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  • Innocence Project’s Best Moments of 2022

    The criminal justice system can easily send an innocent person to prison, yet it can take decades and a village of supporters to free even one person. In fact, it takes 14 years on average. Though we fight an uphill battle every day, it’s these wins — each one representing a person’s life and freedom restored — these glimmers of justice, and touching moments that make it all worth it.

    From the energy of passionate advocates across the country to the support of NFL players to celebratory exoneration lunches, these are some of the Innocence Project’s best moments in 2022.

    1. Melissa Lucio’s execution is stayed

    Melissa Lucio poses for a portrait behind glass at the Mountain View Unit in Gatesville, Texas. (Image: Ilana Panich-Linsman for the Innocence Project

    In January, the Innocence Project joined the legal team of Melissa Lucio, a woman in Texas who faced execution on April 27 for a crime that never occurred — Ms. Lucio would have been one of the first Latina women executed in U.S. history. 

    Ms. Lucio was wrongly convicted of killing her 2-year-old daughter, who died from complications after an accidental fall down stairs. Thousands of Texas residents, dozens of lawmakers, and many organizations spoke out on Ms. Lucio’s behalf and on April 25, the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals issued a stay two days before her scheduled execution and ordered the court to consider new evidence of her innocence.

    2. Pervis Payne becomes eligible for parole 

    Over the past two years, hundreds of thousands joined our campaign in support of Pervis Payne, who maintained his innocence on death row in Tennessee for 33 years. In November 2021, the Shelby County district attorney agreed to remove Mr. Payne from death row based on intellectual disability. Then, this January, a Tennessee judge made him eligible for parole within six years following a hearing where 19 witnesses testified that Mr. Payne was not a threat to society.

    3. Michael Monroe makes up for 28 missed Christmases

    Michael Monroe, a navy veteran, spent 28 years in prison for a crime he didn’t commit. Mr. Monroe was released and reunited with his family early this year as he is battling cancer. To celebrate his return home and make up for nearly three decades of missed holidays, his family recreated Christmas for him in January.

    @innocence

    Help us welcome Michael home!

    ♬ Will to Live – Jacob Yoffee

    4. Tampa Bay Buccaneers surprise exoneree Robert DuBoise 

    Robert DuBoise enjoyed football growing up, but since being freed and exonerated in 2020, he has developed a new relationship with the sport and his hometown team, the Tampa Bay Buccaneers.

    In January, the team gifted Mr. DuBoise a pair of unique cleats inspired by his 37 years of wrongful imprisonment during an “Inspire Change” game against the Carolina Panthers. The cleats, designed as part of the NFL’s “My Cause, My Cleats” campaign, bear Mr. DuBoise’s name and the number of years he spent wrongfully incarcerated. They were presented to Mr. DuBoise by Buccaneers offensive tackle Donovan Smith, who wore them at a practice ahead of the game.

    5. Barry Jacobson is exonerated 

    Barry Jacobson was convicted of arson in 1983 after a deck on his family’s vacation home was set on fire in Richmond, Massachusetts. Mr. Jacobson was sentenced to six months in prison and a $10,000 fine. He spent more than a month in prison for a crime he didn’t commit, based on unreliable arson evidence and a baseless claim that he was looking to collect insurance money on his home despite the fact that he never filed a claim. 

    Following the jury verdict, evidence of antisemitic bias on the jury began to surface. In April, a Massachusetts district attorney agreed that Mr. Jacobson had been wrongly convicted in a trial during which jurors made antisemitic remarks about Mr. Jacobson, who is Jewish.

    6. Mallory Nicholson is exonerated after 40 years  

    In June, a Texas judge dismissed Mallory Nicholson’s 1982 burglary and sexual assault charges based on newly discovered evidence of his innocence that the State had withheld at his original trial. Mr. Nicholson had been tried before an all-white jury, who rejected his five alibi witnesses, all of whom were Black.

    He spent 21 years in prison for crimes he did not commit. After being released on parole in 2003 he was forced to register as a sex offender. The Dallas County District Attorney’s Office Conviction Integrity Unit, who jointly re-investigated the case, dismissed the charges on innocence grounds. Mr. Nicholson celebrated his freedom and the clearing of his name with his legal team and his wife, a childhood friend he reunited with after his release. 

