The Illinois Innocence Project at the University of Illinois Springfield celebrated 15 years of service Saturday evening.
Exonerating 9 Illinois citizens who have been wrongly convicted of crimes,the organization seeks to help more innocent people who have been wrongly convicted in the justice system.
The most recent exoneree is a Champaign native, Teshome Campbell who spent 18 years behind bars for 1st degree murder, a crime he had no involvement with.
"When I saw the individuals walk across the stage in Chicago each of whom was innocent pick up a flower and go before the cameras and say if it wasn't for the Innocence Project I would have been killed by the State of Texas, the State of Florida, the State of Illinois 3, 4, 5 years ago if it weren't for that. It just can't help but get to you," said Larry Golden, founding director of the Illinois Innocence Project.
The story was reported by WAND-TV 17 on April 30, 2016.
Watch the story online.
