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 "overturn" ...
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Buying the Election
“Never Mind the Super PACs: How Big Business Is Buying the Election” investigates previously unreported ways that businesses have taken advantage of the Supreme Court’s Citizens United ruling, which overturned a century of campaign finance law and allowed corporations to spend directly on behalf of candidates. The piece debunks a common misperception that businesses have taken advantage of their new political spending powers primarily through so-called Super PACs. In fact, most Super PAC donations have come from extremely wealthy individuals, not corporations. The investigation shows how corporations have instead used a variety of 501(c) nonprofits, primarily 501(c)(6) “trade associations,” to direct substantial corporate money on federal elections. As one prominent advisor to GOP candidates as well as corporations points out, "many corporations will not risk running ads on their own," for fear of the reputational damage, but the trade groups make these ad buys nearly anonymous. In 2010, 501(c)(6) trade associations and 501(c)(4) issue-advocacy groups outspent Super PACs $141 million to $65 million. The investigation shows that the growth of trade association political spending has had a number of significant ramifications, such as increased leverage during beltway lobbying campaigns. Most troublingly, legal loopholes allow foreign interests to use trade associations to directly influence American elections. One of the most significant revelations in the piece was that the American Petroleum Institute, a trade association for the oil and gas industry, had funneled corporate cash to groups that had run hard-hitting campaign ads while being led in part by a lobbyist for the Saudi Arabian government, Tofiq Al-Gabsani. As an API board member, Al-Gabsani was part of the team that directed these efforts, which helped defeat candidates who supported legislation that would move American energy policy away from its focus on fossil fuels. Federal law prevents Al-Gabsani, as a foreign national, from leading a political action committee, or PAC. But nothing in the law stopped him from leading a trade group that made campaign expenditures just as a PAC would.
Tags: Elections; campaign finance; corporations; Super PACs
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Tainted Justice
The police department is believed to have tainted police jobs, which are caused by lies and motivated by power, greed, and money. Furthermore, the squads are suspected of looting mom-and-pop stores, terrorizing hard-working immigrant merchants, preying on women, and fabricating evidence. These submissions could reopen and potentially overturn hundreds of cases.
Tags: police; justice system; justice department; protection; cops; squad; officers; narcotics; drugs; police department
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Small Town Justice
Jean Claude Meus was convicted of vehicular homicide and sentenced to 15 years in prison. The Florida Highway Patrol put together evidence showing Meus fell asleep at the wheel, lost control of his semi truck and overturned on minivan, killing a mother and daughter. The investigative team interviewed the first witness on the scene of the accident, who said Meus was alert and helpful immediately after the crash. Using evidence obtained from measurements, photos, etc., the asked an outside expert to map the scene and reconstruct the crash. The conclusion? Meus was awake and intentionally steered his truck off the roadway. The story fit with what Meus said, that he had swerved to avoid an oncoming car and lost control before overturning onto the van. When two jurors on the case agreed to meet with the new team and look at the new evidence, they concluded they would not have been able to convict Meus if this information had been presented at trial.
Tags: wrongful conviction; Florida; vehicular homicide; reconstructed evidence; mapping; highway patrol
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Guilty Until Proven Innocent
"A new Florida law allows people who are innocent of crimes to receive $50,000 for each year they wrongfully spent in prison."
Tags: conviction; James Joseph Richardson; court ruling; Arcadia; case; overturn;
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Miscarriages of Justice
Freelance journalist Eamonn O'Neill tells stories of wrongful murder convictions. Robert Brown, who spent nearly 26 years in prison due to forged evidence; Stuart Gair, whose more than 15 years behind bars for a murder he didn't commit; and Raymond Gilbert, imprisoned for 26 years while continuing to maintain his innocence. While O'Neill tells of the compensation Brown and Gair were offered by the government for their hardship, he also tells of the lack of forensic evidence and bogus confessions in the Gilbert case.
Tags: wrongful convictions; murder convictions; overturned convictions; forensic science; forensic evidence
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A Trustworthy Lie Detector?
The Computer Voice Stress Analyzer (CVSA) is a lie detector "said to be able to determine truth or deception by tone of voice or stress level." The machine has "been sold to hundreds of police departments and the U.S. military," with these organizations using it to put people in jail and interrogate terror suspects even though "not a single scientific study has been done to show the CSVA actually works." The Pentagon has now banned use of the machine. An ABC News investigation discovered that while the machine is sold for $10,000 apiece with claims of 98 percent accuracy, some of its convictions have been overturned. In addition, CSVA creator and National Institute for Truth Verification CEO Dr. Charles Humble is "not a medical doctor and does not have a PHD from an accredited university. Instead, he was awarded a Dr. of Psychology after taking a few hours of bible studies at a bible college which was located in an Indiana strip mall."
Tags: Computer Voice Stress Analyzer; Dr. Charles Humble; prisoner interrogation; Institute for Truth Verification; diploma mills
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Baltimore Crime Series
Baltimore Sun reporter Julie Bykowicz examines crime in Baltimore for the calendar year 2006. Through a series of stories - including two co-written by other Sun reporters - issues such as Baltimore's flex squad - a group of officers free to chase down suspected criminals in violent neighborhoods; the exploitation of children; endangered witnesses testifying in trials and the overturning of a nearly 40-year-old life sentence.
Tags: crime; Johns Hopkins University; flex squad; overturned prison sentences; child exploitation; child witnesses; auto accidents
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Shadow of Doubt/ Error in Evidence
Two series on investigating the Washington State Crime Lab. Forensic scientists produced results that led to jail time for many. But when their lab methods were questioned and their results discredited, prisoners who had been jailed as a result of tainted evidence or procedures stayed in jail. Teichroeb made these facts public, and soon cases were overturned and scientists were fired.
Tags: forensic science; scientist; crime; lab; audit; evidence; DNA; drug; FBI; wrongful conviction
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Too Many Wrongful Convictions
Investigators in this series of stories found that Massachusetts has a bad record of wrongful criminal convictions. 22 wrongful convicted people have been released in the past 22 years: the second highest number in the country. Many more innocent men and women may remain behind bars. The Boston Police Force also rightly has the reputation of being too quick to close cases and pronounce people as guilty. In some instances the innocent were exonerated, but often only after spending time in prison. After the investigation brought attention to the problem, the county appointed a task force to help prevent too many wrongful convictions in the future. One wrongful conviction was even overturned after the WFXT investigative team found evidence to prove innocence: Sammy Toro spent 23 years in prison for a murder he did not commit. Also following the investigation, Massachusetts passed a bill that would compensate those who were wrongly imprisoned.
Tags: prison; crime; wrongful conviction; detective; innocent
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Cheated by the Law
Rolah McCabe successfully sued British American Tobacco in 2002 when the judge "ruled that BAT and Clayton Utz had destroyed internal documents denying her a fair trial." It was overturned on appeal. However after McCabe's win Utz conducted a secret internal investigation. "The Sunday Age published the details of the internal investigation and put the documents online" after they were leaked to Birnbauer.
Tags: court; internal investigation; lung cancer; British American Tobacco; corporation; professional misconduct; Clayton Utz; Rolah McCabe