Media & Press
I am innocent: the marvin haynes story
FOX 9 | December 13, 2024
FOX 9 spent months interviewing Marvin Haynes, his family, attorneys, and prosecutors as part of a documentary. The documentary "I am Innocent" covers Marvin’s experience of being wrongfully convicted and his path to exoneration.
#500 Maggie Freleng with Stacy Larson
Wrongful Conviction Podcast | December 8, 2024
On May 12, 1990, Ron Hilgenberg and his wife were driving in South Dakota on Interstate 90 when a passing vehicle opened fire, killing the 76-year-old man. Stacy Larson and two of his friends were charged with his murder despite no physical evidence linking him to the crime, and what his attorneys called an iron-clad alibi. Stacy was convicted and sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole.
A Stearns County man’s conviction for fatally shaking his baby was vacated. Now the county is trying him again.
Minnesota Star Tribune | December 3, 2024
After Robert Kaiser spent more than seven years behind bars, the court ruled his conviction was based on false evidence. But the prosecution says they can prove the case at a new trial.
Genetic Genealogy Can Stop Violent Criminals and Free the Wrongly Convicted
Scientific American | November 21, 2024
Despite investigative genetic genealogy revolutionizing cold case investigations, it has been underused to free the wrongly convicted. Read in this op-ed co-authored by GNIP Legal Director Jim Mayer about who cutting edge genetic genealogy helped free two men after spending 25 years in prison for a crime they did not commit.
Great North Innocence Project client’s convictions vacated after 16 years of wrongful incarceration
Great North Innocence Project Press Release | November 7, 2024
Photo Credit: Amy Anderson Photography
The Great North Innocence Project (GNIP) announced that its client Edgar Barrientos-Quintana’s convictions have been vacated. Mr. Barrientos-Quintana was convicted of murder and attempted murder in Hennepin County and sentenced to life without parole in May 2009. In his decision, Judge John McBride found that defense counsel’s flawed representation and the prosecutors’ Brady violations undermine confidence in the jury’s guilty verdict.
Possible Minneapolis murder exoneration in the hands of judge
FOX 9 | October 11, 2024
An evidentiary hearing was held in Hennepin County Court on whether to vacate a 2009 murder conviction that sent Edgar Barrientos-Quintana to prison for life.
Photo Credit: Romulo Ueda
Brothers who spent 25 years in prison for woman’s murder exonerated
HuffPost | September 28, 2024
David Bintz, 69, and his younger brother, Robert Bintz, 68, were exonerated after advocates had DNA evidence from the case examined.
Photo Credit: Romulo Ueda
Genetic genealogy proves Great North Innocence Project client’s innocence, identifies actual perpetrator
Great North Innocence Project Press Release | September 25, 2024
The Great North Innocence Project (GNIP) and its pro bono partners at the Minneapolis law firm Chestnut Cambronne, PA, announced that their client Robert Bintz, along with his brother David Bintz who is represented by the Wisconsin Innocence Project, will be released from Oakhill Correctional Institution after spending 25 years in prison for a crime he did not commit.
Hennepin County Attorney’s Office agrees Great North Innocence Project client’s conviction should be vacated based on actual innocence
Great North Innocence Project Press Release | September 23, 2024
The HCAO’s filing comes after the Minnesota Conviction Review Unit determined, “a confluence of errors made by criminal justice system actors resulted in a wrongful conviction” of Edgar Barrientos-Quintana.
Maggie freleng with marvin haynes
Wrongful Conviction Podcast | September 16, 2024
Photo Credit: Emily Baxter
In 2004, Marvin Haynes was a pretty average 16-year-old — watching Nickelodeon, chasing trends and girls, just having a good time. “I just couldn't wait for the weekends” Marvin says. Until he was picked up by police for a murder at a Minneapolis, MN flower shop. With no physical evidence tying Marvin to the scene, shaky witness IDs, and even a witness recanting at the stand, teenage Marvin was sentenced to life in prison.
