The Downstate Illinois Innocence Project at 69萝莉app Springfield honored four individuals with Defender of the Innocent Awards on May 16, 2011. The awards were handed out as part of a 10th anniversary celebration and fundraiser at the Inn at 835 in Springfield.
Those honored with the award included聽U.S. Senator Richard Durbin (D-Ill)聽for his support for the growth and development of the project鈥檚 work on behalf of the innocent; former State Police Crime Scene investigator Alva Busch for his work exonerating Belleville resident Keith Harris; true crime author Diane Fanning, whose book about a Texas serial killer helped exonerate Julie Rea Harper of Lawrenceville; and former State Police Investigation Commander Michael Callahan (author of聽Too Politically Sensitive) whose efforts to re-investigate a Paris, Ill. double murder case helped exonerate Herb Whitlock.