Sept. 30: Collaboration encourages public to learn about wrongful convictions in Iowa

The Drake University Law School Wrongful Convictions Clinic, the Iowa State Public Defender's Wrongful Conviction Unit- Actual Innocence Division, and Advocates for Truth & Justice invite the public to an event recognizing Wrongful Convictions Day on Tuesday, Sept. 30, at XBK Live, 1159 24th Street, Des Moines. Doors will open at 5 p.m., with the presentation beginning at 5:30 p.m.

Pursuing Truth: The Wrongful Conviction of Annette Cahill will honor International Wrongful Conviction Day by highlighting the main causes of wrongful convictions, the number of Iowans currently seeking exoneration, and an in-depth case study of a wrongful conviction case currently being litigated in Iowa.

In October 1992, Corey Wieneke was beaten to death in his bedroom in West Liberty. Twenty-seven years later, Annette Cahill, a wife, mother, and grandmother, was convicted of second-degree murder and sentenced to 50 years in prison for the death of Wieneke, a crime she did not commit.

Her conviction relied on the testimony of a nurse who, in 2018, alleged she overheard Cahill confess to killing Wieneke. The nurse was just nine years old at the time of the overheard "confession." Central to the conviction was a baseball bat, alleged to be the murder weapon. Recent and conclusive DNA testing has incontrovertibly shown that neither Cahill's DNA nor Wieneke's DNA is present on the bat.

The new scientific evidence does not support Cahill's conviction. A post-conviction relief trial is set for Jan. 26, 2026, in Muscatine.

Join us to learn more about efforts to free Annette Cahill and the work in Iowa to correct the tragedy of wrongful convictions.

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