Jeffrey Deskovic was 17 when he was convicted of raping and murdering his Peekskill High School classmate, Angela Correa. Though he maintained his innocence at trial and DNA found at the scene did not match his own, a confession Deskovic made after more than seven hours of police questioning was enough to send him to prison for more than 16 years. In 2006, he was finally released after crime scene DNA was retested and matched a man serving a life sentence for an unrelated murder.
Now 38, Deskovic’s own experience of being wrongfully convicted inspired him to help others facing the same predicament. He has committed $1.5 million of the more than $8 million in legal settlement money he received to start the Jeffrey Deskovic Foundation for Justice. The foundation, which officially launched last month, will take a second look at cases where there is a question of wrongful conviction. Deskovic and his staff are already working on six of these claims, with another 30 under consideration. In addition to investigating cases, the foundation will advocate for policy changes to help stem wrongful convictions and run programs to help parolees and those who are exonerated reintegrate into society, something Deskovic said he still struggles with.
