Northwestern University has become famous for its journalism class in the Innocence Project, where students research old crimes. Their work actually led to a moratorium on the death penalty in Illinois when they showed a significant number of inmates on death row were actually innocent of the crimes they had committed. Now prosecutors want to know what the students have been doing:
But as the Medill Innocence Project is raising concerns about another case, that of a man convicted in a murder 31 years ago, a hearing has been scheduled next month in Cook County Circuit Court on an unusual request: Local prosecutors have subpoenaed the grades, grading criteria, class syllabus, expense reports and e-mail messages of the journalism students themselves.
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Among the issues the prosecutors need to understand better, a spokeswoman said, is whether students believed they would receive better grades if witnesses they interviewed provided evidence to exonerate Mr. McKinney.
Wait a minute…let me get this straight – prosecutors are saying that they wonder if the students get better grades if they find evidence of innocence? The professor denies this and is fighting the subpoenas but let me ask – WTF does this have to do with the guilt or innocence of the defendant? That is determined in the court of law. How is this just not blantant harassment and intimidation?