The politely "in your face" advent of forensic DNA evidence analysis has led to a veritable landslide of overturned criminal convictions throughout the American justice system. It has liberated a burgeoning body of innocent victims who have spent years rotting in a cage unjustly (in the name of justice), while the actual perpetrators often remain free to strike again.

For instance, DNA evidence is reported to have conclusively proven that one-third of prisoners convicted of rape are innocent. Still, the DNA fix, while a watershed technological development, is extremely limited in its scope when it comes to redressing the rampant blight of wrongful convictions. This is due to the unfortunate fact that countless wrongful conviction allegations do not involve DNA, but must rely upon more elusive types of evidence before the courts can take such assertions seriously.

Nonetheless, according to "Justice: Denied," a magazine dedicated to addressing the problem, "For every seven prisoners executed since 1977, another condemned prisoner was released due to innocence. Illinois executed 12 men, but another 12 were later freed by proof of innocence."

"The Moratorium Campaign," a New Orleans, Louisiana based group working toward the immediate halt of all executions, says that "the system is clearly broken," and cites a staggering 96 individuals who have collectively forfeited an appalling 761 years of their lives languishing on death row before being exonerated.

Justice: Denied
The problem of being inequitably convicted of a crime has swelled to virtually epidemic proportions, prompting the creation of numerous organizations dedicated to righting the wrongful conviction and exonerating the erroneously condemned. One of the most prominent, is "Justice: Denied" (www.justicedenied.org). A selfless group of committed crusaders marshaling the goodwill of concerned volunteers, Justice: Denied produces a magazine to support victims and raise awareness of wrongful convictions.

It also works within the criminal justice system advocating for the wrongfully convicted, and has given hope to thousands of illegitimate prisoners as it labors to secure their release. The enterprise has two goals, the most imperative being to fund the search for truth in these troubling cases. It is a costly undertaking that necessitates the retaining of expensive legal professionals. And while many sympathetic lawyers have passionately embraced the cause and are willing to work pro-bono, they still incur related expenses that can be extremely prohibitive and must be fairly compensated.

Additionally, Justice: Denied strives to educate the public about the current state of the criminal justice system. With the aim of reforming it so that it is more accurate in its investigations, their success in this arena would ultimately reduce the likelihood of future illicit convictions. Each month the organization illustrates new cases, provides the latest relevant information and summarizes significant trends in the justice system.

Rubin "Hurricane" Carter and other Cases in Point
Among the most celebrated cases of wrongful conviction is the solemn odyssey of middleweight boxing contender, Rubin "Hurricane" Carter. Convicted of a triple homicide in Paterson, New Jersey in 1967, the African-American was sentenced to life in prison by an all-white jury, and barely escaped the death penalty.

While imprisoned Carter wrote and published "The Sixteenth Round, From No 1 Contender to #45472." The riveting autobiography was discovered by contemporary music icon Bob Dylan, who was so deeply moved by Carter's story that he wrote and released a chronicle of the misdeed entitled, "Hurricane." The esoteric tune graced the offerings of Dylan's "Blood on the Tracks" LP, and graphically profiled the breach of justice inflicted upon the fighter. Its momentum helped ignite a firestorm of public outrage and support for Carter that is said to have been instrumental in winning his freedom.

After a lengthy and cumbersome struggle, the embattled boxer was finally set free by a federal judge in 1985 through a writ of habeas corpus. Habeas corpus is a legal mechanism whereby state prisoners can challenge the validity of their convictions and sentences by petitioning Federal court. Its function is not to determine a prisoner's guilt or innocence, but whether a prisoner has been stripped of his liberty lawfully, by due process.

The judge, H. Lee Sarokin, overturned the conviction after reviewing a reportedly scandalous record alleged to include perjury, racism, witness tampering, overlooked or concealed evidence and the falsification of documents. Sarokin ruled that Carter had in fact been denied due process, issued a disparaging review of the Hurricane's two earlier convictions and vindicated him.

Carter's case, while achieving celebrity status, is sadly typical of innumerable erroneously condemned, forgotten victims of imperfect men working through an imperfect system in an imperfect world. They agonize alone and helpless in abject anonymity, like soulless statistics devoured by a monstrous threshing machine with very sharp teeth. And sadly, our prison system, as humane as it is compared to some, still has a hard core demoralizing effect that unceremoniously sucks the life from its captives and grinds even its guilty "guests" into mere sub-human shadows of what they were before incarceration.

