When attorney Karen Goodrow comes to UConn on Oct. 14 to see the Connecticut Repertory Theatre's production of The Exonerated, many of the play's stories of prisoners wrongly accused may sound familiar to her.
As director of the Connecticut Innocence Project, Goodrow routinely reviews the case files of Connecticut prison inmates who insist they are innocent. With the help of modern day science, Goodrow and her team of lawyers and investigators have proven that some of them are right.
Since the Project began applying modern DNA analysis to old criminal cases in 2005, three Connecticut men have been found innocent and freed from confinement. Goodrow's staff is currently reviewing more than a hundred other case files to see who may be next.
As part of the University's continued commitment to interdisciplinary cooperation, CRT, part of the Department of Dramatic Arts, and the UConn Law School are sponsoring a panel discussion regarding wrongful convictions following the The Exonerated's Oct. 14 performance in the Nafe Katter Theatre on the Storrs campus. Goodrow is one of the special guests.
The featured panelists include:
Karen Goodrow - Director of the Connecticut Innocence Project and a veteran criminal defense attorney for the Connecticut Division of Public Defender Services. She was formerly assigned to the Division's Capital Defense Unit and represented convicted serial killer Michael Ross in his final penalty-phase hearing in 2000. Goodrow has also represented several other criminal defendants accused of Capital crimes and facing imprisonment on death row.
Jeremy Paul - Dean of the UConn Law School and Thomas F. Gallivan Jr. Professor of Real Property Law. Paul teaches Constitutional Law, Property, and Jurisprudence. In addition to his long-term career in teaching, Paul has served as a law clerk to Judge Irving R. Kaufman of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit; as Professor-in-Residence at the Appellate Staff of the Civil Division of the U.S. Department of Justice; and as Assistant to the President of Travelers Group. Paul is a member of the Board of Directors of the Connecticut Bar Foundation and the Advisory Board of the Connecticut Law Tribune, and a former member of the Board of Directors of the Connecticut Civil Liberties Union.
Thomas Morawetz - UConn Criminal Law Professor and Tapping Reeve Professor of Law and Ethics. Morawetz's courses include Criminal Law, Contemporary Legal Theory (Legal Philosophy), Law and Literature, Jurisprudence, and Theory of Criminal Law.
Dale AJ Rose - Director of The Exonerated, interim artistic director of the CRT and director of performance studies in the University's Department of Theatre Arts. Rose has directed several other products for the CRT including Pericles, Arabian Nights and As You Like It. As Director of the Shakespeare Festival in Dallas, Rose directed, among others, Earle Hyman in King Lear and Morgan Freeman in Othello. As Artistic Director of the Plaza Theatre in Dallas, he worked with John Goodman, Mariel Hemingway and Zakes Mokae.
Dassia Posner, dramaturge for The Exonerated and professor of theatre history and dramatic literature. Her research has been supported by fellowships and grants from the Council on Library and Information Resources/Mellon Foundation, the Somerville and Cambridge Arts Councils, The Boston Cultural Council and the Puppeteers of America. She has taught at Tufts University, Boston College and served as an artist in residence at Dneperopetrovsk University, Ukraine.
Cast members.
The panel discussion will begin immediately following the 7:30 p.m. performance, which lasts 90 minutes without intermission.
"This play tells stories of wrongly convicted criminal defendants whose innocence was later established via DNA evidence," says Paul. "Every American should be deeply troubled to learn of any such convictions in a country deeply committed to justice and the rule of law. The law school is proud to participate in a general discussion of the issues raised by the performance."
Winner of the 2003 Drama Desk Award for Unique Theatrical Experience and the 2003 Outer Critics Award for Outstanding Off-Broadway Play, Jessica Blank and Erik Jensen's The Exonerated brings to life the compelling stories of Delbert, Gary, Kerry, Robert, David and Sunny - six people who were very nearly executed for crimes they did not commit.
Ranging from two years on death row to more than twenty, their stories reveal the horrors behind death row, the ignorance of their communities upon their release and their struggle to reintegrate themselves into society as the exonerated.
Their nightmarish stories are told here through interwoven scenes and monologues derived from actual court transcripts, interviews and letters. Although eventually freed by DNA and other evidence, these gripping stories depict the personal devastation that occurs when our justice system misfires. The survival stories of these six brave individuals are extraordinary, and provide a promise of hope and redemption.
