Cooley Innocence Project Eligibility Criteria

The Thomas M. Cooley Law School Innocence Project operates as a law school clinic in which law students work with practicing criminal defense lawyers to seek the release of wrongfully convicted prisoners in the State of Michigan. The project limits its services to those persons who maintain they are actually innocent of the offense for which they are incarcerated. Presently, the project is focusing only on those cases in which DNA test results on biological evidence could establish innocence.

The Innocence Project has established case intake criteria. We are seeking to assist those persons:

• who claim actual innocence in that they did not commit the crime for which they were convicted
• are serving a substantial sentence in prison in the State of Michigan, and
• whose innocence could be established by DNA testing of biological evidence that was collected during the course of the criminal investigation of their case

If a person meets these criteria, a simple letter to The Cooley Innocence Project requesting our assistance is all that is necessary to begin the process. At this stage, no other court papers, documents, transcripts or other written material should be sent. We will review each request for assistance and contact the applicant when we are able to proceed with their matter.

Michigan has a new act which provides an opportunity to gain access for court relief in post conviction cases in which DNA testing is material. The new act, P.A. 402 (MCL 770.16), has a two step procedure. The first step, pursuant to section (3)(a)&(b), is a petition to the convicting court for an order to test biological material for DNA analysis.

For this petition to be successful the defendant must establish that:

• the test results would be material to the issue of defendant's identity as the perpetrator of the crime
• the biological material exists and is available for testing
• DNA testing was not previously done, or was done but the present day's technological sophistication was not available, and
• the identity of the defendant as the perpetrator was at issue in the trial

If the testing is ordered and the results are favorable to the defendant's position, the second step is for a hearing on a motion for a new trial. The criteria for granting the new trial are listed in section (7)(a)-(c).

The project will review and investigate the case history of each applicant's request for assistance in order to establish that the criteria of section (3) are present. We will assist in locating and obtaining court papers and other evidence when necessary. If there is good reason to believe the criteria can be met, we will assign the matter to our participating attorneys to enter an appearance in the case and file the step one petition in court for DNA testing. If step one is successful and the DNA test results eliminate the defendant as the source of the biological material, the project will continue representation or the court may appoint counsel pursuant to MCR 6.505(a) for further proceedings.