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Tonya Papanikolas ReportingA lot of people in prison say they're innocent, but what if some are? A Utah organization works to investigate wrongful convictions. Right now they're working on the first case that will go before a judge and be resolved.
The Rocky Mountain Innocence Center is based here in Salt Lake. They investigate cases in Utah, Wyoming and Nevada. The center gets about 50 requests a month to help prisoners. In order to overturn a case, they need hard evidence.
25-year-old Bryon Leon Garnett is serving 40 years to life in a Nevada prison. He was convicted of robbing a Las Vegas Circle K store more than three years ago. But Garnett has always maintained his innocence, and now some lawyers in Utah say he's telling the truth.
Jensie Anderson, Rocky Mountain Innocence Center: “We have conclusive proof that Bryon Garnett did not commit this crime."
Jensie Anderson is the president of the Rocky Mountain Innocence Center. She and other lawyers are using store surveillance video to prove Garnett couldn't have been the robber that day.
Jensie Anderson: “We found out about this technology that can enhance the video. But in the course of that, we also found out that if we could enhance it, we could also get a measurement on the guy who actually committed the crime."
You may not have noticed a height chart at your local gas station or convenience store, but most of them have them. And they can be very helpful in cases like this.
NASA scientists enhanced the video into still pictures and used the height chart at the right of the store to determine the height of the robber. The top red line measures 72 inches -- or 6 feet -- but the robber doesn't come near it. NASA scientists said this burglar was at most 68 inches tall, or five-foot-eight.
A shot of the robber going out the door also confirms this height, but there's a problem.
Jensie Anderson: “Bryon Garnett is 6-1 in his bare feet. This is sort of irrefutable science. I mean, it's like a DNA test. Bryon Garnett couldn't have grown five inches in the last three or six years."
Garnett's case will go before a judge next month. The ruling may come down to a science.
