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GUEST: Peter Neufeld, cofounder of the Innocence Project

In 1986, a 21 year old black man named Herman Atkins was convicted of rape, robbery, the use of a gun and forced oral copulation by a white woman in Riverside County. He was sentenced to 47 years and 8 months in prison. Thirteen years later he was exonerated through the use of DNA evidence. A group called the Innocence Project consisting of lawyers and law students, worked hard to obtain evidence for DNA testing to show that the wrong man had been imprisoned. We interviewed Herman Atkins over a year ago – he was featured on a documentary called After Innocence about how inmates freed via DNA exonerations try to rebuild their lives. All Herman Atkins ever received was $200 in cash. He has been waging a legal battle for seven years to receive compensation for the more than thirteen years of his life lost to him. His case for compensation is now scheduled for trial in Los Angeles starting this week. Riverside County has spent millions of dollar fighting Herman’s case and has done nothing to correct the mistakes that happened in Herman’s original conviction, nor has the County, the FBI or the Department of Justice investigated the conduct of Riverside detective Dan Miller who lied, manufactured evidence, and coerced witnesses to convict Atkins.

Herman Atkins’ case will begin trial in Downtown LA on Tuesday, April 10 at about 2 p.m. at the US District Court, 312 N. Spring St, Room 3, (courtroom of Judge Pregerson), Downtown Los Angeles, CA 90012.

For more information, visit www.innocenceproject.org.