Justice: Denied portrays many of their shocking stories such as the unsettling account of Anthony Faison who was wrongfully convicted of a cab driver's 1987 murder. According to their web site, Faison pounded out a whopping 62,000 letters over 12 years in a desperate attempt to find someone who could uncover the truth that would set him and his friend, Charles Shepard, also convicted as an accomplice, free. Eventually his dogged persistence paid off and previously disregarded fingerprint evidence that long lay dormant, led to the actual murderer and absolved the two innocent men.

After spending two decades in an isolation cell just big enough for a cot and a toilet, former prisoner Nicholas Yarris was the first death row inmate to be exonerated by DNA evidence in Pennsylvania. A long battle to prove he was innocent of the rape and murder of a suburban Philadelphia woman resulted in his conviction being overturned.

Celebrating his new-found freedom, Yarris described life on death row as being characterized by a constant murmur from prisoners jammed into close quarters - a sound he dubbed: "the silence of madness." And the critics wonder, can the system be brought up on felony theft charges for stealing 20 years from the only life Yarris has to live?

The incredible journey of Hector Gonzalez could make him this year's "poster boy for injustice personified." Wrongly prosecuted, convicted and imprisoned for more than six years as a murderer, DNA testing proved that Gonzalez was a 'Good Samaritan" and not a killer. In November, 1995, Gonzalez was at a New York Nightclub when gang members attacked and killed a man they thought had slighted them. Instead of looking the other way, Mr. Gonzalez helped two people hurt during the attack causing spots of their blood to smear on his pants. The blood stains were characterized by prosecutors as coming from the victim, implicating him in the murder and ultimately resulting in his incarceration.

Critical Challenge to Justice System
The list is as endless as it is disgraceful, presenting a critical and compelling challenge to those at the helm of the criminal justice system. And while the majority of judges are appalled at the thought of depriving an innocent man or woman of their freedom, they are often caught between a rock and a hard place.

Bombarded daily with the most vulgar and loathsome side of humanity, every jurist knows that the majority of criminals play by their own rules and leverage any opportunity to their advantage. Unfortunately, alibis are very marketable commodities under the right circumstances, making the quest for truth that much more problematic, yet compounding the responsibility of judges and juries to uncover it.

Advocates for the wrongfully convicted contend that too many who have not done the crime are doing the time and falling through the cracks of a fractured, overburdened complex that processes offenders like McDonald's does hamburgers. And though drive through arraignments might not be far off, critics both inside and outside the justice machine view the problem as severe enough to warrant the creation of some sort of safety net allowing those who have no business behind bars to prove it.

The Innocence Project
Among them are celebrated hard-ball attorneys Peter Neufeld and Barry Scheck (of O.J. Simpson and nanny Louise Woodward fame), who have not just cursed the darkness, but raised a heartening torch of hope as well. In 1988 the veteran courtroom brawlers became involved in studying and litigating issues concerning the use of forensic DNA testing. Their work resulted in the creation of "The Innocence Project" at the Benjamin N. Cardozo School of Law in 1992.

The non-profit legal clinic handles cases where post conviction DNA testing of evidence can yield conclusive proof of innocence. As a clinic, students are able to handle the case work while supervised by a team of attorneys and clinic staff. Most of their clients include the poor, forgotten underside of humanity, whose options in life were threadbare to begin with, and quickly exhausted all of their legal avenues for relief. Applicants go through an extensive screening process to determine whether or not DNA testing of evidence could prove their claims of innocence. And, as might be expected, the Innocence Project's waiting list is bursting at the seams with thousands of desperate hopefuls currently awaiting evaluation of their cases.

According to their web site, (www.innocenceproject.org), the Innocence Project has evolved beyond a "court of last resort" for inmates who have expended their appeals and drained their resources. Recognizing the crucial need to address the problem at an evidentiary level apart from forensic DNA analysis, the Project is now exploring new venues to serve justice for those who are unjustly serving time. "As forerunners in the field of wrongful convictions," they explain, "we are now helping to organize "The Innocence Network." The Innocence Network is, "...a group of law schools, journalism schools, and public defender offices across the country that assists inmates trying to prove their innocence whether or not the cases involve biological evidence which can be subjected to DNA testing.

