Dean Gillispie and Barry Rowen
The Center for Law, Justice & Culture and the Ohio Innocence Project at the University of Cincinnati College of Law will host a free film screening of Spiz, followed by a discussion and Q& A with the subject of the film, OIP exoneree Dean Gillispie, and the filmmaker Barry Rowen on April 14 at 7 p.m. in the Athena Cinema.
Spiz depicts the wrongful conviction of Dean Gillispie who served 20 years in prison for crimes he did not commit. Through the experience of Dean Gillispie, Spiz examines the causes and effects of wrongfully convicting American citizens.
Gillispie was wrongfully incarcerated for rape, kidnapping, and aggravated robbery in 1991. Gillispie served 20 years in prison for rapes that he always insisted he did not commit. The Ohio Innocence Project took on his case in 2003, and students worked diligently to overturn his conviction. A court subsequently found that Gillispie had not received a fair trial.
There was no physical evidence associating Gillispie to the crimes. Furthermore, there was information withheld from the jury in 1991. This information included the fact that the investigating detectives had eliminated Gillispie as a suspect, stating that he did not match the physical description that the victims described. He also did not fit the profile of the rapist.
Since his exoneration, Gillispie now serves on the Board of Advocates of the Ohio Innocence Project. He speaks about criminal justice reform to audiences around the world. His case is featured in the best-selling book False Justice: Eight Myths that Convict the Innocent.
The event is co-sponsored by the Ohio University chapter of OIP-u. Students interested in joining OIP-u should contact CLJC Assistant Director & Pre-Law Advisor Larry Hayman at hayman@ohio.edu.
Comments