LAW 747 - Innocence Project Clinic I

Fall (2-3) Frederick Gerson

This clinic offers eight students the opportunity to engage in the legal investigation and research of inmate claims of actual innocence under Richmond attorney Fred Gerson. Using primary sources including police and forensic reports, court pleadings, transcripts, appellate briefs and opinions, students will research and prepare written summaries of the cases referred to the Clinic by the Mid-Atlantic Innocence Project (MAIP), so that MAIP may determine whether or not to pursue the innocence claim. Students will have the opportunity to conduct interviews of inmates and possible witnesses, as well as other preparatory case work with private investigators, forensics experts and attorneys. The Clinic’s focus will include DNA evidence, investigative activities, post-conviction remedies and procedures, and in-class simulations. Students will gain an understanding of the various ways innocent people are convicted and discuss remedies for exoneration. In-class discussions will systematically prepare students to undertake the investigations necessary to assess prisoner’s claims of factual innocence. Although the investigations are as varied as the cases, they can generally be placed into two categories; (1) cases involving searches for DNA evidence, and (2) cases involving non-biological evidence. In all of the cases, students, supervised by the professor and MAIP staff and volunteers, will work with the prisoner, former attorneys, courts, and police departments to create complete files to determine an investigative strategy. In DNA cases, students contact (and sometimes visit) courthouses, police departments, labs, and hospitals to determine whether any testable physical evidence remains in files or warehouses from cases that are often decades old. In non-DNA cases, students will interview eyewitnesses, alibi witnesses, co-defendants, and, in some cases, alternative suspects, and perform other necessary investigation, again to include travel throughout the Commonwealth. Occasionally cases also require travel to a prison in order to interview a prisoner. Ideally, in instances where MAIP accepts the case and assigns it to an attorney, the Clinic students who worked on the case will remain involved with it, thus preserving continuity and providing students with an even fuller learning experience. Innocence Project II will be offered in the spring semester for those who choose to enroll and have successfully completed Innocence Project Clinic I; ideally the students from IP I will enroll in IP II, for a more in-depth semester of work and skill building on their assigned cases. Prerequisites: Students must be enrolled in or have completed Evidence. Weekly clinic seminar Thursdays 6:00-8:30 pm. To receive credit for this course, each student MUST attend the first meeting. Pass/fail course. Pre or Co-requisite: Evidence Law 309 or Law 309T.