Great North Innocence Project to review number of embattled Ramsey County Medical Examiner’s cases
Great North Innocence Project Press Release | September 11, 2024
The Great North Innocence Project (GNIP) announced that it will participate in Phase 3 of the independent review of Ramsey County cases involving the medical opinions of Dr. Michael McGee.
Minnesota Conviction Review Unit (CRU) finds Great North Innocence client innocent, recommends exoneration
Great North Innocence Project Press Release | August 21, 2024
The CRU determined, “a confluence of errors made by criminal justice system actors resulted in a wrongful conviction” of Edgar Barrientos-Quintana.
Afternoons live with tyler axness: Interview with Jim mayer
KFGO | August 9, 2024
Guest host Dane DeKrey welcomes Jim Mayer with The Great North Innocence Project to discuss the work they do and a recent case that you might be able to help.
Statement from Brian K. Pippitt on the Minnesota Conviction Review Unit’s Report regarding his conviction
Great North Innocence Project Press Release | July 1, 2024
GNIP’s wrongfully incarcerated client Brian Pippitt speaks on his reaction to the Minnesota Attorney General’s recent recommendation that he should be exonerated on the basis of innocence.
Minnesota man’s 2001 murder conviction should be overturned, officials say
Associated Press | June 6, 2024
A man who was convicted of murder in 2001 should be exonerated, a special unit of the Minnesota Attorney General’s Office said, saying prosecutors used shoddy legal tactics and unreliable evidence to secure a conviction in the 1998 killing of an 84-year-old storekeeper.
Minnesota Conviction Review Unit (CRU) recommends exoneration of Great North Innocence Project Client
Great North Innocence Project Press Release | June 6, 2024
Centurion Ministries in partnership with the Great North Innocence Project (GNIP) announced today that they have filed a petition for post-conviction relief on behalf of their client Brian K. Pippitt on the grounds of his actual innocence of the murder for which he was convicted. The Minnesota CRU recently completed a two-year investigation into Mr. Pippitt’s conviction. After reviewing thousands of pages of materials and interviewing more than 25 fact and expert witnesses, the CRU recommended Mr. Pippitt be granted post-conviction relief based on his actual innocence. The Aitkin County Attorney’s Office has 20 days to respond to the filing.
Great North Innocence Project Applauds Gov. Walz and Minnesota Legislature for the Passage of Critical Innocence Reforms
Great North Innocence Project Press Release | May 28, 2024
As part of recently enacted criminal justice reform package, a new policy will provide safeguards against law enforcement lying to juveniles along with an amendment to a postconviction statute to prevent future injustices similar to the case of exoneree Marvin Haynes
20 years after his murder arrest, Marvin Haynes reflects on long journey to freedom
FOX 9 | May 19, 2024
Sunday (May 19) marks a troubling anniversary for Marvin Haynes. On this day, 20 years ago, Minneapolis police arrested Haynes for a murder he insisted he never committed. Two decades later, Haynes is now a free man and fully exonerated after he was released from prison last December.
#440 Maggie freleng with cassandra black Elk
Wrongful Conviction Podcast | April 1, 2024
On the morning of February 19th, 2022, Cassandra Black Elk awoke to find her three-week-old daughter StarLight lifeless beside her. Police insisted the baby had died due to Shaken Baby Syndrome - and that Cassandra was responsible. “They were telling me their story,” Cassandra remembers, “that somebody did something to StarLight…somebody killed her.” Cassandra knew she hadn’t hurt her baby. She asked her lawyer repeatedly - what does the autopsy report say? But by the time she got the answer, Cassandra had been convicted of having caused her daughter’s death, and was already in prison.
Photo Credit: Amy Anderson Photography
Minnesota Supreme Court affirms Great North Innocence Project client entitled to post-conviction relief
Great North Innocence Project Press Release | March 13, 2024
Today the Great North Innocence Project (GNIP) announced that the Minnesota Supreme Court affirmed that lower courts’ decisions setting aside the second-degree murder conviction of GNIP client Robert Kaiser.
