Daily Roundup — July 28, 2026
Every day, somewhere in this country, a conviction falls apart because of something that should never have happened in the first place: hidden evidence, a coached witness, a badge abused. Here's what surfaced over the past several days, what the data says about how common these failures are, and where you can direct pressure today.
1. New report: 600+ capital cases undone by prosecutorial misconduct
The most significant national item this week comes from the Death Penalty Information Center. As summarized in coverage published July 27, DPI found that more than 600 capital convictions or death sentences have been overturned, or ended in exoneration, because of prosecutorial misconduct — with racial bias appearing among the documented patterns (Davis Vanguard, July 27, 2026).
That figure lands on top of an already grim baseline: DPIC counts at least 202 people wrongly convicted and sentenced to death in the U.S. who have since been exonerated since 1973 (Death Penalty Information Center).
The reason this matters beyond death row: the conduct DPI is describing — suppressing favorable evidence, propping up testimony the state knew was shaky — is not a capital-case phenomenon. It's the same conduct that shows up in ordinary homicide prosecutions where nobody is watching.
The data on that: The National Registry of Exonerations logged 97 exonerations in 2025, and found official misconduct in at least 70 of them. In homicide cases the concentration is brutal — 40 of the 51 homicide exonerations (78%) were marred by official misconduct (National Registry of Exonerations, 2025 Annual Report).
That 78% figure is the single most useful number to carry into any conversation about wrongful convictions. In murder cases, misconduct isn't the exception. It's the norm among proven wrongful convictions.
2. Michigan: a Wayne County exoneration built on police corruption
The University of Michigan Law School's Michigan Innocence Clinic reports helping exonerate a client, Hill, more than 22 years after a wrongful murder conviction. He was convicted in 2002 of two murders he did not commit — and according to the clinic's account, police corruption contributed to the conviction (Michigan Law).
Two decades. That's roughly the arc we see again and again: the misconduct is discovered long after the trial record has hardened, and only because a clinic or an innocence organization refused to let go.
3. Illinois: police chief indicted on 12 felony misconduct counts; department may be dissolved
In McHenry County, William Copp, 54, the former Holiday Hills police chief, has been charged with 12 counts of official misconduct, a Class 3 felony, according to an indictment filed this month. Copp resigned, and the village is now weighing whether to disband its part-time police department entirely (Shaw Local / Northwest Herald, July 18, 2026).
Small departments with thin oversight are a recurring risk factor. When the chief is the internal affairs function, there is no internal affairs function.
Related, in Alabama: a second Prichard officer, Jihad Hasan Irby, was charged with two counts of first-degree extortion, two counts of bribery, and use of office for personal gain; officer Emanuel Naman Dotch II was served with the same five state warrants (NBC 15 Mobile, July 9, 2026).
4. Maryland: Supreme Court orders a judge removed from the bench
In a decision issued this month, Maryland's high court ordered the removal of Judge Marc Knapp, concluding that removal was the only disposition sufficient to preserve the integrity, independence, and impartiality of the judiciary (Opinion, Maryland Judiciary).
Judicial removal remains rare. For comparison, New York's Commission on Judicial Conduct this spring recommended removing Smithville town justice Jordon R. Lilley (NY Daily Record, April 2, 2026), and separately announced that Kevin E. Fiske, a Stockholm Town Court justice, agreed to leave office and never seek judicial office again (NYS Commission on Judicial Conduct). Note the structural limit: in Texas, for example, the conduct commission cannot itself remove a judge — only a Review Tribunal can (Texas State Commission on Judicial Conduct FAQ).
The patterns underneath all of this
The recurring contributors documented across the exoneration record are official misconduct, eyewitness misidentification, false or coerced confessions, discredited forensic testimony, and incentivized informants. Two of this year's cases show the last two vividly: a Philadelphia judge vacated the convictions of Jermal Shuler, Marc Brittingham, and Rasheed Smith in a 1997 North Philadelphia murder after new forensic evidence discredited expert testimony (The Exoneration Project), and Philadelphia's Conviction Integrity Unit has documented cases resting on false testimony from witnesses who later recanted (Philadelphia DA's Office CIU).
Recantation and suppressed evidence are exactly what our own petition campaigns turn on. In Camden County, New Jersey, Richard Barge's sole eyewitness has recanted and the informants have recanted — add your name here. And in Stephon Downer's case, four witnesses place him away from the scene while the man they name as the shooter has never been charged — sign here. If 78% of proven homicide wrongful convictions involved official misconduct, these files deserve a hearing, not a filing cabinet.
What you can do today
- Report judicial misconduct. New York: the Commission on Judicial Conduct accepts complaints from anyone — litigants, jurors, court staff, incarcerated people — at cjc.ny.gov. Texas: scjc.texas.gov. Kentucky: the Judicial Conduct Commission takes complaints from "any individual or group" at kycourts.gov. Maryland complaints go to the Commission on Judicial Disabilities through the Maryland Judiciary (mdcourts.gov).
- Ask a Conviction Integrity Unit to look at a case. Illinois residents — relevant to the McHenry County indictment — can petition the Illinois Attorney General's CIU, which notes a case need not be "solved" for exoneration to follow (illinoisattorneygeneral.gov). Philadelphia: phillyda.org. Virginia/Maryland/D.C.: Fairfax County's CIU operates in partnership with the Mid-Atlantic Innocence Project (fairfaxcounty.gov).
- Send a case to an innocence organization. The Innocence Project (innocenceproject.org), the Michigan Innocence Clinic (michigan.law.umich.edu), and the Exoneration Project (exonerationproject.org) all take submissions.
- Use the data. The National Registry of Exonerations publishes its full annual reports free (exonerationregistry.org). Cite it when you write your DA, your county commission, or your state legislator.
One signature, one complaint, one letter is small. Twenty-two years is not.