An Interview with Jeffrey Descovik: Part 1

Read yesterday's post, "Preview to an Interview with Jeffrey Deskovic" for a bit of background on Deskovic's story.

The following is an part one of edited transcription of my phone call with Jeffrey on Thursday, July 11, 2019. 

After brief introductions, I asked Jeffrey questions about his foundation's origins, success, media, and what he wants people to understand about wrongful convictions. Jeffrey was incredibly open and very positive despite the difficulties he's faced throughout his life. Read our conversation below. 

Vera: At what point did you know that you wanted to start The Deskovic Foundation?

Jeffrey: Fairly early on in 2006, 2007. I had been meeting with elected officials and doing media interviews and doing some stuff with police and I wanted to get involved in the exoneration process. Hence, forming the foundation to be able to exonerate people. Most organizations only take on DNA cases, and DNA is only available in 5-12% of all serious wrongfully convicted cases. I feel strongly that innocence is innocence and just because you can’t prove it under a microscope doesn’t mean that those people shouldn’t be freed. Out of the seven cases where we’ve freed wrongfully convicted people, none of those instances had DNA as an option.

Vera: How many wrongfully convicted people has The Deskovic Foundation exonerated?

Jeffrey : We’ve gotten 7 people out, home, filed post-conviction papers on behalf of an 8^th person, and a 9^th person we got their conviction overturned recently. In total we have 11 active cases, meaning they have been approved and they’re at different stages in the exoneration process. It’s an uncertain outcome, these cases aren’t easy to win. So, no one knows what the outcome of any of these cases is going to be. We believe we’re going to win, we wouldn’t take the case if we didn’t. But, we don’t know that for sure, we don’t know what’s going to happen. 

Vera: There's been a lot of media attention recently regarding wrongful conviction cases, like When They See Us, what are your thoughts on this kind of media attention? 

Jeffrey : Whether it’s movies, documentaries, news articles, any form of art, any way we are reaching people that’s very very important. It raises public awareness of wrongful conviction including attention from elected officials. I think it makes law enforcement, prosecutors, judges, defense attorneys, it impacts them. Maybe they’re more careful, maybe they go the extra mile. I do believe that every person who makes it out makes it a little bit easier for the next person. I think the judges are more and more open to considering claims of innocence. That’s why the exoneration rate is much higher than it has been in prior years. I see all of those things as playing a huge role in that. Certainly, it’s inspiring additional people to get involved on different levels like lawyers taking on wrongful conviction cases pro bono.  Media allows us to maximize the impact of each exoneration. 

Vera: For you, what is the most important thing for people to understand about wrongful convictions?

Jeffrey: That it can happen to anyone. It cuts across racial lines, it cuts across all different kinds of different walks of life. You didn't have to put yourself in harms way, necessarily. If you’re going to surround yourself with people who are on the edge of criminality and have people around you who are involved in low levels of criminality, there’s no question that that is going to increase the likelihood of you being wrongfully accused and wrongfully convicted, for sure. That being said, it doesn’t necessarily have to be that that’s the situation in order for someone to be wrongfully convicted. I’m the perfect example of that. I was 16 years old, living a middle class lifestyle in the suburbs. Not involved in criminality, none of my friends were, but it happened to me and it happens to other people and that is misunderstood. Another misconception is that there are just a few bad apples (referring to prosecutors and police). It’s not just a few bad apples, if it was, wrongful conviction wouldn’t be the prevalent problem that it is. That said, I think that there are plenty of credible police and prosecutors who are doing things by the books but there are also a lot of bad apples in the mix.  But yeah, it can happen to anyone.

Check back next week for part two where we discuss Jeffrey's proudest moments, biggest challenges, and goals for the future.