Thomas Costello

Lawyer, Conviction Integrity Unit

[Justice B. @jbernardh]

“I never had the ambition to be something. I had the ambition to do something.” — Walter Cronkite

[OhioInnocenceProject @theOhioInnProj]

Over the last 40 years of imprisonment by the State of #Ohio, Samuel Herring has always insisted upon his innocence. Now an OIP client, #DNA testing is finally being done in cooperation with the Summit County prosecutor that could clear his name.

https://t.co/QoQUzNCnMI

[OhioInnocenceProject @theOhioInnProj]

Coming up at #Tiffin University on Oct. 24 is a program sponsored by the school's chapter of OIP-u featuring OIP client Willie Knighten, Jr. Hear from Willie his story of #wrongfulimprisonment for 12 years and about the interesting paths his life has taken him in since.

[OhioInnocenceProject @theOhioInnProj]

Another #Cleveland man locked up for decades learned this week that the charges that sent him to #prison in 1987 have now been dismissed. Dwayne Brooks had always maintained his #innocence in the case, and a judge threw out his conviction in April.

https://t.co/8pMkNWs7fw

[Thomas Costello @Tcostello75]

Definitely.

[Steven A Drizin @SDrizin]

Mich. Sup. Ct. held that 18-year olds are equally vulnerable to high pressure tactics as "juveniles" and reversed a def's conviction. The Court held that a confession can be invol. even w/o "physical force" or threats. Court distinguished Dassey case. https://t.co/T7aT45kaOr

[OhioInnocenceProject @theOhioInnProj]

When you put a man on trial for his life six times and try to exclude black jurors each time before you are finally shot down by the U.S. #SupremeCourt, you probably shouldn't be a prosecutor. Finally, the man who did that to Curtis Flowers no longer is. https://t.co/TOutXefjSv

[Thomas Costello @Tcostello75]

So good to see my colleague from OU on CBS Saturday Morning @debthompsonphd

[Ben Austen @ben_austen]

Listen to our episode of Some of My Best Friends Are… w @jonathaneig. We talk about Jon researching & writing his amazing new bio of King and the FBI’s war against the civil rights leader. https://t.co/XD5ZT8UFne
@KhalilGMuhammad @pushkinpods Photo of MLK Leonard Freed

[Witness to Innocence @WTIUSA]

Today marks 30 years since Kirk Bloodsworth was exonerated from death row in Maryland. Today we honor him and thank him for all that he has given to the death penalty abolition movement. https://t.co/9P4KwoGjMp

[Thomas Costello @Tcostello75]

@JohnEadsTV @WAFB Congratulations Eads!

[Sister Helen Prejean @helenprejean]

Lamont Hunter has been released from Ohio’s death row after 18 years. After a deputy coroner changed her opinion based on new evidence, it became clear that the death of Hunter’s son was an accident and not murder. Prosecutors offered a time-served plea. https://t.co/Jz3y7SPUfN

[Thomas Costello @Tcostello75]

It is shameful that this continues today. We need to do better. Redemption is possible.

[Campaign for the Fair Sentencing of Youth @theCFSY]

"I used to have a hand in imposing the most severe and draconian penalty that can be imposed against children: life without the possibility of parole. Today, I make the case that no adolescent should ever be sentenced to die in prison." -@preston_shipp https://t.co/mtOydAuiG7

[Thomas Costello @Tcostello75]

Great work, Erin!

[Robert Dunham @RDunhamDP]

Former Ohio death-row prisoner Lamont Hunter, wrongfully convicted of the murder of a 3-year-old boy who died from an accidental fall in 2006, ends case against him with plead to involuntary manslaughter. https://t.co/mWdzBh7zjc @enquirer @kgrasha @innocence #deathpenalty

[Robert Dunham @RDunhamDP]

Cincinnati judge sets $500K bond for ex-death row prisoner Lamont Hunter, whose conviction was vacated after new evidence changed the deputy coroner's opinion on cause of death. https://t.co/MdCGfKTtZq @enquirer @kgrasha @WTIUSA @theOhioInnProj @ohiojpc @OhStopExecution #Ohio

[OhioInnocenceProject @theOhioInnProj]

Slowly, the record on old cases wrongfully classified under the heading "shaken baby syndrome" has become clearer. OIP helped such a client with December's release of Alan Butts. Now the Alaska Innocence Project is building support for one of their cases. https://t.co/y3e59qpErF

[Adam Grant @AdamMGrant]

Bosses who insult and intimidate don't get results. They leave people scarred.

Data: when NBA players have abusive coaches, they play more poorly for the rest of their careers—and commit more technical fouls.

Weak leaders make people weaker. Strong leaders make people stronger.

[Thomas Costello @Tcostello75]

A chance prison bus meeting set two barbers on a long path to success https://t.co/LOVvIgzcuT via @MarshallProj

[OhioInnocenceProject @theOhioInnProj]

Write a book about how you battled and won against #wrongfulconviction? The State of #Florida has banned its current inmates from having access to the story. In a word -- outrageous.
#Amazon #Framed #WilliamMichaelDillon https://t.co/L3ow40gQ2B

[OhioInnocenceProject @theOhioInnProj]

The end of a long and painful journey was reached Thursday in #Kalamazoo, Mich., when 71-year-old Jeff Titus had all charges dropped from a case that put him in prison for the last 21 years, until a judge freed him in February.
#wrongfulconviction https://t.co/ZNIojbtpXD

[The Center for Integrity in Forensic Sciences @cifsjustice]

Alphonso Clark was wrongfully convicted for a shooting death in Michigan in 2005. His trial was tainted by official misconduct, including a prosecutor who gave false information to the jury about the medical examiner’s opinion. Clark was exonerated after 18 years in 2020.