From prison bars to the bar exam

Here's a welcome, happy ending to a sad tale. The Christian Science Monitor focuses on the story of Christopher Ochoa, a Texan who was falsely convicted of the rape and murder of an Austin Pizza Hut manager, then cleared in 2001 after 12 years in prison thanks to exonerating DNA evidence. If that were the end of Ochoa's story it'd be a good one, but it gets better: he won $5.3 million from the City of Austin in a police misconduct lawsuit, then graduated from law school at the University of Wisconsin last month, only the second exonerated prisoner to do so.

Bully for him - congratulations, Mr. Ochoa.

Ochoa's conviction rested on a false confession he gave officers after two days of interrogation. He later recanted, saying he thought was his only way to avoid the death penalty. The conviction was overturned thanks to the work of faculty and students working with the Wisconsin Innocence Project. Via the Stand Down blog.