We consult with legislators and law enforcement officials on the state, local, and federal level, conduct research and training, produce scholarship, and propose a wide range of remedies to prevent wrongful convictions while continuing our work to free innocent inmates through the use of post conviction DNA testing."

At this writing, the Project has played a critical role in nearly 150 overturned convictions, some of which are epitomized in Neufeld and Scheck's book, "Actual Innocence: Five Days to Execution and other Dispatches from the Wrongly Convicted." A sobering chronicle of remarkably powerful stories about ordinary people locked up for crimes they did not commit, the four year-old book is an anthology of injustices made right against daunting odds.

"The Innocents"
More recently, Scheck and Neufeld have thrown their support behind, "The Innocents," a deeply human, disturbing photographic collection that highlights ex-offenders who were exonerated through DNA testing and then released after unjustly serving time. Created by photographer, Taryn Simon, Neufeld and Scheck provide the publication's forward as well as a brief commentary on each case. With the book's subjects enduring prison sentences that ranged from life to death, Simon's artistry puts a human face to inequity while concurrently reflecting the nobility of the human spirit and organic value of life and freedom.

Laurie Lee Kellogg's Story
Triumphing through the fires of injustice and emerging with spirit unscathed and dignity intact, while formidable, has become almost routine for Laurie Lee Kellogg. The attractive, 39 year-old mother of two has spent the last 12 years incarcerated at the Bedford Hills Correctional Facility, near New York City, where she is doing 25 years to life for offenses related to the murder of her late husband, Bruce. A murder she forcefully insists that she had nothing to do with.

Her high-profile saga, which spawned a media frenzy as it unfolded, was memorialized by ABC in its 1994 made-for-TV adaptation of Kellogg's lingering odyssey, "Lies of the Heart," featuring "Beverly Hills 90210" star, Jenny Garth. And while ABC crafted a compelling, consummate thriller, according to sources close to Kellogg its dramatic license was recklessly excessive, bending reality into a marketable shocker at the expense of truth.

Still, Kellogg's marathon perseverance has attracted a conscientious band of loyal crusaders who are striving to prove her innocence and win her a new trial. Her benefactors include a mixed bag of attorneys, a 28-year NYPD veteran who is now a successful private investigator and a former NYS Corrections Officer, Andy De Mers. De Mers, who is spearheading the imposing effort, first became acquainted with Kellogg several years ago when he was assigned to her cell block.

With no illusions about the caliber of the company he kept, the now 53 year-old retired corrections officer, spent some 7 years getting to really know the woman as he observed her in the most desperate circumstances imaginable.

"I am thoroughly convinced that Laurie is not guilty of this crime or of any other crime," De Mers contends. "She is and always has been a role model inmate with unimpeachable morals and she lives to help others in need." Pretty heady stuff for a guy who spent the bulk of his career mixing it up with a crowd where you are more likely to find Elvis than an echo of morality.

Laurie's case is both extreme and complicated. According to reports, her earliest years were marked by tragedy and by no means something you would wish for your own children. As a child, Laurie was sexually abused repeatedly by her biological father and others, creating deep, oppressive wounds. Their momentum drove her to forage through life in search of love, acceptance and refuge with a desperation that surged into young adulthood.

Around 1980, the 16 year-old teenager fell in love, and unbelievably, developed an intimate, romantic relationship with a deeply disturbed 33 year-old adult, Bruce Kellogg. Kellogg by all appearances seemed to be an independent, good looking, mature man of means. He was a strapping 6 foot, two hundred-plus pound hunk with a strong work ethic who seemed to offer the naive teen the affirmation and safety she craved. He swept her off her feet and offered to take her away from her miserable existence to a life filled with promise, and it wasn't long before they were sharing a home.

However, things were not what they seemed, and what began as a dream come true quickly dissolved into a ghastly, decade long nightmare, four years of which the couple was legally married. Laurie never knew what hit her until it was much too late to duck.

Kellogg's savagery was unfathomable and he quickly laid down the law of the jungle, repeatedly brutalizing Laurie; physically, sexually and psychologically. The unthinkable became her constant companion as she endured a relentless battery of incomprehensible degradation characterized by every imaginable form of humiliating abuse and debasing cruelty. The severity of her repeated beatings caused Laurie to sustain extensive, and often serious injuries that included multiple fractures.

