We'll meet again ...

I'm graduating tomorrow with my master's degree in journalism, so I'll be bidding a fond farewell to this blog. I've been kind of a slacker in recent weeks about posts, but you'll see the reason why in early May when the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette publishes the Innocence Institute's three-day series on false eyewitness identification. I'll be passing the blog baton to Cynthia Levy, an undergraduate journalism student, who will be a lot better at keeping things updated.

After innocence

Speaking of Yarris, a documentary that looks at his life and the lives of other DNA exonerees will premiere in theaters this fall and then be broadcast on Showtime. "After Innocence" received a special jury prize at the Sundance film festival and the audience prize at the Boston independent film festival.

Compensation for the convicted

A Philadelphia lawmaker wants people who were wrongfully convicted to be compensated for the time they spent in prison. Rep. Mike McGeehan, D-Philadelphia, has proposed giving inmates who were exonerated $129 for every day they spent behind bars. Tribune-Review reporter Brad Bumstead calculated the amount that would be paid to several high-profile exonerees, including as much as $164,797 to former death-row inmate Nick Yarris, who served 21 years before DNA evidence helped free him.

A spokesman for state attorney General Tom Corbett dismissed the bill as "a solution in search of a problem." In a letter from McGeehan, he responds that "Corbett would condemn ... jailed innocents to fight in court years beyond their imprisonment just to recoup lost wages and trashed reputations."