Great North Innocence Project
Chainz 2 Changed Podcast | March 11, 2024
The Chainz 2 Changed podcast shares stories of the people who are putting in the hard work of changing their lives behind bars, the residents who live inside the walls of the North Dakota State Penitentiary. Co-producers and Co-hosts, Antonio Stridiron and Zach Schmidkunz sit down with high ranking DOCR officials and residents to share stories of changing lives, hope, and what its like doing time at NDSP.
In this episode, Dread and Zach interview GNIP’s managing attorney, Jim Mayer, and discuss what it takes to free the innocent from prison and GNIP’s work in North Dakota.
Proposed wrongful-conviction bill would lower bar for new evidence
MPR News | February 21, 2024
The proposed legislation (HF 2400/SF 2597) would allow more convicted cases to get a second look if there’s new evidence. Andrew Markquart, managing attorney at Great North Innocence Project, says he hopes this will give more people with legitimate claims another day in court.
Why Are So Many Indigenous Women Being Wrongly Convicted?
Rolling Stone | January 29, 2024
Steps must be taken to prevent vulnerable women from becoming the target of racist prosecution, writes Maggie Freleng, the Pulitzer Prize-winning host of the Wrongful Conviction podcast.
Photo Credit: Amy Anderson Photography
He was wrongly convicted of murder. Now Tom Rhodes wants ‘unreliable’ medical examiner held accountable.
KSTP | January 17, 2024
A leading cause of wrongful convictions is official misconduct. In the case of GNIP's freed client Tom Rhodes, official misconduct led to his wrongful incarceration for nearly 25 years. Now Tom, represented by the People's Law Office, is suing a number of officials for mishandling his case, including embattled medical examiner Dr. Michael McGee.
Great North Innocence Project client exonerated after nearly 20 years in prison for wrongful conviction
Great North Innocence Project Press Release | December 11, 2023
The Great North Innocence Project (GNIP) announced today that their client Marvin Haynes will be released from the Minnesota Correction Facility – Stillwater after spending nearly 20 years in prison for a crime he did not commit. GNIP will hold a press conference with the Hennepin County Attorney’s Office (HCAO) and the Haynes family about the matter today at noon at the Hennepin County Government Center.
For more coverage on Marvin Haynes’ release check out stories from: the New York Times, StarTribune, CNN, & Fox 9 News.
Photo Credit: Emily Baxter
Marvin Haynes, sentenced to life in 2004 flower shop killing, seeks to overturn conviction
Star Tribune | November 28, 2023
Great North Innocence Project argues that Haynes, now 35, was wrongfully convicted based on faulty eyewitness identification
North Dakota woman's guilty plea vacated after autopsy reveals she didn't cause her baby's death
The Forum | August 18, 2023
The ruling upholds a January decision by Burleigh County District Judge David Borgen to vacate Cassandra Jo Marvella Black Elk’s plea, but it doesn’t necessarily mean the case is over.
Meet Sara Jones
CanvasRebel | July 23, 2023
Meet Great North Innocence Project executive director, Sara Jones, and learn about the inside workings of GNIP’s legal, outreach, and advocacy processes.
Photo Credit: Amy Anderson Photography
Oral arguments hear if ND woman should get new trial in death of 3-week-old
KFYR | June 26, 2023
Oral arguments were held Monday in the North Dakota Supreme Court on whether a New England woman should get a new trial for the death of her three-week-old daughter.
Last year, Cassandra (Cassi) Black Elk pleaded guilty to child neglect and was sentenced to one and a half years in prison. But in February, Judge Daniel Borgen vacated the sentence and ordered that Black Elk get a new trial because of improper advice her attorney gave her when she entered a plea.
Donate to Cassi’s GoFundMe page now to support her and her daughters as she continues to pursue justice. All proceeds go directly to Cassi and her family.
‘Unreliable’: A medical examiner’s testimony led to a lucrative business, even as his cases kept falling apart
KSTP | May 11, 2023
5 INVESTIGATES started reviewing former Ramsey County Medical Examiner Michael McGee’s contracts earlier this year after a federal judge called out his “well-documented history of providing false or inaccurate testimony in court.”
