The IRE Resource Center is a major research library containing more than 23,250 investigative stories — both print and broadcast. These stories are searchable online or by contacting the Resource Center directly (573-882-3364 or rescntr@ire.org) where a researcher can help you pinpoint what you need. Browse or search the tipsheet section of our library below. Stories are not available for download but can be easily ordered by contacting the Resource Center:
Search results for "false conviction" ...
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Sheila Devereaux Freed From Prison
A synopsis of Sheila Devereux's false conviction of drug trafficking and sentence to prison is investigated, as well as the policemen who were involved in the Devereux's case were investigated for corruption.
Tags: Sheila Devereux; Policemen; Corruption; Drug Trafficking
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A Criminal Injustice
"Martin Tankleff was released from a New York State prison in December 2007, seventeen years after being wrongfully convicted of murdering his parents when he was 17. This book tells the story of how he came to be prosecuted and convicted, and how new evidence uncovered by Jay Salpeter, one of the book's authors, finally led to the reversal of his convictions."
Tags: crime; confession; false; parents; killed; murdered; death; marty tankleff;
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Mistaken Identities
DNA-based exonerations of wrongly convicted men hit a record high after it was discovered that police used suggestive lineups procedures and pressured witnesses to pick out a suspect. Sometimes shaky identifications were preserved by withholding evidence that would lead to other suspects in the cases.
Tags: accusation; eyewitness; false conviction; DNA test; genetic; rape;
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Seeking Justice for Jill: The Behrman Murder Investigation
WXIN-TV reporter Kimberly King spent most of 2006 looking into the police investigation of the death of Jill Behrman, an Indiana University-Bloomington sophomore who disappeared in May 2000. Her body was found in 2003, "miles from where detectives thought (she) had been killed." For the intervening three years, "investigators built their case around a convicted woman's false confession." But after the body was discovered, a lead detective sealed the public records regarding the case and did little to pursue it further. Spurred by a request from a relative of Behrman, WXIN worked on the story for three years, finally spending 2006 blowing it open. As a result, police moved further on the case.
Tags: Murder; Indiana University; police; homicide; closed cases; homicide investigations; missing persons; false confession
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A Case of Doubt
In 1958 Bruce Lisker was convicted of killing his mother, Dorka. However, this story shows that key evidence was false or significantly undermined. The story revealed that there was another suspect and that Lisker's story of finding his mother was possible.
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Where Do They Belong?
This 20/20 investigation delves into human trafficking in Cambodia to supply babies to adoptive parents in foreign countries. They discovered that many children were sold by impoverished parents or taken from them under false pretenses and then marketed as orphans to potential adopters. The story includes an interview with Lauryn Galindo, who was convicted of fraud, money laundering and tax evasion in 17 cases related to the adoption scandal.
Tags: adoption; fraud; Cambodia; human trafficking; kidnapping; orphanages
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Medicaid Hemorrhages Money
"The nation's Medicaid program is rife with stories of fraud and abuse, but nothing quite tops the scam Dr. Surinder Singh Panshi ran from New York. For two years during the 1980s, he purchased blood from addicts, then falsely charged the state for thousands of blood tests that had never been ordered, referred or authorized. By the time he was caught and convicted, Panshi had stolen more than $3.6 million from the state's Medicaid program."
Tags: Medicaid; fraud; blood tests; Medicaid fraud; health-care scam; HCFA
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A case for innocence
Miami Herald investigates a possible wrongful conviction dating back to 1993. The series reveal that Timothy Brown, a mentally ill teenager convicted for the murder of a police officer, might have been wrongly imprisoned. The reporters find evidence that his confession appears to have been coerced, and expose a pattern of false confessions in Broward County, Fla. Part of the series also reports on the capture of another suspect, Andrew Johnson, who has confessed to the murder on tape. To obtain some of the documents needed for the investigation, the newspaper initiated a public-records lawsuit against the sheriff's office.
Tags: crime; law enforcement; justice; courts; police; FOIA; mental health; children; Keith King
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Oklahoma Execution
The AP investigates a forensic scientist being investigated for giving false and misleading testimony in several death penalty cases. Interviewing prosecutors, FBI agents, defense lawyers, forensics experts and members of the executed men's families, the AP found a startling pattern. Among the series findings were a police memo that stated evidence used to convict one of the men did not exist -- slides the scientist testified contained the accused semen actually contained nothing at all.
Tags: death row; execution; death penalty; forensic evidence
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The Con Man Vanishes
The series identified "a confidence man and convicted felon whose smooth sales skill won him the trust of two Microsoft millionaires, who knew the man by a different identity....Bankruptcy papers allege Heitman [the con man] stole more than $ 1 million from his partners." The reporters found out that the felon has been using the social security number and birth date of a person who died 20 years ago.
Tags: diskette; false identity; embezzlement; FBI; bankruptcy; Microsoft