Bloodsworth was wrongly imprisoned for nine years, two of them on death row, for the rape and murder of a 9-year-old girl in Maryland. He was freed in 1993, when DNA evidence proved his innocence.
Bloodsworth, who was invited to speak at the College of Law about his experience, told KJZZ's Dennis Lambert that he wants to bring a positive message to the public to make things better.
"What happens to one of us happens to all of us," Bloodsworth said.
Popko, who teaches Legal Research & Writing and is the director of the College's Post-Conviction Clinic, said Bloodsworth puts a human face on the issue of wrongful conviction.
"We're complacent about the justice system," Popko told Lamberth. The system provides an attorney, jury trials and conviction on evidence beyond the shadow of a doubt.
"Still mistakes happen," Popko said. "It's inevitable."
Popko told Lambert that the Arizona Justice Project, now housed at the College of Law, received $1.4 million in grants named for Bloodsworth to look for serious felonies in which DNA was either not tested or tested so long ago that new scientific procedures could get better results today.
Listen to the entire interview here.