345.73 Criminal Law – United States

  • How the Murder-for-Hire of 13-Year-Old Donnisha Hill Exposed Systemic Failures in Protecting Child Witnesses

    The 1990 murder-for-hire case of 13-year-old Donnisha Hill remains one of the most chilling examples of how the legal system can fail its most vulnerable witnesses — and why gaps in child protection continue to demand urgent reform. Hill, a Texas middle school student, was scheduled to testify against a man accused of sexually assaulting…

  • India Spellman Spent 10+ Years In Prison For A Crime She Didn’t Commit

    After spending over a decade in prison for a crime she did not commit, India Spellman walked free on February 9, 2023, becoming the first woman in more than a generation to be exonerated in Philadelphia. Her release marks yet another case of wrongful conviction fueled by coerced confessions, prosecutorial misconduct, and systemic failures in…