Since the project's inception, the NEIP has assisted with the representation and exoneration of six wrongfully convicted individuals in New England through its Network of NEIP attorneys.

Marvin Mitchell

Marvin Mitchell was exonerated in April 1997 after spending seven years and three months in prison for a crime he did not commit. In 1990 he was convicted of abducting and raping an eleven-year-old girl while she waited for the bus. He was incarcerated despite the fact that he did not match the victim identification nor did he match the semen samples obtained from the victim. In 1997 additional testing showed that Mr. Mitchell did not match the DNA semen sample obtained at the crime scene. Mr. Mitchell was represented by Noah Rosmarin.

Eric Sarsfield

Eric Sarsfield, who was released on parole in June 1999, was exonerated in August 2000 after serving nine years in prison for a crime he did not commit. He was convicted of a 1986 rape of a Middlesex County woman. The Commonwealth offered no physical evidence at trial to link Mr. Sarsfield to the crime and, to a large extent, based its case on the victim's identification. In March 2000, DNA tests conducted on the clothing the victim wore at the time of the crime indicated that Mr. Sarsfield was excluded as the source of semen found on the clothing. His attorney, George Garfinkle, filed a motion for post-conviction relief on August 3, 2000, which was granted.

Neil Miller

In May 2000, Neil Miller was exonerated after spending 10 years in prison. He was convicted of aggravated rape while armed and breaking and entering with intent to commit a felony on December 19, 1990, in Boston. Mr. Miller's conviction rested almost entirely on the eyewitness testimony of the victim, who picked his photo out of a mug book (which was taken after he had been convicted of a non-sexual crime). At trial, a scientist from the Boston Police Crime Laboratory testified that Mr. Miller could not be eliminated as the source of semen stains that were found on the victim's bedding. Almost ten years later, additional and more sophisticated testing was performed on the samples and the test results definitively excluded Neil Miller as the source of the sperm found. Mr. Miller was represented by the New York Innocence Project and Nona Walker.

Kenneth Waters

Kenneth Waters spent eighteen years in prison for a murder he did not commit. The conviction was vacated in 2001 with the help of his sister, Betty Anne Waters. On May 21, 1980, the victim was found dead in her bed at home. The perpetrator left no fingerprints, but hairs and blood were present at the crime scene. Based on the testimony of several witnesses, including two ex-girlfriends, police arrested Kenneth Waters for murder. He was convicted in 1983. After Mr. Waters lost his appeals, his sister eventually put herself through law school in order to take over her brother's case. Ms. Waters located the evidence in a courthouse basement, including DNA evidence which was tested and excluded Mr. Waters as the possible perpetrator. Kenneth Waters was represented by the New York Innocence Project and NEIP attorneys.

Rodriguez Charles

In 1984 Rodriguez Charles was convicted of raping three female roommates in Brighton and spent eighteen years in prison. In May 2001 he was exonerated of those crimes. His exoneration came after testing of the biological evidence showed that semen on the victim's sheet and robe did not match Mr. Charles. The judge also ruled that the prosecutors acted improperly by not revealing that one of the victims believed the rapist was circumcised. Mr. Charles is not circumcised. He was represented by Julie Boyden and Steve Hrones.

Eduardo Velasquez (formerly known as Angel Hernandez)

Angel Hernandez spent thirteen years in prison for a crime he did not commit. On November 23, 1988, Mr. Hernandez was convicted by a jury of assault and battery by means of a dangerous weapon, indecent assault and aggravated rape. His conviction was affirmed on August 12, 1991. Blood typing was the type of testing conducted at the trial in 1991. This test indicated that Hernandez had the same blood type as the assailant, but it was also stated that approximately eleven percent of the Hispanic population shared this blood type. A motion was filed to gain access to the evidence for DNA testing. In 2001 DNA testing was performed on sperm collected as evidence. The results excluded Hernandez, who was exonerated and released on August 15, 2001. Mr. Hernandez was represented by Sam Silverman.

Jeffrey Scott Hornoff

Jeffrey Scott Hornoff was a 27-year-old detective with the Warwick, Rhode Island Police Department until he was charged, tried and convicted of first-degree murder. During the summer of 1989, Victoria Cushman was bludgeoned to death with a fire extinguisher and porcelain jewelry box. When questioned, Mr. Hornoff immediately admitted to superiors that he knew Ms. Cushman. After requesting and passing a polygraph examination supporting his claim of innocence, certain members of his police department prodded the Attorney General to appoint the Rhode Island State Police to investigate Scott. While there was no physical evidence or any witness identification linking him to the murder, Mr. Hornoff went to trial years after Ms. Cushman’s murder, was convicted of first-degree murder and sentenced to life in prison. He served six years, four months and 18 days of a life sentence for another's crime, and was freed on November 6, 2002, five days after Ms. Cushman's boyfriend, Todd Barry, came forward and confessed to the crime. Every step of the judicial system failed Scott and his loved ones, though NEIP attorneys were diligent in their representation and Scott's was the first post-conviction DNA testing conducted in RI.

Dennis Maher

Dennis Maher was convicted in two separate trials of attacks on three women. In March 1984, he was found guilty of the rape and assault of two women in Lowell on consecutive evenings in November 1983. In April 1984, he was convicted of the August 1983 rape of another woman in Ayer. After the second trial, Maher was sentenced to life in prison. Under Massachusetts law in effect at the time of his convictions, Mr. Maher was also civilly committed to Bridgewater Treatment Center. In 2001, the NEIP located long-misplaced evidence from the Lowell trial in the basement of the Middlesex Superior Court. In December 2002, DNA test results excluded Mr. Maher as the source of semen on the evidence. After Mr. Maher was excluded as the source of semen in the Lowell case, in February 2003, the Middlesex District Attorney's Office located at the Ayer Police station a slide prepared from the rape kit of the Ayer rape victim. This slide was submitted for DNA testing and Mr. Maher was again excluded as the source of semen. Dennis Maher was exonerated in April 2003 after 19 years in prison. He was represented by NEIP attorneys and by the Innocence Project in New York.

Stephan Cowans

Stephan Cowans was erroneously convicted of armed assault with intent to murder and other related crimes for the May 30, 1997 shooting of a Boston Police Officer. To convict Mr. Cowans, the Commonwealth used an eyewitness identification and a latent fingerprint that had been found on a glass mug used by the assailant. In 2000, the New England Innocence Project helped secure DNA testing for Cowans. After reviewing the DNA test results of items worn by the assailant - results that exonerated Mr Cowans - the Commonwealth re-analyzed the fingerprint that had been used to convict him. This re-examination showed that the fingerprint did not belong to Mr. Cowans. After serving over six and a half years in prison, Mr. Cowans was officially exonerated in February 2004. He was represented by NEIP attorneys, Robert N. Feldman of Birnbaum & Godkin, LLP, Steven Maidman and by the Innocence Project in New York.

Anthony Powell

In 1992, Anthony Powell was wrongfully convicted on kidnapping and rape charges involving a teenage girl and was sentenced to a 12- to 20-year prison sentence. The victim was kidnapped at knifepoint as she waited for a bus. The assalant raped her in a wooded area and then demanded that she come to a nearby skating rink the following night with $100. The next night, the police skated out to the skating rink and picked up Powell, who was then positively identified by the young woman and charged with the crime. Mr. Powell maintained his innocence throughout his incarceration, but it was not until the Committee for Public Counsel Services appointed attorneys Julie Boyden and Steve Hrones to his case that Powell was able to obtain DNA testing of semen found in the rape victim. The DNA tests excluded him as the attacker, and in March 2004, after serving 12 years of his sentence, Mr. Powell was exonerated.