False Justice and the 'True' Prosecutor: A Memoir, Tribute, and Commentary

Abstract:     
This article is a review of False Justice: Eight Myths that Convict the Innocent by Jim and Nancy Petro. But this article is also a memoir, in that I tell the story, from my own perspective as Director of the Ohio Innocence Project, of how I have watched Jim Petro go from prosecutor and elected Attorney General of Ohio to a leading champion of the wrongfully convicted across the nation. The article is also a commentary in that, along the way, I address what makes Jim Petro so different from many prosecutors in this country. In this respect, I discuss problems in our criminal justice system that unfortunately lead some prosecutors, in far too many instances, to contest post-conviction claims of innocence in ways that I believe are contrary to our profession’s ethical standards. With this article, I hold out Jim Petro as a national model - an example that all other prosecutors should strive to emulate.

Number of Pages in PDF File: 26

Keywords: Criminal Law, innocence, wrongful conviction, post-conviction

JEL Classification: K14

Accepted Paper Series