The subject matter and content in After Innocence is so moving and thought-provoking that it hardly matters if the movie is a technical achievement. It’s an independent film that lacks only in style – the people onscreen are so tragically touching that they demand to be seen. Some aspects of the exonerated victims could have been looked upon with a little more detail, and many of the crimes themselves are not explored with much precision, but just seeing the unspeakable injustices of the judicial system in full force is enough to evoke sympathy from anyone.

DNA (what is referred to in the film as “God’s signature”) testing in the United States has led to over 150 people being positively identified as innocent, freed from blame, and released from decades of imprisonment. As miraculous as it is that so many luckless citizens have managed to overcome a justice system that is so flawed that they could end up in prison for crimes they did not commit, it’s equally horrifying to learn that there is absolutely no compensation for their plight. Most don’t even receive an apology, and many struggle unimaginably against courts, judges and prosecutors that don’t want to admit a mistake. And what an eye-opening, terrifying mistake it is.

The Innocence Project was started during the early years of DNA testing to help convicts with the costs of testing and with lawyers - almost all of whom spend money out of pocket, devote countless amounts of time, and are guaranteed never to be reimbursed. The crimes against these “criminals” doesn’t stop at trying to ignore their merciless years of captivity – many do not get their records expunged (or are charged $6000 in paperwork fees) preventing them from getting jobs. A regular convict who is paroled typically receives job training, job placement, housing, and many other programs designed to help them succeed with reintegration to society. But a wrongfully imprisoned exoneree gets nothing; one fortunate man did walk away with $5.37 for his troubles. Additionally, the stigma of the sex crimes that the exonerated were accused of is often too difficult to expunge – people know they have been released, but not that they are innocent.

Of the many men explored in the documentary, Nick Yarris has a particularly woeful tale. He was imprisoned for 23 years in solitary confinement on Death Row. For the first two years he was not allowed to speak. And he was completely innocent. When he claims he is one of the strongest men ever created, it is sadly true. Wilton Dedge was imprisoned for 22 years, accused of rape and given two life sentences. When filming began for After Innocence, he was still not released, even though DNA testing had already cleared him of guilt. He spent an additional three years in prison, after being proven innocent, because of political red tape, incorrect filing, and other tactics by the state of Florida to prevent his atrocious case from becoming public and having to admit fault.

Scott Hornoff was a police officer that spent over six years in prison when the judicial system completely failed him. His child was born only three months after being convicted, and when found innocent, the prosecutor and judge seemed upset at having to admit their errors. In his Massachusetts facility, the goal was to break the spirits of the prisoners, not to rehabilitate them.

To flesh out the atrociousness of these cases are several others, including one that delves into the relationship between an exoneree and the woman who accused him of rape; as it turns out, 88% of all wrongfully accused rape cases involve mistaken eyewitness identifications. Another man, Aaron Patterson, was tortured into a confession despite being innocent. The amount of shocking material in After Innocence suggests a new civil rights movement is necessary, the judicial system needs to be scrutinized more carefully, and exonerated people need to receive some sort of aid. Is this a problem of the past, now that DNA testing is a regular part of convictions? And how many more innocents are rotting away in prison, perhaps without even a hope of justice? What of the cases in which there was no DNA evidence found to test?

- Mike Massie

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