness testimony of the complaining witness, who claimed that Reece raped and stabbed her in her apartment. An investigation by a Cleveland TV station revealed that the complaining witness' testimony was unreliable and that she in fact was mentally ill.The complaining witness failed a voice stress examination while Reece had passed several polygraphs.In an interview with the Cleveland station, the complaining witnessindicated that Gary Reece had actually killed her on the day inquestion, but that "Snow White and the Seven Dwarves" had brought her back to life. Investigation by OIP students uncovered that the complaining witness had a history of self-mutilation, which explained the injuries that she suffered on the day of the alleged crime. In addition, before the "crime" in this case took place, she had told the same story to other individuals, claiming that it had happened early in the 1970s when she was still a high school student.Reece was released in February 2004.He is now a successful public speaker. His Web site can be found here.
