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Wrongful conviction overturned with help of Project Reasonable Doubt

On Monday September 5th, the court in Arnhem overturned the wrongful conviction of Rob B. after 15 years. In 2007, Rob was found guilty of the manslaughter of his girlfriend Regie, who was found dead in the hallway of their apartment in 2000. Project Reasonable Doubt previously investigated this case and published the book ‘Het likkende hondje: het onderscheid tussen moord en zelfmoord’ (The licking dog: the difference between murder and suicide) in which their doubts about the conviction were clearly expressed. Because of the excellent investigation by the students of Project Reasonable Doubt, Rob’s case was reopened in 2018. The exoneration was all over the news this week, such as in Dutch newspapers NRC, Algemeen Dagblad and Omroep Brabant. Peter van Koppen together with ex-students of team Reasonable Doubt joined talkshow hosts Khalid and Sophie to talk about the wrongful conviction.

At Project Reasonable Doubt of the VU University Amsterdam, students investigate criminal cases which are suspected to be wrongful convictions. Under the supervision of university staff, they analyze the case files and possibly perform additional research. When their research yields new information, the students write a report that is preferably published. Those who are interested in reading publications by Project Reasonable Doubt can find the books on the publisher’s website.