The Forensic Justice Project just filed its brief as amicus curiae in the Ninth Circuit appeal of the Frank Gable case – a notorious wrongful conviction case in Oregon. Mr. Gable was convicted in the January 1989 stabbing death of Michael Francke, Director of the Oregon Department of Corrections. Mr. Gable’s attorneys from the Federal Public Defenders office, Nell Brown and Mark Ahlemeyer, introduced compelling new evidence establishing his innocence.
Last April, a federal district court in Oregon found that Mr. Gable had succeeded in his claim of “actual innocence,” citing eight material witnesses who had recanted their testimony against Mr. Gable. The court found a record of improper interrogation tactics, including flawed polygraphs that were used to elicit false testimony to convict.
On June 28, Mr. Gable walked out of prison as a free man. But the Department of Justice appealed the finding of innocence to the Ninth Circuit. In the Ninth Circuit appeal, FJP stepped in to file a brief as amicus curiae (“friend of the court”). FJP’s brief discusses the presumption of innocence before conviction, what it takes to prove “actual innocence” post-conviction, and the social science that tells us that interrogation tactics like the ones used in Mr. Gable’s case have a dangerous tendency to produce false testimony.
Find FJP’s brief here: