Wrongfully Convicted & Exonerated
Sunday, April 19
Start Time: 3:30 PM
The Bookstore will host a post-film reception and DVD/book-signing following the documentary "The Trials of Darryl Hunt" (free screening at 1 p.m. in Love Auditorium). Darryl Hunt and his lawyer Mark Rabil will be present for Q&A and to sign copies of the documentary DVD. Kirk Bloodsworth, another exoneratee, will sign copies of Bloodsworth, the account of his conviction and exoneration.
The complete schedule of events is as follows:
Sunday, April 19th
1:00 p.m. - Free screening of the documentary "The Trials of Darryl Hunt" (Love Auditorium)
3:30 p.m. - Post-film reception and DVD/Book-signing with Darryl Hunt and Kirk Bloodsworth (Colgate Bookstore)
Monday, April 20th
4:30 p.m. - Panel discussion with exonerees Kirk Bloodsworth, Darryl Hunt, and lawyers Mark Rabil and Larry Golden (Persson Hall Auditorium)
Tuesday, April 21st
11:30 a.m. - Women's Studies Brown Bag on "The Impact of Incarceration on Families" with Darryl Hunt, Mark Rabil, and Kirk Bloodsworth (Women's Studies Lounge, East Hall)
4:30 p.m. - "Race, Wrongful Conviction, and Exoneration" lecture by Earl Smith, PhD, Arnold F. Sio visiting professor of diversity and community at Colgate University (Persson Hall Auditorium)
About Darryl Hunt: In 1984, Darryl Hunt was wrongfully convicted with the rape and murder of a Winstom-Salem newspaper copy editor Deborah Sykes. Based on an identification from a fomer Klan member, 19-year old Darryl Hunt was charged and convicted, and sentenced to life in prison. In 1994, DNA evidence cleared Hunt, but he would spend another 10 years in prison before being finally released in 2004. He has forgiven all those responsible for the nearly twenty years he spent in prison.
Click here for more information about the Darryl Hunt Project for Freedom and Justice.
About Kirk Bloodsworth: In 1985, honorably discharged former Marine Kirk Bloodsworth was convicted for the 1894 sexual assault, rape, and first-degree premeditated murder of a nine-year old girl. He was sentenced to death.
He spent almost nine years in prison, including two on death row, before DNA evidence lad to his 1993 release from prison and pardon.
Bloodsworth was the first American sentenced to death row who was exonerated by DNA fingerprinting.
Click here for more information about The Justice Project.
Mark Rabil is a 1980 graduate of the University of North Carolina School of Law. In 1984 he was court-appointed to assist in representing Darryl Hunt. He continued to represent Hunt for more than 20 years through numerous trials, appeals, and eventually the exoneration and pardon process.
Lawrence W. Golden, a practicing attorney for the past 40 years, was the 2008 President of the Oneida County Bar Association, and co-chair of a series of events last year creating public awareness about wrongful convictions. The primary event, a 5 day program entitled the Art of Innocence, included 3 guest exonerees and 2 film producers. He is also a former president of Family Services of the Mohawk Valley, the Utica Chapter of the American Red Cross, and the Utica Rotary Club.
The sponsors of the Sio Symposium are: Dr. Lyle Roelofs, Provost and Dean of the Faculty, The Department of Sociology and Anthropology (SOAN), Women’s Studies, the Colgate Bookstore, and the Arnold A. Sio Professorship of Community and Diversity.
