Audrey Edmunds was convicted in 1996 of murdering a seven-month-old child. She was convicted almost entirely by medical evidence indicating the child's brain injuries could only have been caused by shaken baby syndrome and that it had to have occurred while the child was in Ms. Edmunds's care. In January 2008, Ms. Edmunds was granted a new trial after the 4th District Court of Appeals agreed that new medical research had emerged in the decade since her trial had challenged the state's original evidence. On July 11, 2008, Ms. Edmunds's exoneration became complete when the state dismissed all charges. Ms. Edmunds had served 11 years in prison before her conviction was vacated and she was released. 

Audrey’s case is being featured in a new documentary series produced by The Reporters Inc., a 501(c)(3) journalistic production house based in Minneapolis. The project focuses on wrongful conviction cases in seven states and aims to inform viewers about the failures of law enforcement and the criminal justice system in each case. The director of the project, Mark Saxenmeyer, will be premiering the rough cut of Audrey’s episode at our event.

Hamline University Giddens Learning Center (large brick building on the corner of Snelling and Hewitt, on site and street parking available) - Room 100E on the first floor. 

1.5 HOURS OF CLE CREDIT AVAILABLE

 

Agenda:

6:30:    Case overview by Mark Saxenmeyer

7:00:    How criminal law is affected by changes in science by Julie Jonas

7:30:    The experience of being falsely imprisoned by Audrey Edmunds

 

Audrey Edmunds was a happily married young mother of two with a baby on the way; the neighborhood soccer mom in a small Wisconsin town providing casual childcare when the unthinkable happened. An infant died in her care at the same time the unknown science of Shaken Baby Syndrome hit the media. Swept up in a media frenzy, Edmunds was accused of killing the child through SBS. She was stripped from her children and husband and sent to prison where she would fight for freedom 11 years before she was finally exonerated after updated science showed her innocence. Since her release, she has been reunited with her grown daughters and works full-time as an administrative assistant. She is so thankful to be sharing life with her girls again. Audrey was and is an all-American mother from the Heartland who shares her story of hope and redemption in the face of unrelenting odds. 

Julie Jonas:  Julie Jonas completed her undergraduate and law degrees at the University of Minnesota. After law school, she practiced for eight years with the Ramsey County Public Defender’s Office. She is the Legal Director for the Innocence Project of Minnesota, where she has worked since 2003. Julie leads litigation strategy for the Innocence Project and directs the screening, investigation and litigation of all cases. Julie supervises volunteer attorneys, law clerks, and legal interns, in addition to coordinating all expert witnesses and investigators. She also works on critical criminal justice policy reform issues. Her work was instrumental in Minnesota’s passage of its 2014 Imprisonment and Exoneration Remedies Act awarding compensation to innocent Minnesota exonerees. Julie also teaches at the University of Minnesota Law School and Mitchell Hamline School of Law.

 

Tickets

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Location

Giddens Learning Center Room 100E

1536 Hewitt Ave, St Paul, MN 55104, USA