Invoices and receipts show his company, M.B. McGee, collected more than $9 million from at least 19 counties dating back to 2011.
Dr. McGee’s flawed testimony has been cited in two Great North Innocence Project clients’ cases as a contributing factor leading to their wrongful conviction, including Michael Hansen (pictured, right)
Photo Credit: Amy Anderson Photgraphy
The Throughline
Ruthlessly Hopeful | March 31, 2023
Hope is essential to Sara Jones, the team she leads and their clients. Sara is the executive director of the Great North Innocence Project (GNIP). They work to free people who were wrongly convicted in Minnesota, North Dakota and South Dakota, and advocate to reduce the risk of wrongful convictions. It is hard and emotional work, and as Sara explained hope is the throughline.
Family of a man in prison for a murder nearly two decades ago is asking the Hennepin County Attorney to re-open the case
WCCO | March 16, 2023
Marvin Haynes was found guilty of killing 55-year-old Randy Sherer in his family's flower shop in north Minneapolis in 2004.
He has insisted over the years that he is innocent, and now his family has found new hope, as the Great North Innocence Project has taken up his case.
After 6 years in prison, Great North Innocence Project defies odds to free Javon Davis
CBS News Minnesota | March 9, 2023
A group of lawyers in Minnesota are working tirelessly to get innocent people released from prison.
Since its inception in 2001, the Great North Innocence Project has helped free 10 people who were in prison for crimes they did not commit.
Those men spent a combined 113 years behind bars.
This is Javon Davis’ story in his own words.
Innocence Project seeks to exonerate Marvin Haynes of 2004 north Minneapolis flower shop killing
Star Tribune | March 4, 2023
Nearly two decades ago, a robber shot 55-year-old Randy Sherer to death in his family's flower shop in north Minneapolis. The teenager convicted of the crime is now a man who has spent most of his life in prison, insisting he is innocent.
There was no physical evidence tethering Marvin Haynes, 35, to the shots that killed Sherer on May 16, 2004. The only person who saw everything unfold — Cynthia McDermid, Sherer's sister and coworker — died in 2020. Now the Great North Innocence Project has taken up Haynes' case.
Photo Credit: AARON LAVINSKY, STAR TRIBUNE
After serving 25 years for murder he didn’t commit, Minnesota man reflects on case, ‘unreliable’ witness
KSTP | February 23, 2023
For nearly two decades, Thomas Rhodes sat in a prison cell for a murder he did not commit, replaying the key testimony that put him there.
Rhodes was convicted in 1998 of murdering his wife in Kandiyohi County.
In his first interview since being released from prison, Rhodes talked to 5 INVESTIGATES about the evidence that led to his conviction and the perseverance that set him free.
Photo Credit: Fong Lee
Minnesota Court of Appeals Upholds Lower Court’s Ruling Overturning Stearns County Man’s Murder Conviction
KNSI Radio | February 17, 2023
The Minnesota Court of Appeals has affirmed a lower court’s ruling overturning the conviction of an Albany man wrongly accused of killing his infant son.
Photo Credit: Amy Anderson Photography
UND Chief pathologist: Black Elk sentence a ‘miscarriage of justice,’ state appeals judge’s order
KFGO | February 6, 2023
Attorneys for the State of North Dakota have appealed a judge’s order to throw out the criminal judgment and sentence of a woman who pled guilty to neglect in the death of her 3-week-old daughter in Bismarck last year.
The appeal comes even as court documents in the case show the infant’s autopsy found no evidence of foul play or trauma, and the head of a team of pathologists who reviewed the report said it showed “no criminality at any level,” and asked the court to correct a “miscarriage of justice.”
After 25 years, a Minnesota man’s conviction in the 1996 death of his wife has been overturned
KSTP | January 18, 2023
Thanks to work done by the Innocence Project, a nonprofit committed to exonerating wrongfully convicted individuals, Minnesotan Thomas Rhodes is a free man after spending 25 years in jail.
