Non-IPNO exonerees

Years transpired between initial arrest and exoneration - 22
Causes of Wrongful Conviction - Prosecutorial/Police Misconduct
Release Date - September 19, 2003            

Calvin Willis was 22 in 1982 when he was wrongfully convicted of the aggravated rape of a ten-year-old girl in Caddo Parish. Based on his poorly prepared attorney's advice - this attorney would later be disbarred for conning other clients out of money - Calvin waived his right to a trial by a jury of his peers. Testing done on Calvin's blood revealed he was type "O", which matched the rapist as well as 50% of the African American population. The results sealed his 1982 conviction, despite the fact that the victim admitted in court that the police influenced her "identification" of Calvin and that she had never actually identified him. Physical evidence suggested he was innocent, including hair found at the crime scene that did not match Calvin and a pair of size 40 boxer shorts deposited by the rapist. Because of this, Janet Gregory, who was a paralegal for one of Calvin's attorneys, committed herself to getting him out of prison in 1985. Janet was central in getting the national Innocence Project to sign on to the case in 1999, and she found much of the money to pay for the DNA testing in 2003 that showed Calvin was not the rapist. Calvin was released on September

Calvin Will is also metioned on the Innocence Project website

Further Reading:
Corsello, Andrew, "The Wronged Man." GQ November 2004.

Reckdahl, Katy, "A Crusade Pays Off: Calvin Willis is Exonerated and Janet Gregory has Reason to Celebrate." The Gambit [New Orleans]. 30 September 2003. 

Vollen, Lola and Dave Eggers, "Surviving Justice: America's Wrongfully Convicted and Exonerated." San Francisco: McSweeney's. 2005: p 129-154.