Columbus School of Law

Innocence Project at CUA

Welcome! The Innocence Project at CUA is comprised of a clinic component and a student organization. This Web page addresses the student organization arm of the Innocence Project at CUA. For information about the clinic, please click here.

Who are we?
What do we do and why do we do it?
When and where do we meet?
Get involved!
Schedule of upcoming events and activities

Who are we?
The Innocence Project Student Organization is an authorized student organization at CUA that promotes awareness about the efforts of the National Innocence Project. Specifically, the Innocence Project at CUA facilitates guest lectures and related presentations on pertinent issues, organize community service activities in line with the organization's mission, and ensures CUA presence at the annual Innocence Project conference.

The first Innocence Project was founded in 1992 at Benjamin N. Cardozo School of Law at Yeshiva University by Barry Scheck and Peter Neufeld. The Innocence Project seeks to exonerate the wrongly convicted, primarily through the use of DNA evidence. DNA testing has been a major factor in changing the criminal justice system. It has provided scientific proof that our system convicts and sentences innocent people - and that wrongful convictions are not isolated or rare events.

Locally, we are affiliated with the Mid-Atlantic Innocence Project (MAIP). MAIP reviews claims of actual innocence from inmates convicted in the criminal courts of Maryland, Virginia, and Washington, and considers both DNA and non-DNA claims of innocence. The Catholic University of America Chapter of the Innocence Project was founded in 2002. CUA has a clinic, as well as a student organization. American University's Washington College of Law, Georgetown University Law Center, Catholic University's Columbus School of Law, University of Virginia School of Law, Washington and Lee University School of Law, William & Mary Law also have student organization chapters at their respective law schools dedicated to advancing the mission of MAIP.

The board officers for 2009 - 2010 are:

President: Brittany Baron (2D)
Vice-President: Jessica Young (2D)
Secretary: Jessica DeSimone (3D)
Treasurer: Lynn Brandau (3D)

What do we do and why do we do it?
The Innocence Project at CUA performs three main functions:

1) Facilitate guest lectures and related presentations on pertinent issues.
This is critical to the success of the Project. It is important that students - - future advocates - - recognize the catastrophic results of "bad lawyering," bad police work, and apathy. Many of the cases you will learn about contain elements of "bad lawyering." This could be apathy by attorneys who fail to zealously advocate for their clients, lack of preparation, or simply failures due to inexperience. Additionally, many cases involve poor police work. Some of these issues have been eliciting false confessions, failure to follow up on credible leads and laziness. Finally, though an element of both frequent problems in Innocence Project exoneration cases, apathy by law students, by practitioners, by government, and by society as a whole contributes to the wrongful conviction for too many prisoners.

To educate students and the community about behavior, attitudes, and actions that lead to wrongful convictions, the Innocence Project at CUA invites to campus guest speakers from police departments, prosecuting attorney's offices, the criminal defense bar and exonerees, among others. Further, we sponsor documentary film presentations on resolved cases. In the past, we featured Murder on a Sunday Morning and The Trials of Darryl Hunt. Also, in conjunction with the Clinic, we were able to arrange visit to the D.C. Medical Examiner's office to observe an autopsy for some members of the Student Group.

Many of our activities satisfy the elective Honors Education requirements needed for graduation click here.

CUA also supports MAIP by offering law students an opportunity to participate in a full-year, six-credit clinic. The clinic investigates the claims of actual innocence on behalf of inmates referred to the Clinic by MAIP and provides hands-on training for law students. In the past, some CUA Innocence Project Student Group members have been able to work with Clinic students to assist with the investigations.

2) Organize community service activities in line with the organization's mission
Each year, the CUA Innocence Project develops an initiative to advance its goals. Last year, we held a book drive, cosponsored by the Criminal Law Society, to collect materials to send to prisons. We plan to make the Books to Prisoners book drive an annual activity. Please look for boxes in the locker area and beneath the organization's bulletin board in the Law School Café beginning September 14, 2009. We also welcome suggestions for other activities that relate to the CUA Innocence Project.

3) Ensure CUA presence at the annual Innocence Network conference
In the past we have been able to send one to three students to the annual conference (hyperlink to conference) hosted by the Innocence Network. This conference often features exonerees as speakers, along with a variety of informational sessions on current problems in the exoneration of prisoners, new cases, new techniques that may assist in the mission of the Innocence Project, and much more. This activity has typically been school funded, therefore space is limited. Representatives are selected via an application process and typically must commit to applying for the clinic for the following year. Details to come!

When and where do we meet?
Meetings will be held one Tuesday each month for September - November during the Fall 2009 semester (9/22, 10/20, 11/17) from 5 - 6 p.m. Spring semester meeting dates will be determined at a later date. Locations to be determined. Check back for more information!

How to reach us?
If you are interested in becoming a member of the Innocence Project Student Organization at CUA, please attend our first meeting on September 15 and sign up for our contact list.

If you are unable to attend or if you have general inquiries or suggestions for the board members of the student organization, please e-mail us at cuainnocence@gmail.com.

Add the Innocence Project Student Organization course on TWEN for details about current programs and activities, as well as an up-to-date meetings and events schedule!

If you are interested in the clinic, please contact Professor Sandy Ogilvy at Ogilvy@law.edu.

Schedule of Upcoming Events
Friday, September 11, 2009, 4-7 pm
Law School Lawn
Look for the Innocence Project Table at the CUA Law Student Organization Fair sponsored by SBA!

Monday, September 14, 2009
Books to Prisoners Book Drive begins. Look for designated boxes for your class and a list of accepted materials. The class with the most books by the end of the semester will receive bonus points on applications for participation in the conference.

Tuesday, September 22, 2009, 5 - 6 p.m., room 211, FOOD PROVIDED (Not pizza!)
First General Body meeting. We will expand on the purpose of the organization, introduce faculty advisor, Professor Sandy Ogilvy, and field questions.

Tuesday, October 20, 2009, 5 - 6 p.m., Location TBD, FOOD PROVIDED
Second General Body meeting. Agenda TBD

Tentative Tuesday, October 27, 2009, 4:10 - 6 p.m., LOCATION TBD
Presentation on False Confessions by Detective Jim Trainum of MPD Violent Crime Case Review Project, in conjunction with the Innocence Project Clinic. Light reception to follow.

Tuesday, November 17, 2009, 5 - 6 p.m., Location TBD, FOOD PROVIDED
Final fall 2009 General Body meeting. Agenda TBD.