Hayley Drozdowski-Poxleitner, from the Great North Innocence Project, joined News Talk 830 WCCO’s Jordana Green and Adam Carter to discuss Rhodes' case and his exoneration.
After over a decade of fighting, Minnesota group celebrates overturned murder conviction
KSTP | January 13, 2023
The Great North Innocence Project announced today that their client Thomas Rhodes will be released from Moose Lake Correctional Center after spending nearly 25 years in prison. His release is the result of a comprehensive review of his case by the Minnesota Conviction Review Unit (CRU), a partnership between the Great North Innocence Project ("GN-IP") and the Minnesota Attorney General’s Office. The CRU ultimately found that a miscarriage of justice occurred in Mr. Rhodes’ case.
Photo Credit: Fong Lee
The Great North Innocence Project celebrates client’s release from prison after Minnesota Conviction Review Unit’s investigation
Great North Innocence Project Press Release | January 13, 2023
The Great North Innocence Project announced today that their client Thomas Rhodes will be released from Moose Lake Correctional Center after spending nearly 25 years in prison. His release is the result of a comprehensive review of his case by the Minnesota Conviction Review Unit (CRU), a partnership between the Great North Innocence Project ("GN-IP") and the Minnesota Attorney General’s Office. The CRU ultimately found that a miscarriage of justice occurred in Mr. Rhodes’ case.
For more coverage on Thomas Rhodes’ release check out stories from: the Associated Press, StarTribune, & Pioneer Press.
DOJ awards Minnesota-based advocacy group $500,000 for review of wrongful convictions
Minnesota Reformer | October 17, 2022
The U.S. Department of Justice awarded a $500,000 grant to a local advocacy group to investigate the legal cases of people who have been convicted of crimes but are believed to be innocent.
The Great North Innocence Project granted $500,000 to fuel the statewide Conviction Review Unit
The Great North Innocence Project Press Release | October 17, 2022
The Great North Innocence Project (GN-IP) announced today that it has received a two-year, $500,000 grant from the U.S. Department of Justice that will fuel the ongoing work of Minnesota’s first-ever Conviction Review Unit (CRU). This DOJ grant represents an increased investment from the previous $300,000 two-year grant GN-IP received to launch the CRU in 2020.
The Tipping point: A conversation with peter neufeld and Sara jones
Conversations with Chanda | October 7, 2022
The Innocence Project works to create fair, compassionate, and equitable justice systems. In this episode of her podcast, Chanda Smith Baker, chief impact officer & SVP at the Minneapolis Foundation, sits down with Innocence Project co-founder and special counsel Peter Neufeld and Great North Innocence Project executive director Sara Jones, to discuss wrongful convictions, the hurdles to exonerating the innocent, and the new approach prosecutors are taking to shift the culture of the criminal legal system.
Dead Men Don’t Talk
KELOLAND News | September 29, 2022
Jeffery Howard has been incarcerated for 41 years. He's maintained his innocence for just as long. Despite the significant challenges that accompany two decades of time passing since a conviction, GN-IP attorney Andrew Markquart continues to investigate Jeff's case, believing that he is innocent. Learn more about Jeff’s case in this report from Angela Kennecke of KELOLAND News.
Rising stars: meet sara jones of west bank
Voyage Minnesota | September 1, 2022
In their online September issue, Voyage Minnesota profiled our executive director Sara Jones as a local "rising star" because of her important work leading at the helm of GN-IP. Among other things, Sara shared how GN-IP has and continues to grow and transform to meet the needs of the community we serve.
great north innocence project
Minnesota Women’s Press | August 25, 2022
The Minnesota Women's Press has featured our organization and incredible leader, Sara Jones, in their most recent issue! In this article, get an inside look at how the Great North Innocence Project & Sara in her role as executive director conduct investigations and litigation to free the wrongfully convicted; work to prevent wrongful convictions in Minnesota, North Dakota, and South Dakota through policy advocacy; and educate our community, current and future criminal legal professionals, and potential clients about the causes & consequences of wrongful convictions and GN-IP services.
Photo Credit: Sarah Whiting