Freeing the innocent from prison

Inter Lake editorial

"Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere."

Those famous words from Martin Luther King Jr. figure prominently into the Montana Innocence Project's mission of exonerating innocent Montana inmates and preventing wrongful convictions.

Whitefish state Sen. Dan Weinberg, a longtime advocate for social justice, helped start the nonprofit organization that is part of a growing national movement to make sure innocent people aren't sitting behind bars. We applaud his donation of not only time but also money to this worthy cause.

An important element of this project is the involvement of journalism and law students at The University of Montana. Through the Innocence Clinic, journalism students began working with the project this fall and law students are expected to join in next fall. Students will screen, investigate and litigate claims of innocence under the supervision of Montana Innocence Project staff and UM professors. Engaging students in this process will give them valuable insight and skills, along with academic credits.

Students aren't the only participants by any means. A wide network of volunteer attorneys, investigators and other professionals will supplement the research and advise students. The Montana Innocence Project's board of directors includes an impressive slate of legal experts and other professionals, including Peter Neufeld, co-director of the national Innocence Project that he helped found in 1992.

There was a time when a project like this wasn't possible, in the days before DNA testing. Now that we have this valuable means of proving innocence, it behooves us to put it to its highest and best use.

Wrongful convictions in Montana haven't been the highest profile cases in the United States, but of the 223 Americans exonerated by DNA evidence, three have been in Montana.

Jimmy Ray Bromgard spent nearly 15 years in a Montana prison for the rape of an 8-year-old girl until he was exonerated by postconviction DNA testing in 2002.

A year later Paul D. Kordonowy was exonerated of a 1987 rape conviction after DNA testing proved his innocence. He had served 13 years of a 30-year sentence.

Chester Bauer was convicted in 1983 of rape and aggravated assault. His case was more complicated, involving later charges and convictions. But the end result was that DNA testing exculpated Bauer of the earlier convictions.

Americans always have prided themselves with living in a society where we are "innocent until proven guilty." Organizations such as the Montana Innocence Project do us all a service by making sure that those familiar words continue to ring true.