Tiffin University’s undergraduate chapter of the Ohio Innocence Project (OIP) will host guest speaker Robert McClendon February 24 at 6:30 p.m. in the Chisholm Auditorium in Franks Hall on Tiffin University’s campus. The event is free and open to the public.
McClendon spent 17 years in prison for crimes he did not commit. He will share his story and answer questions about his wrongful conviction.
He was convicted in 1991 of kidnapping and raping his 10-year-old daughter, based largely on her testimony and allegations that he failed a polygraph test. Although he maintained his innocence, he was sentenced August 28, 1991, to 15 years to life in prison. Courts denied his requests for DNA testing three times. The Ohio Innocence Project later reviewed his case in collaboration with reporters from The Columbus Dispatch. An Ohio lab discovered that although the original rape kit had been destroyed, the victim’s underwear had been preserved. In April 2008, DNA testing excluded McClendon as the source, and he was released August 12, 2008, after serving nearly 17 years in prison for a crime he did not commit.
After his release, McClendon was looking for a recreational activity that was comparable to the game of horseshoes he played while in prison. He discovered cornhole and has gone on to become one of the top ranked senior amateurs in the state. For the past three years, McClendon has shared his enthusiasm for cornhole with TU students at Springfest. McClendon previously shared his wrongful conviction story at TU in November 2022.
“We are honored to have Robert back on our campus to once again share his story with our students and the Tiffin community,” said Dr. Steven Hurwitz, Professor Emeritus of Psychology and Criminal Justice at Tiffin University and the faculty advisor for TU’s undergraduate chapter of the Ohio Innocence Project. “It is important that people hear Robert’s story and learn how wrongful convictions happen. For the past three years, he has come to campus for Springfest to share his enthusiasm for cornhole with TU students. We are thrilled that he has become a part of Dragon Nation.”
Since 2003, the Ohio Innocence Project has freed 43 wrongfully convicted Ohioans who served more than 800 years in prison. A team of six lawyers and 20 law students investigate hundreds of claims annually. OIP is Ohio’s only nonprofit dedicated to freeing the innocent and educating the public on flaws in the legal system. OIP also advocates for criminal justice reform, including Senate Bill 77, which established best practices for eyewitness identification and DNA evidence. It has supported efforts to improve compensation for the wrongfully convicted and require recording of custodial interrogations. They are currently working on legislation to expand DNA evidence access, provide restitution to victims and abolish the death penalty.
OIP-u: TU is a student-run chapter of the Ohio Innocence Project that provides educational programming on wrongful convictions and the legal system. The group is affiliated with Tiffin University’s School of Criminal Justice and Social Sciences. For more information, visit facebook.com/OhioInnocenceProject. Please contact Dr. Steven Hurwitz, program faculty advisor with any questions at shurwitz@tiffin.edu.