She even suffered miscarriages due to intentional attacks while pregnant, (causing her physician to assert that her baby was safer outside of her body than inside), and the injuries to her face were so critical that she required reconstructive surgery on her jaw. In addition, Laurie attributes Kellogg's violent assaults to a broken collar bone, neck injuries and fractured skull along with concussions and massive, permanent hearing loss (today she is obliged to use hearing aids in each ear to communicate).

Unfortunately, the terror did not stop there. Kellogg is also reported to have raped and sodomized Laurie, and went as far as to force a loaded revolver into her vagina and mouth. Furthermore, sources recount that he threatened to kill her several times (particularly if she ever attempted to leave him and/or take the children), and vowed to kill their biological children on various occasions as well. He also promised to kill her parents, a warning Laurie took very seriously since, she said, "He never made an idle threat."

Additionally, he is alleged to have abused both of his kids from a previous marriage, as well as the children he had with Laurie. And in a tragic turn of poetic injustice, it was Kellogg's reputed perverse obsessions that led up to his 1991 murder, with the very gun he used to violate his wife.
In spite of it all, Laurie was deeply in love with her husband, solemnly honored her vows and fearfully concealed the abuse she suffered at his hands.

She had a spotless reputation in her suburban community and consequently was relied upon by many parents to provide child care for their young children. She was devastated and horrified when she learned that some of the neighborhood kids had accused her husband of sexually molesting them. Wanting to confront Kellogg and hopefully hear him deny the abhorrent allegations, she and three acquaintances drove to his hunting cabin where he was spending the weekend.

Among her traveling companions were Nicole Pappas, one of Kellogg's alleged victims and her boyfriend, Denver McDowell. According to Laurie, upon arriving at the cabin, McDowell and Pappas (who are said to have been under the influence of hallucinogens at the time), jumped out of the vehicle, ran into the cabin and McDowell, with Pappas at his side, shot Kellogg to death as he slept.

The murder was committed with one of Kellogg's guns which Laurie says McDowell stole from their home. She was arrested and subsequently incarcerated the following night for the murder of her husband, the prosecution maintaining that she coerced McDowell to commit the crime through sexual favors.

However, her case was anything but a slam dunk for the prosecution and while she was brought up on multiple charges, nearly all of them were dismissed. Mary Ann Di Bari, a veteran criminal defense attorney who specializes in post conviction cases has, with the approval of Laurie's current lawyer, recently completed a painstaking legal analysis of the entire trial record, pro-bono.

Her evaluation is not surprising to those in Laurie's corner. According to Di Bari, "There was serious court error in Laurie's trial. The inconsistencies were glaring and there was also perjury." "I don't like to bad mouth other attorneys," she admitted, "but the one she had at trial was inexperienced and the defense was cloudy. It didn't stick to the facts and almost gave her a reason to kill the man."

De Mers concurs, "I read some of the court transcripts," he declared." Laurie's attorney at the time admitted during closing arguments that he did not do certain things that he should have, and did certain things that he shouldn't have because he was inexperienced and learned them too late. This was also his first murder case.

According to Laurie's mother, the judge had to keep asking the (apparently timid) defense counselor to speak up. I understand that the jury foreman even made a comment to the media stating about Laurie that, "well, she's been locked up for nearly a year already anyway, so she must be guilty of something.'" There have also been reports suggesting that Bruce Kellogg's family was politically connected at the local level, and that election year considerations may have displaced justice to help franchise certain NYC power-brokers another term in office.

Laurie's best legal hope now lies in CPL 440.10, a New York State statutory mechanism allowing those alleging that they were illegitimately convicted to go outside the record (unlike appeals), and gather evidence of an unfair trial. "So much of her case is outside the record," Di Bari explains, "things that never had the opportunity to see the light of day but should have."

While Di Bari is convinced of Laurie's innocence and would like to take on the case, a 440.10 is an exhausting venture involving considerable legwork that puts life on hold for a long time. She has recently been diagnosed with cancer and suffers from related complications. Thus, the kindhearted lawyer, (no it is not a misprint), while possessing the legal dexterity and passion to take Laurie's case down to the bone, is physically unable to invest the substantial time and energy required to undertake the rigorous procedure. "This case cries out for a new trial that is fair and factual," she asserts. "Laurie has courage beyond anything and I believe in her and her case absolutely." She isn't alone.

