Georgetown students fight to prove man’s innocence
RICHMOND, Va. - A group of students at Georgetown University is taking on a case they believe represents a serious miscarriage of justice — arguing that a man convicted of attempted murder is innocent, and that they have the evidence to prove it.
Dig deeper:
There’s a class at Georgetown with zero readings, papers, or exams. It’s highly competitive, worth five credits, and far from easy. Instead of traditional coursework, students in the program — informally known as "Making an Exoneree" (MAE) — work on real cases, trying to free people they believe were wrongfully convicted.
For Ivory Randolph, the class has become more than academic.
"The MAE family, they are awesome. You know, the process, I think it was over a year process of, you know, just connecting, sending documentation."
Randolph, who lives in Richmond, says her partner, Markale Lundy, is innocent — even though he was convicted of attempted murder in Ohio in 2014.
Randolph and Lundy grew up together in Richmond before he moved to Ohio at age 14. After serving 13 years in prison for theft, Lundy was released — but within a year, he was arrested again.
What they're saying:
Prosecutors said he stabbed a woman in her apartment, stole from her, and tied up her roommate. But the MAE students say the case against him doesn’t hold up.
One of the key issues, students say, is how witness accounts changed over time.
"The fact that the witnesses in this story started by saying that two white men committed the crime and then it became Markale Lundy. That’s always very suspicious when witnesses change their stories. And in this case, it’s really strange to go from two white man to a lone black male," said Georgetown student Reese Yoshikawa.
Randolph and the students also claim prosecutors mishandled critical evidence.
"But just to look at everything. What happened during trial to the evidence, the truth. It’s been there the whole time," said Randolph.
A major point of contention is DNA evidence presented in court.
"So the original report that the state came out with said that Markale couldn’t be excluded, meaning that it’s possible that the DNA found at the scene was Markale's, but they can’t say for sure. And then in trial, the prosecutor turned that into, well Markale's DNA was actually at the scene, which is not true. And it’s an egregious misrepresentation of the science at the time. And then five months after Markale's conviction, the state came out and said, I’m sorry, we made a mistake. Now there’s no evidence tying Markale to the scene," said Yoshikawa.
Students working on the case say they’ve already uncovered new evidence.
"Our team has talked with a cell phone expert who reanalyzed the data from the day that the crime happened and his phone was four and a half miles away from the crime being actively used from 3:51 to 5:51 P.M. that day. So, there’s just no way that he could have actually been there," said Yoshikawa.
Lundy turned down a plea deal that would have given him five years in prison. Instead, he was sentenced to 22 years.
Despite that, Randolph says his outlook has changed as more people have joined his fight.
"He has hope, he doesn’t trust that many people up until now, you know, he used to always say I’m his family, but now the MAE family is his family," said Randolph.
What's next:
As the Georgetown students continue their work, they say their goal is clear: uncover the truth — and, if they’re right, help bring an innocent man home.