A Milwaukee man serving a life term in the murder of a South Milwaukee runaway was released from prison on January 8, 2009, after tests showed DNA found on the victim matched unknown DNA discovered on two other slaying victims in Milwaukee.

Chaunte Ott's exoneration was the culmination of work dating back to 2000 by law students and their supervising attorneys at the Wisconsin Innocence Project, a clinical program of the University of Wisconsin Law School. Ott is the 11th individual released from prison after investigative and advocacy work by the Project.

To read about the case and the work of UW Law School Clinical Professor John Pray and students Matt Wuest and Yesha Sutaria in a Milwaukee Journal Sentinel article, see

http://www.jsonline.com/news/crime/37285314.html .

Television coverage of Ott’s release can be viewed at http://www.cbs58.com/index.php?aid=5899 .

The Wisconsin Innocence Project at the University of Wisconsin Law School has three core missions: 1) to investigate and litigate wrongful convictions, 2) to educate law students through closely supervised work on possible wrongful convictions, and 3) to remedy the causes of wrongful convictions through scholarship, education and collaboration with governmental and criminal justice agencies.

Submitted by on January 12, 2009

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