Though a bit less vehement at this point, Gil Alba, a prominent, seasoned and high profile private investigator who was also vested in the NYPD and the FBI's Violent Crime Task Force, has volunteered his time and energy to evaluate the merits of Laurie's claims. Alba is no rookie. He is a power operator whose stature and accomplishments have drawn many of the nation's leading news organizations to him, including: CNN.com, Fox News, MSNBC, CBS and The O'Reilly Factor. He took a hard look at the case primarily due to De Mers' stubborn certainty that there was substance to Laurie's story.

Gil Alba, PI

Alba's rationale was that if an accomplished, tenured corrections officer who spent years with Laurie observing her at her worst was persuaded, then her claims were worth reviewing. His preliminary objective was to determine whether or not Laurie was reliable. "Why would I help someone if they are not trustworthy and not truthful," he explained. After discussions with some of the key players connected to the case and interviews with Laurie herself, though still reserving judgment about certain related facts, he is convinced that she is on the up and up, her case is credible and he agreed to do what he could pro-bono to help vindicate her.

However, due to the disproportionate expense of the extensive leg work required to make her case, it is slow going for all who want to help. And though the legal dynamics of Laurie's litigation are promising and straight forward, the sheer rigors are still considerable. Both Alba and Di Bari estimate that winning her freedom, while extremely likely, could run anywhere from 50 to 100 thousand dollars due to the scope the investigation must assume to document the facts for the court. A small price to pay for justice and freedom if you can find someone who can afford it.

The Case of Kris Dunn
Because the necessary legal mechanism to secure her a new trial remains intact, the biggest impasse for Laurie Lee Kellogg is financial. Christopher (Kris) Dunn is not as fortunate. His case is more tangled and will most likely require a great deal of legal wrangling to unsnarl if even possible. While powerful new evidence with the potential to secure Dunn a new trial and exonerate him has recently emerged thanks to his relentless determination, he has already exhausted all his post conviction remedies. And short of a miracle, Dunn will serve another man's sentence for a crime that he vehemently vows he did not commit.

An African-American man who grew up on the down side of St. Louis, Missouri, Kris Dunn was a mere 18 years-old when Recco Rogers was shot and killed two blocks from his house just after midnight on May 19, 1990. Kris was arrested and charged with the 14 year-old youth's murder within two hours of the crime, and a public defender was appointed to represent him.

According to various sources, Dunn's representation at the trial level bordered on unabashed incompetence. They maintain that his public defender failed to use witnesses, phone records, crime scene analysis and forensic testing which could have established his innocence. And because the character of the initial litigation establishes the trial record, thus significantly defining the appellant's post conviction options, Dunn's potential recourse has been irreparably and gravely compromised.

The reported injustices of his saga were so blatant that they captured the attention of Justice: Denied which investigated and recounted his erroneous conviction in their magazine. Kira Caywood is the writer who handled Dunn's account. "I chose Christopher Dunn's story because he has a convincing case for innocence," she recalled. "His alibi, the lack of evidence against him, the fact that the only two witnesses against him avoided jail time because of their testimony and the lack of police investigation in the case all captured my interest. His public defender failed to call his witnesses, she did not cross examine the state witnesses and did not demand evidence testing.

Further, when I wrote to Christopher, he answered all my questions with clarity and consistency. He invited me to express any further questions or doubt I might have, and sent me police reports, autopsy reports, court documents, transcripts and affidavits to support his assertion of innocence. I am convinced that he was wrongfully convicted, and would not have written his story and established a web site for him otherwise."

According to Caywood's article, (and Dunn's statements), Kris spent most of the evening of the murder in the company of seven people, including his mother and three siblings. And at the time of the shooting, he was with them inside his home, where he stayed until the police arrived to arrest him at 2:00 a.m. In addition to these seven people whose testimonies could have provided alibis for him, Caywood maintains that phone records show a call Chris made to a friend at a local hospital that lasted throughout the time of the murder.

Such a compelling body of evidence with the burden of proof resting upon the prosecution beg the question, how could Kris be convicted with such a strong alibi? According to Caywood, "It is simple -none of his witnesses were ever notified or called to testify. His court-appointed attorney told any inquiring witnesses that their testimonies were not needed."

The facts, as recounted by Kris' supporters, read like the script from a heartrending, Hollywood B-movie, painting a hapless portrait of a disposable kid from the ghetto who makes the world a better place by not being in it. His guilt or innocence was just a bothersome, insignificant detail like a speck in the eye of justice. And according to Kris' web site, (www.christopherdunn.org), subsequently created and maintained by Caywood, Kris was convicted solely on the testimony of two State witnesses.

