Fifteen former Medill Innocence Project students sent an open letter Sunday to several members of the Northwestern administration, urging them to “defend the courageous work” of the project and “relentlessly fight back” against Cook County prosecutors who have accused the students of illegal and unethical behavior.
“Prosecutors have consistently distorted our work, imputed false motives and sought to undermine the credibility of the Innocence Project,” the letter read. “We expected Northwestern to relentlessly fight back against these falsehoods, defending a program that has literally saved lives and earned the university international acclaim.”
On Wednesday, Assistant State’s Attorney Celeste Stewart Stack announced in court that Innocence Project students secretly recorded a conversation with a witness and potential alternative suspect while investigating the case of Anthony McKinney, who was convicted of murdering a Harvey, Ill. security guard in 1981. In Illinois, it is illegal in most cases to record a conversation without permission or a court order. Medill Prof. David Protess, a high-profile faculty member who runs the project, said the recording was legal due to an exemption in the law.
Regardless, prosecutors have indicated that it is unlikely that charges will be filed because the recording occurred six years ago.
Ari Berman, Medill ‘04,, a political writer for The Nation magazine, said he came up with the idea to write the letter and approached the other alumni, all former members of the team that investigated the McKinney case. The letter was addressed to Provost Daniel Linzer and was also sent to University President Morton Schapiro, University spokesman Al Cubbage, Medill Dean John Lavine, and Thomas Cline and Amy Mayber, both of the Office of the General Counsel.
“I’ve been watching with dismay for some time now at how, first the prosecution was giving us and David a bad rap and now it seems that Northwestern has joined the prosecution in terms of making some of these arguments,” said Berman, who worked on the case in the spring of 2004, the quarter when the secret recording took place. “I said, ‘Listen, I’m not going to allow this smear campaign to go on without at least making my voice heard.'”
Prosecutors filed a subpoena in May 2009, seeking 11 types of student documents related to the Innocence Project’s three-year investigation of the McKinney case. NU had originally fought the subpoena, but earlier this month handed over about 800 pages of documents to prosecutors, including a student memo describing the secret recording. Protess has continued to refuse to turn over any documents.
Former Innocence Project student Sam Weiner, Weinberg ‘06, said the media coverage surrounding the case has wrongly shifted focus away from the guilt or innocence of McKinney.
“As long as this has been in the mainstream media, the only subject has been the prosecution’s subpoena and the actions of the students,” said Weiner, a former Daily staffer who worked on the case in the fall of 2005 and the winter of 2006. “The merits of the case seem to be put on hold.”
Weiner urged NU to push for a speedy hearing for McKinney and not to be intimidated by the prosecutors. The letter mentioned some similar points.
The State Attorney’s Office “would rather stall, delay and make baseless accusations than admit that the State of Illinois made a horrible mistake in the McKinney case and swiftly try to right a terrible wrong,” it read. “They are out to destroy the Medill Innocence Project, so that no future McKinney cases come across their desk.”
Read the full text of the letter here.