    7. John Galvan, Arthur Almendarez, and Francisco Nanez are exonerated in Chicago 

    John Galvan, Arthur Almendarez, and Francisco Nanez, who spent a combined 105 years incarcerated in Illinois for a crime they were coerced into falsely confessing were exonerated in July. 

    All three were young men when they were intimidated with threats and violence and ultimately coerced into falsely confessing. Their case is part of the long and documented history of such tactics by the Chicago Police Department particularly against young men of color. These false confessions and now invalidated arson science served as the primary evidence used to convict Mr. Galvan and his co-defendants.

    Watch Mr. Galvan and Mr. Almendarez walk free after decades in prison.

    @innocenceWelcome home John and Arthur!♬ Maple Leaf – Official Sound Studio

    8. Former Innocence Project attorney Nina Morrison becomes a U.S. district judge 

    Nina Morrison, one of the Innocence Project’s longest-serving attorneys, who helped exonerate 30 innocent people from prison, became a United States District Judge for the Eastern District of New York in September. Judge Morrison brings a much-needed perspective to the bench and her experiences, humility, and relentless commitment to ensuring equal justice for all will make her an exceptionally fair jurist.

    9. Herman Williams reunites with his family after 29 years behind bars

    An Illinois judge vacated the conviction of Herman Williams and ordered his immediate release after nearly 29 years in prison for a crime he did not commit. A decorated member of the U.S. Navy, Mr. Williams, who is now 58 years old, was wrongfully convicted for the 1993 murder of his ex-wife in Waukegan, Illinois, where he was stationed at the time. The Lake County District Attorney’s office acknowledged the trial prosecutors withheld favorable evidence and presented the jury with scientifically unfounded pathology evidence. New evidence of Mr. Williams’ innocence also included advanced DNA testing.

    See his first steps of freedom.

    @innocenceWelcome home, Herman!!♬ VICTORY – Steven Cooper

    10. Innocence Project Wins Clarence B. Jones Impact Award for digital advocacy campaign to stop Pervis Payne’s execution 

    The Innocence Project was named the fifth winner of the Clarence B. Jones Impact Award, an honor from The Communications Network that recognizes and celebrates the impact of transformative communications campaigns in the social sector. The award is named for Dr. Jones, an attorney and Dr. Martin Luther King’s speech writer. The Innocence Project team was recognized for the grassroots campaign that led to a stay of execution for Pervis Payne and his removal from death row.

    11. The Innocence Project turns 30

    The Innocence Project celebrated its 30th birthday this year.

    Barry Scheck and Peter Neufeld with their team.

    In 1992, Barry Scheck and Peter Neufeld who started their careers as Bronx Public defenders, began a clinic at Cardozo Law School to use DNA testing to prove defendants were innocent of crime. Today, the organization has helped free over 200 innocent people from prison, passed hundreds of laws to prevent wrongful conviction, and developed a network of over 68 Innocence Network partners across the U.S. and around the world. None of which would have been possible without the support of this community. 

    The post Innocence Project’s Best Moments of 2022 appeared first on Innocence Project.

    This post was originally published on Innocence Project.

  • Former Innocence Project Attorney Nina Morrison Became a Judge This Week. Here’s Why It Matters to the Criminal Legal System.

    This week, the Innocence Project’s former senior litigation counsel, Nina Morrison, was sworn in as a United States District Judge for the Eastern District of New York. It is a proud moment for our organization — and for our criminal legal system overall.

    In her 20 years at the Innocence Project, Ms. Morrison was an extraordinary force for justice. She helped free dozens of innocent people from wrongful conviction, was an incredible collaborator and leader, and pushed our legal system toward greater accuracy and equity — and she balanced it all while being a mother. We are proud to call her Judge Morrison from now on.

    Ms. Morrison will add the much-needed perspective of a person who has seen, firsthand, the failings of the criminal legal system to the federal bench. 

