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Branstad creates division to focus on wrongful convictions

DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) — Gov. Terry Branstad is creating a special division in Iowa's public defender's office that will focus on wrongful convictions.

Branstad and State Public Defender Adam Gregg announced the division Monday. It will initially review cases that used hair analysis testimony, much of which Gregg says is now considered "junk science."

Earlier this year, the Justice Department and FBI announced that nearly every examiner in the FBI Laboratory's microscopic hair comparison unit gave flawed testimony in almost all trials in which they offered evidence against criminal defendants for more than 20 years before 2000. Many state investigators had been trained in the same methods.

The state hired Audrey McGinn, who previously worked for the California Innocence Project. She will work with the Innocence Project of Iowa and the Midwest Innocence Project.

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