For Immediate Release
February 2, 2018
Contact: Gail Johnson of Johnson & Klein, PLLC, (303) 444-1885
46 LAW PROFESSORS URGE COLORADO ATTORNEY GENERAL CYNTHIA COFFMAN TO AGREE TO COMPENSATE EXONEREE CLARENCE MOSES-EL FOR THE MORE THAN 28 YEARS HE SPENT IN PRISON
Coalition of professors from the University of Denver Sturm College of Law and the University of Colorado Law School in Boulder send extraordinary joint letter to Attorney General Coffman urging her to agree that an injustice occurred and compensation is due.
DENVER – Today, a group of forty-six (46) law professors from Colorado’s two law schools—the University of Denver Sturm College of Law and the University of Colorado Law School in Boulder—sent a letter to Colorado Attorney General Cynthia Coffman urging her to agree that Clarence Moses-EL is innocent and entitled to compensation under Colorado law. Mr. Moses-EL spent nearly three decades in prison for crimes he did not commit.
The professors’ letter emphasizes the well-known problem of wrongful conviction in the United States, prosecutors’ obligations to remedy injustices that come to their attention, and the irony that state officials have opposed compensation even though agents of the state destroyed the DNA that would have proved Mr. Moses-EL’s innocence.
The letter acknowledges the pervasive impact of racial bias in the criminal-justice system and the fact that the ranks of the wrongfully convicted are disproportionately African American. The letter also explains in sexual-assault cases, the leading cause of wrongful convictions is misidentification, as occurred here.
“Mr. Moses-EL is very thankful for the outpouring of support he has received from the community” said his attorney, Gail Johnson. “We continue to hope that someday soon, Attorney General Coffman will stop disputing Mr. Moses-EL’s innocence and agree to compensation in the amount set by the Colorado legislature.”
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