Innocence Project works to improve criminal justice system

Evan Zimmerman’s nightmare — one that left him wrongfully convicted of his ex-girlfriend’s murder — ended abruptly in a Dodge County courtroom last month.

But just as it came to a close, a drive picked up steam to improve the criminal justice system to prevent future Wisconsin cases like Zimmerman’s.

That’s becoming a theme in cases handled by the Wisconsin Innocence Project at the Law School: Free wrongly convicted individuals, but then work to ensure the system is fixed to prevent others from falling victim to future abuses.

Zimmerman, a former police officer, was convicted of strangling his former girlfriend Kathleen Thompson in Eau Claire in 2000 and was sentenced to life in prison. He served three and a half years.

Zimmerman appealed with the help of the Wisconsin Innocence Project and won a new trial. On April 29, prosecutors dropped charges against Zimmerman five days into the re-trial, saying they did not have the evidence to make their case stick.

Zimmerman’s case led the Wisconsin Innocence Project to call for a state law requiring the recording of police interrogations of criminal suspects.

Because Zimmerman’s statements to police after his arrest were not recorded, his words were misinterpreted by police and prosecutors bent on obtaining a conviction — even though no DNA evidence pointed to Zimmerman.

State Rep. Mark Gundrum (R-New Berlin) says he plans to introduce legislation that would encourage police to record interrogations and pay for some of the cost.

Zimmerman was the third individual cleared by the Wisconsin Innocence Project.

Twelve law students helped in the effort, which was led in court by La Crosse lawyer Keith Belzer, who was appointed by the State Public Defender’s Office, at the request of the Wisconsin Innocence Project.