Illinois Innocence Project

09/02/2026

“I truly believe that as long as I stay in this fight that one day the truth will set me free.” Those were the words of Thomas Clardy of , who will finally be freed in two weeks after nearly 20 years in prison total for a crime he did not commit. The Tennessee Innocence Project helped free him in 2023, only to have that ruling overturned in 2025, with Clardy having to return to prison. Last week, Tennessee Gov. Bill Lee looked at Clardy's case and decided he should be granted clemency and freed from prison once again.

A Nashville man who says he was wrongly convicted of murder, before a judge granted his freedom only for him to be sent back to prison, will soon be out again.

09/01/2026

How do you rebuild your life after a put you on for 27 years and your circumstances today are still in some legal limbo? The case against Jimmie Duncan was compared to the Salem Witch Trials by the Chief Justice of Louisiana's Supreme Court when his court threw out Duncan's conviction, but even today, there remains a chance he could be tried once again.

23-hour solitary confinement. 115-degree heat. Jimmie Duncan is haunted by the decades he spent in Louisiana’s Angola prison — and how, even after being released, he still isn’t truly free.

08/31/2026

On August 12, 2022, longtime IIP client David Staples walked free after 29 years of wrongful imprisonment after being in 1993 of a murder he did not commit. IIP had successfully advocated for a shortened sentence, shaving years off his original sentence. Members of his close-knit family and a contingent of supporters welcomed him to . During his wrongful imprisonment, David obtained a bachelor's degree through the Augustana Prison Education Program. Our work to exonerate him continues. In freedom, David has joined a strong community of innocent people who have been released under similar circumstances and for whom IIP continues to fight to fully provide their innocence.

08/31/2026

Positive steps continue in IIP's long-running involvement in the case of the Slover family, with a judge now ruling that enough new has been presented that an evidentiary hearing is now in order in the case.

In 2024, a filing introduced the fact that new evidence not matching the Slovers was found on items where Karyn Slover was found murdered in 1996. The state eventually tried and convicted her ex-husband, Michael Slover Jr., and his parents, Michael Slover Sr. and Janette Slover, in a case largely built on circumstantial evidence in 2002. The Slover parents both died while in prison, while Michael Jr. was released on parole in 2024.

A successful outcome in the evidentiary hearing could lead to the judge throwing out the original convictions and setting the stage for a new trial in the case. The Exoneration Project is working with IIP to continue the fight to prove that the wrong people were held responsible in this case.

A jury convicted Michael Slover, Janette Slover and Michael Slover Jr. for the 1996 murder of Karyn Hearn Slover.

08/30/2026

In 1993, Marilyn Mulero was sentenced to death after being framed by corrupt Chicago Detective Reynaldo Guevara for a murder she did not commit. After fighting for almost three decades to bring light to the widespread misconduct of this detective, Marilyn was on August 9, 2022. She was the first female victim of Guevara to be exonerated among nearly 30 Guevara-related homicide convictions that had been overturned to date. Marilyn was 28 years, including five years on death row. “Today’s exoneration of Marilyn is a shining example of perseverance and a testament to the power of the human spirit,” IIP Legal Director Lauren Kaeseberg said.

08/28/2026

It's been a very busy summer for IIP, and our just-released August bulletin will make sure you are up to date with all that has been going on. Find out about important and legislative victories, plus new milestones reached with our Wrongful Conviction Awareness and Avoidance training program.

You can see the full bulletin at: https://emails.uofi.uis.edu/newsletter/53/218556553.html

08/28/2026

In 2019, IIP announced nearly 500 police cadets representing 107 police departments across Illinois had taken IIP's “Wrongful Conviction Avoidance” training class, first introduced in partnership with the Police Training Institute (PTI) at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign in 2016. At the time, PTI served as the testing ground for this training. Though optional, an average of 75-80% of each cadet class enroll, proving interest among future officers, investigators, chiefs and sheriffs in the issue of and what law enforcement can do to help prevent these miscarriages of . Then, as now, cadets said hearing from and interacting with the exoneree presenters was the most meaningful part of the training.

08/27/2026

Almost everything you could want to know about IIP and our history in this our 25th year is covered in this excellent feature from the Illinois Times. Gain insights into the scope of our work, what makes IIP unique in the movement and the many areas -- education, prevention and reform prominently among them, along with our efforts to fight to free the -- that add up to a legacy that has touched thousands of lives since 2001.

The Illinois Innocence Project at University of Illinois Springfield has freed 34 innocent people who were convicted and imprisoned in Illinois for crimes they did not commit. Collectively, they lost 797 years of freedom. There are innocence organizations in 10 other countries and more than 60 in th...

08/26/2026

An evidentiary hearing continued today in for a man who was 15 years old when arrested in 1991 who says that Chicago police linked to disgraced Police Commander Jon Burge beat him until he confessed to a murder he did not commit. Johnny Plummer remains imprisoned today.

A man who says Chicago police tortured him into confessing to murder when he was just 15 continues his fight in court today to overturn his 1991 conviction.

08/26/2026

Exoneree Jason Strong, who passed away this month after a cancer battle, first visited UIS in August 2016. Through the work of Bluhm Legal Clinic and the Center on Wrongful Convictions, Jason had been released and in 2015 through an unprecedented agreement with the Lake County State’s Attorney and the Illinois Attorney General. Jason’s lawyers showed his “confession” was coerced, the alleged co-defendants had recanted, the pathologist’s testimony was wildly inaccurate and there were multiple viable alternative suspects. Jason was a beloved member of the freed/exonerated community nationwide. He left a powerful legacy in his dedication over the last decade to educating law enforcement as one of the founding exoneree speakers of IIP’s police training program.