Both witnesses were known gang members, and one cut a deal to receive parole instead of prison time in exchange for his testimony. Since then, Kris has obtained signed affidavits from witnesses claiming to have heard the State witnesses (whose testimony put him in prison), confessing that Kris did not commit the murder.

In addition, it is also reported that Rogers, a known gang member, had shot someone from a rival gang the day before. And while his victim's wounds were not life-threatening, the incident does make retaliation a probable motive for the murder. Kris' defenders say that this crucial element was never explored by his attorney.

At the time of the homicide, Kris said he was in the company of several people blocks away from the crime scene who could have accounted for his whereabouts. His lawyer reportedly did not make use of these alibis in court either, and is said to have made little effort to contact the hospitalized friend he was on the phone with at the time of the murder, obtaining neither telephone records, nor the testimony of the nurses who initially took his call.

Furthermore, the victim's older brother, Duane Rogers, not only witnessed the crime, but has been quoted corroborating Kris' innocence and expressing a willingness to testify on his behalf. Presently he is unable to be located, but at the time of the murder when he was available, he was not called to alibi the defendant.

Additionally, those in Dunn's corner maintain that there was no substantive physical evidence actually linking Kris to the crime. For example, at Kris' trial, police produced a gun they claimed was the murder weapon. However, according to documents, more than one type of weapon could have been used in the shooting. Dunn emphatically denied that the gun was his and prosecutors could not prove any connection between him and the firearm.

Sources close to Kris feel that weapon was not produced for evidentiary purposes, but rather to intensify the jury's emotions, a time-tested court room power-play. No ballistics tests were conducted, and the bullets that killed the victim were too fragmented to be matched to the gun. In addition, a tee-shirt, which the prosecution said Dunn was wearing during the shooting, was never tested for gun residue which should have been detectable.

Kris' defense is said to have made no objection and he was convicted as a lone gunman firing three times. However, reports indicate that the crime scene was littered with many more bullet casings and supporters say there are witnesses who claim to have heard more than three shots.

Recently, Christopher Dunn says, he has obtained still more evidence that proves he is innocent of Recco Rogers' murder. The victim's autopsy records show that the killing shot could not have possibly been fired from where witnesses claimed the killer, whom they identified as Kris, stood. Witnesses reportedly placed the killer in a standing position and shooting from Roger's right front side, 13 feet from the seated victim. However, the killing bullet entered the lower back left side of the victim's head, traveling upward to rest in the upper right brain.

Additionally, Kris says that he has located three witnesses that were never contacted by his defense attorney. Another new witness is willing to testify on Dunn's behalf, and has written and signed an affidavit in support of Kris' innocence. Christopher also now possesses two audio tape transcripts that clearly contradict two police report statements given by witnesses.

Elizabeth Michael and her husband Jesse began corresponding with Kris some eleven years ago. The couple, who live in North Carolina, used their spare time to reach out to him hoping to be of encouragement. As they got to know each other, Kris recounted his unsettling story to the concerned pair.

The Michaels were cautious at first, perhaps even a bit dubious, but they listened and as time passed, became convinced that a horrible miscarriage of justice had been visited upon their new friend. And as ironic as it may be, their relationship has grown so deep over the years, that the Michaels, a white Southern couple, now consider themselves as Kris' adoptive parents, a sentiment that Dunn, an African-American, embraces wholeheartedly.

"We are Christopher's adoptive Mama and Pops," they declare, "and we will be eternally grateful to anyone who offers assistance to him. We believe that if you look into this case, you will agree that the wrong man is in prison suffering a life that he does not deserve."

While Kris continues to pursue his freedom and vindication, he leads a disciplined, productive life, using his time as constructively as possible given the extreme circumstances he finds himself in. He participates in programs at the prison, reads his Bible, studies law and helps other inmates with their cases. He has begun two outreaches through the Internet, one that the Michaels direct called the "Pen Pal Connection," joins people who are willing to correspond with prisoners, and inmates who also desire to write.

The second is a youth outreach called L.A.S.T.C.H.A.N.C.E. operated by a Lee Gaylord. L.A.S.T.C.H.A.N.C.E. enables Kris to correspond with troubled youth who write to him. In addition to "Justice Denied" Magazine, his case story has been published in a book called "Prison Poetry and Untold Stories" by Leonna Abraham-Brandao.