    Earlier this year, the confirmation of Supreme Court Justice Kentaji Brown Jackson prompted many writers and scholars to acknowledge the rarity of criminal defense experience among our nation’s federal judges. In addition to being the first Black woman on the Supreme Court, Judge Jackson is just one of two Supreme Court justices with such a background. 

    Though much has been written about Judge Jackson’s historic nomination to the Supreme Court, one point that was often overlooked is why the federal bench, and every level of the criminal legal system, benefits from the inclusion of this unique perspective and from greater diversity of thought and perspective. 

    Research shows that diverse groups are better decision makers than homogeneous groups, as they engage in more rigorous scrutiny of the facts and produce more accurate and innovative outcomes. Indeed, the Harvard Business Review has noted that “[w]orking with people who are different from you may challenge your brain to overcome its stale ways of thinking and sharpen its performance.” This analysis is important to federal judicial decision making, where, according to a 2019 Center for American Progress report, more than 73% of federal judges are men and 80% are white. Additionally, the federal bench is also largely made up of former prosecutors: the ratio of prosecutors to defense attorneys on the bench today is almost four to one, according to the Cato Institute.

    Thus, the nomination and confirmation of attorneys like Judge Morrison — a woman who dedicated her career to the representation of people who were wrongfully convicted — will bring an unusual and important perspective to the bench and, in so doing, “sharpen” the decision-making process.

    Relatedly, it is important to have people from a diversity of backgrounds and experiences serve on the federal bench because those experiences can and do deepen understanding of the issues that come before the court. To be sure, identity does not predetermine how a judge will rule in any given case; however, it can make them more aware of the variety of lived experiences in America. For example, research shows that having at least one woman on an appellate court panel significantly increases the likelihood that the male judges on that panel will find for plaintiffs in cases involving sexual harassment and discrimination, according to the the Center for American Progress. Similarly, the presence of at least one Black judge on a panel increases the likelihood that the non-Black judges on the panel will find for plaintiffs claiming violations of the Voting Rights Act and in affirmative action cases.

    Judge Morrison’s experience — of exposing and challenging the failures of the criminal legal system, including deeply entrenched racial bias and police and prosecutorial misconduct — is vitally important to judicial decision-making because she has seen, through her work at the Innocence Project, the flaws and cracks in our legal system up close time and time again.

    We are confident that Judge Morrison will bring these much-needed perspectives to the bench and that her experiences, her humility, and her relentless commitment to ensuring equal justice for all will make her an exceptionally fair jurist.

    If our criminal legal system is truly to become a beacon of justice, it is imperative that more women like Judge Morrison, more people of color, and more people with criminal defense  backgrounds serve on the bench.

    The post Former Innocence Project Attorney Nina Morrison Became a Judge This Week. Here’s Why It Matters to the Criminal Legal System. appeared first on Innocence Project.

  • Innocence Project Senior Litigation Counsel Nina Morrison Confirmed as U.S. District Judge for the Eastern District of New York

    Today, Nina Morrison, senior litigation counsel for the Innocence Project, was confirmed by the U.S. Senate as United States District Judge for the Eastern District of New York. 

    “Nina Morrison will be an exceptional judge,” said Innocence Project’s Executive Director Christina Swarns. “Her representation of more than 30 freed or exonerated people, combined with her deep experience building strong and effective relationships with prosecutors, judges, and defense counsel gives her the background, perspective, and knowledge necessary to fairly preside over the range of cases heard by the federal district courts. Nina is deeply committed to ensuring equal justice for everyone that comes before the court, and we wish her every success in this next step of her career.”

    “Nina’s work on exoneration cases has infused her with a passion for justice but also humility and a holistic view of the criminal and civil legal systems,” said Innocence Project Co-founder Barry Scheck. “As one of the original ‘innocence lawyers,’ Nina has hewed closely to the mission and the method — a non-adversarial search for truth and justice — as much as possible, a truly admirable and unusual background for a jurist. Her experience will bring much needed diversity and perspective to the United States District Court for the Eastern District of New York.” 

    The post Innocence Project Senior Litigation Counsel Nina Morrison Confirmed as U.S. District Judge for the Eastern District of New York appeared first on Innocence Project.

    This post was originally published on Innocence Project.