University of Richmond faculty featured in Netflix documentary series

RICHMOND, Va. (WWBT) - Faculty from the University of Richmond will be featured in a Netflix documentary series called “The Innocence Files”.

The Innocence Files is Netflix’s latest true-crime documentary series.

Leadership studies Professor Julian Hayter and Law Professor Mary Tate will appear in an episode focused on Thomas Haynesworth, a black man who was wrongfully convicted of rape in Richmond, Virginia in 1984 and was exonerated after 27 years in prison.

Historian Julian Hayter, a leading expert on modern U.S. and African-American history, provides historical context related to Haynesworth’s conviction.

Law professor Mary Tate is an expert on wrongful convictions and Director of the Richmond School of Law’s Institute for Actual Innocence. Tate moderated a panel discussion in spring 2019 that included Thomas Haynesworth as well as Janet Burke, a sexual assault survivor who mistakenly identified Haynesworth as her attacker.

Over the course of nine episodes, “The Innocence Files” tells the stories of Haynesworth and seven other people wrongfully convicted of crimes, chronicling the work of the Innocence Project and other organizations fighting to overturn wrongful convictions.

The series is produced and directed by Academy Award nominee Liz Garbus and Academy Award winners Alex Gibney and Roger Ross Williams.

The series will be available to stream worldwide on April 15.

Submit a news tip.