The innocence project of florida (IPF) in coordination with the conviction review unit for the broward county state attorneys office/17TH judicial circuit (bcru) request funding to support the…

This $599,658 Project Grant, awarded on October 1, 2024 by the U.S. Department of Justice's Bureau of Justice Assistance (BJA), supports the "Collaborative Justice in Eyewitness Misidentification Cases Project" conducted by the Innocence Project of Florida (IPF) in partnership with the Broward County State Attorney's Office Conviction Review Unit (BCRU).

The key objectives of this 3-year grant are to: review cases with potential eyewitness misidentification that have contributed to wrongful convictions; obtain expert opinions on approximately 15 of these cases; expand existing collaborative justice work to address a backlog of case review requests received by IPF and BCRU; and provide high-quality legal assistance to defendants in the conviction review process, with the goal of resolving 8 cases over the grant term. This effort builds on the IPF and BCRU's prior BJA-funded collaborative projects that have already led to two exonerations due to witness misidentification. The grant funding will support additional IPF legal staff and a full-time assistant state attorney at BCRU to efficiently manage this substantial case review and resolution initiative.

The innocence project of florida (IPF) in coordination with the conviction review unit for the broward county state attorneys office/17TH judicial circuit (bcru) request funding to support the collaborative justice in eyewitness misidentification cases project. Eyewitness misidentification is a leading cause of wrongful convictions both nationally and in florida. An ongoing collaboration between the IPF and the bcru, funded in part by two BJA grants in 2020 and 2024, identified numerous cases of possible witness misidentification and led to two exonerations based primarily on witness misidentification. The goals of the collaborative justice in eyewitness misidentification cases project are to: review already identified cases and such cases identified during the grant term where there appears to be a possible witness misidentification that has contributed to the conviction; seek expert opinion on the factors impacting the reliability of eyewitness evidence in approximately 15 of these cases; extend existing collaborative justice work for the backlogged requests for case reviews received by IPF and the bcru; solidify ipfs and the bcrus ability to manage this substantial review and backlog reduction project by hiring an additional full-time assistant state attorney at the bcru and defray portions of salary and benefits for certain IPF legal staff to efficiently and thoroughly review and investigate these cases; and provide, through IPF lawyers, high quality legal assistance to defendants in the conviction review unit process and collaborate with the bcru to resolve eight cases over the three-year grant term.