Dunn has lost all his appeals at the state level, and attempted a Federal habeas corpus action on his own, which was a disastrous, hand-written exercise in futility. Unlike Hurricane Carter, Dunn did not have a musical icon with a widely popular song on his team generating swells of public support, much less a skilled lawyer to duke it out in court for him.

However, what he does have in common with the Hurricane, is that he is a determined fighter who does not give up easily! And if does go down, he will go down swinging, not only for his own vindication, but for truth and justice.

His state appellate lawyer, Mr. Craig Johnston, whose post conviction efforts were restricted to the confines of the existing record, lamented, "Short of a smoking gun, I don't see a lot of hope for Kris, I would think his opportunity to litigate is gone. He was a nice guy and I liked him. With some clients you get the feeling that they will say anything to get off, but with Kris I never sensed that."

The Strength of Faith
Besides sharing their wrongful convictions, Laurie Kellogg and Kris Dunn also share a love for Jesus Christ, and are quick to admit that personal faith in God has been their key to triumphing through lives where the unthinkable has become routine. And while skeptics may be quick to impugn the sincerity of their "jailhouse conversions," noting that it is common practice for prisoners to try and "pray their way out of prison," both have passed the test of time.

Kellogg was admittedly a backslidden believer having given her life to the Lord a year before she met Bruce Kellogg at age 16, and did not regain her spiritual bearings until sometime afterwards.

Andy De Mers, in reflecting upon Laurie's conduct in prison recalled, "Laurie was not just a devout Christian woman, but also a role model inmate. I have known this woman very well for seven years. I saw and spoke to her nearly every night, and sometimes during the day. In the jail, I was also a Fire and Safety officer on my tour as well as a correction officer.

Laurie worked for the Fire and Safety office. Her boss was my colleague and senior Fire and Safety officer. Thus, I occasionally worked with this woman. There is no way that this person is guilty of any crime not to mention the murder of a human being or coercing anyone else into performing such an ugly task. Of course, this is merely my opinion of the women having known her, having listened to her and observed her over the years."

Dunn came to prison fresh off the streets and the Michaels' kindness was instrumental in leading him to Christ. Since then he has stayed true to his God in the face of overwhelming adversity and continued disappointment. In a recent letter to Beth Michael he reassured his adoptive mother of his continued fidelity to the faith. "Yes Mama," he wrote, "I'm still standing strong and God has given me the strength of His might to continue to carry on. I trust Him, and I know that Jesus is walking beside me. I can feel His presence, I can feel His Spirit. God will provide a way only if we are willing to follow Him, and I am willing to give my life to Him."

"Over the 11 years Jesse and I have been with Kris, we have seen him go through many disappointments," Beth Michael admitted. "Many different people have come into his life with promises and new hope only to disappear again. Kris gets discouraged, even times of depression, sometimes ready to give up and to never write anyone again. But through it all, he has never turned from God or accused God. Today he is growing stronger than ever in faith towards the Lord Jesus."

In a perfect world justice is not blind, but all seeing. That is another world, another path, another life. For now, our adversarial system, while deeply flawed, overburdened, under-financed, and frequently politicized is among the most equitable and virtuous to embellish the pages of history.

The Honorable Robert Alexander, a 20 year veteran of the criminal justice system presently mans the bench in Corfu, New York. Alexander recently found himself in the national spotlight when interviewed for Dr. James Dobson's Focus on the Family radio special about notorious Son of Sam serial killer, David Berkowitz. Alexander dealt with Berkowitz extensively while a counselor at Attica State Prison many years ago and in addition to knowing the law, scrutinizes human nature from a multifaceted vantage point as a tenured counselor, sitting judge and ordained clergyman.

The insightful jurist observed, "Are there people who are convicted innocently - absolutely! There are also people that have committed crimes who go free and people who have never been caught too." Judge Alexander defends the criminal justice system urging critics to keep their perspective intact while stressing that the wrongfully convicted are a comparatively small percentage of the whole.

However, he has no illusions about the gross injustice of anyone doing the time when they have not done the crime, and he is quick to bring down the gavel and pass sentence. "Even 1/100 of a percent," he decrees, "is too much."

Rick Kern
The Word News
Christian News Buffalo, NY
Reprinted with Permission