The Registry is delighted to announce the addition of Ken Otterbourg to our team.  Ken has decades of experience as a journalist. He worked for the Winston-Salem Journal from 1990-2010, the last five as managing editor. The newspaper's investigation of the wrongful conviction of Darryl Hunt was a principal factor in the creation of the North Carolina Innocence Inquiry Commission in 2006. As a freelance writer since 2010, his work has appeared in The Washington Post Magazine, The New York Times, Fortune, National Geographic and Longreads.

Ken’s application to work with us reminded us again the importance of this work.  In his words, “The names listed on the National Registry of Exonerations are more than just names. They are men and women, with families they loved and who loved them, and with futures as bright and complicated as our own. Individually, they are tragic anecdotes. But collectively, they form a river, one that demands our attention and speaks to the profound failings of our criminal justice system. That’s the galvanizing power of the work done by the National Registry for Exonerations. It has the capacity to force all of us to examine how we investigate crime and prosecute defendants and to push for changes that help prevent future false convictions from occurring. It’s vital work that can make a difference.” 

At the Registry, Ken will work closely with Maurice Possley to research and write case summaries of all exonerations added to the Registry. He will also help launch a new project on group exonerations. The addition of his talents to our staff will ensure that we are better able to tell the stories of exonerees and what went wrong in their cases.