Tuesday, October 20, 2009

Reader Mail re: Innocence Project   [NRO Staff]

I too am an alum of Medill, and I spent six months on a case within the Innocence Project, in which we found evidence that led us to conclude that the suspect was guilty. The case was suspended soon after our discoveries. To call this program activist is actually an insult to me.

I hold the National Review in very high esteem. I am one of the very few conservative-thinking writers to leave Medill each year, and more important, I adamantly support the death penalty. ‘

However, we have witnessed miscarriage of justice after miscarriage of justice coming from the Chicago police force and legal system. There is rampant evidence of repeated, forced confessions, intimidation, and perjury. I would hardly call David Protess an activist. He is a journalist, as was I in his class, and we sought to find out whether or not an individual had been wrongfully accused of felony murder. I worked on a separate case in 2004 while several friends worked on the McKinney case, and what I will say to you is that there is overwhelming evidence and documentation that this man is innocent. That is really all that should matter.

The Cook County prosecutor’s office is trying to undermine this case by trying to undermine the program. We were not graded by or pressured into finding evidence (although my team found actual physical evidence in a case 22 years later at the scene of the crime). This was a class that educated students on how to handle difficult interviews, how to examine court documents, how to ask questions and how to follow leads. This class was probably more investigative in nature than any journalism job that any graduate could obtain well into their 30s. This is journalism, through and through. And at the end of the day, when enough evidence had been compiled and a case had been made, we could have reported the news in the Tribune as had been done in numerous other cases since the Ford Heights Four.

David wanted us to focus on one mission: To find the truth. And in my case, we found evidence leaning toward guilt. He soon suspended the case, although we would later question certain police-reporting practices. In a time when the journalism profession has become a laughingstock, I would be troubled if you do not see this as actual journalism that should be protected at all costs. We have a national press core that is afraid to ask questions. Meanwhile, we have 15 students a quarter walking into the roughest neighborhoods in Chicago, fearlessly asking questions about murders from 20 years ago. I’d hire an alum of this class over any other “professional reporter” any day of the week.

I ask that you take my words into consideration the next time you write an opinion piece about this program. It was the best decision I have ever made, the reason I attended Medill, and although I left journalism and went into political communications, it taught me more about the trials of life than any other personal experience. Never did I feel that my grade was based on discovery. It was based on perseverance. And at the end of the day,  I was far more concerned with discovering the truth than I was about a letter on my student record. I am certain that every other student who took this course feels the same way.

Thank you.
Garrett Baldwin

Medill ’04

10/20 10:42 AMShare