Loyola Law School‘s Project for the Innocent is dedicated to securing the release and exoneration of the wrongfully convicted, as well as sentence commutations or new sentences in some cases. Loyola Law School professors work with LLS students, who screen cases, research the legal issues at stake, interview witnesses, and meet with the (incarcerated) clients. If the investigation shows evidence of a wrongful convictions and a provable claim of innocence, then the students help to draft a habeas petition so that the case can go to court. Since its founding in 2011, the Loyola Project for the Innocent has secured the release of at least 10 people.
In fall 2020, the students in HIST 2910 Telling History in Public, working individually or in pairs, conducted a small oral history project, where they interviewed nine individuals who have been or are with the Loyola Project for the Innocent in some way or another. This group included exonerees, former and current law students, and consultants, including attorneys, investigators, and DNA scientists.
Our thanks to all of the individuals who participated as narrators in this project and shared their time, expertise, and experiences with us. Our thanks also to Adam Grant, Program Director for the Loyola Project for the Innocent, who put us in contact with these individuals and whose collaboration on this project was essential for us being able to do it.
These oral histories will be deposited in the Department of Archives and Special Collections at William H. Hannon Library. We hope that others classes will pick up the project in the future and contribute more oral histories related to the Loyola Project for the Innocent.
Click on the images below to view or listen to the interviews and to read the transcripts.
Exonerees
Attorneys & Law Students
Investigator
DNA Consultant
