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Cooley Law School’s Innocence Project Recognizes National Wrongful Conviction Day with Exoneree Event
October 3
Siggers joins exonerees Kenneth Nixon and Duane Williams on a panel about suspect-first investigations and the work still waiting inside.
LANSING, Mich. — The Cooley Law School Innocence Project commemorated the 11th annual National Wrongful Conviction Day with a panel discussion.
The event featured the stories of exonerees Kenneth Nixon and Darrell Siggers, and Duane Williams, whose conviction was vacated in 2024. Moderated by Cooley student Kara Rosengren, additional panelists included Innocence Project Director and Associate Dean Tracey Brame and Innocence Project Managing Attorney Ann Garant.
Wrongful Conviction Day began in 2013 as an effort of the Innocence Network, an affiliation of organizations dedicated to providing pro bono legal and investigative services to individuals seeking to prove innocence, redressing the causes of wrongful convictions, and supporting exonerees after they are freed.
During the presentation, panelists discussed what is considered suspect-first investigations. “I was arrested before any investigation had taken place,” said Nixon. “My name came up, they immediately arrested me and then they sought to look for the evidence to prove I did it. I didn’t know what to do. My family didn’t know what to do. After the conviction, we were completely lost. Totally lost faith in the system.”
“Because it was people that never gave up on us, we’re standing here today,” said Nixon.
Brame spoke about the importance of working on behalf of the wrongfully convicted: “If you look in the news in a given day, somewhere in some state, someone’s being exonerated, which is encouraging that there’s so much work being done in this space to get people out. It also lets you know how many people are still there waiting for help.”
Marla Mitchell-Cichon, former Cooley Innocence Project director, shared an overview of the posthumous pardon she is pursuing in the case of Maurice Carter. In 1987, Carter was wrongfully convicted of a non-fatal shooting in Benton Harbor, Michigan, and sentenced to life without parole. In 2004, his sentence was commuted due to his health, but his name was never cleared. He died within three months of his release.
Established in 2001, the Cooley Law School Innocence Project is the only post-conviction DNA innocence organization in the state. Since its inception, the office has screened over 6,000 cases and is responsible for the exoneration of nine individuals.