New California Innocence Project Gives Death Row Inmates Hope.Business Editors and Legal Writers SAN DIEGO--(BUSINESS WIRE)--April 27, 2000 The California Innocence Project California Western School of Law Founded in 1924, California Western School of Law (popularly known as California Western or Cal Western) is a private, non-profit law school located in San Diego, California. , San Diego 6:30 p.m., Thursday, May 4 Moot Court Room, 225 Cedar St. at Third We are very pleased to welcome keynote speaker, Peter Neufeld, Esq., co-director of The Innocence Project at Benjamin N. Cardozo Benjamin Nathan Cardozo (May 24, 1870–July 9, 1938) is a well-known American jurist, and is remembered not only for his landmark decisions on negligence but also his modesty, philosophy, and writing style, which is considered remarkable for its prose and vividness. School of Law in New York and co-author of the recent book, "Actual Innocence," with DNA expert Barry Scheck. Based on the New York model, California Western School of Law, San Diego, will be heading up The California Innocence Project, providing pro bono legal assistance to inmates who are challenging their convictions based upon a showing of innocence through DNA or other new evidence. "We are very proud to lead this effort for the state of California, and our law students have been overwhelmingly eager to get started," said Dean Steven R. Smith Steven R. Smith is an American musician, instrument-builder, and printmaker often associated with the Jewelled Antler collective. Born in Fullerton, California and based in San Francisco and, more recently, Los Angeles, his musical output began in the mid-1990’s and continues . Thousands of inmates have turned to the Innocence Project for help after losing their freedom and livelihood. Barry Scheck has said that by the end of the year, he would like to see an Innocence Network based in law schools across the country. California Western School of Law, San Diego will take the lead in California, joining the University of Washington School of Law The University of Washington School of Law is the law school of the University of Washington. It is generally regarded as the top law school in the Pacific Northwest, as well as one of the top thirty law schools in the United States, as ranked by US News and World Report. , Seattle; University of Wisconsin Law School Facilities The law school is situated on Bascom Hill, the center of the UW-Madison campus. In 1996, the law school completed a major renovation project that joined two previous buildings and created a four-story glass atrium. , Madison; Northwestern University School of Law The Northwestern University School of Law is a private American law school in Chicago, Illinois. The law school was founded in 1876 and is one of eleven academic entities at Northwestern University. Northwestern enjoys a strong national reputation. , Chicago; and Nova Southeastern University Law Center in Ft. Lauderdale. California Western School of Law's Institute for Criminal Defense Advocacy (ICDA ICDA abbr. International Classification of Diseases, Adapted for Use in the United States ), directed by Justin Brooks, Esq., will be overseeing The California Innocence Project. With the start of the fall trimester, law students will assist in the appellate representation of inmates, in cases where there is strong evidence of innocence. Recent cases and reports have illustrated that among the nation's 1.3 million people in federal and state prisons there are those who have been convicted in spite of innocence. In the 1996 book entitled "Convicted By Juries, Exonerated by Science," the National Institute of Justice reported that innocent prisoners have been convicted based upon mistaken eyewitness testimony, false or coerced confessions, faulty forensics, prosecutorial misconduct, police misconduct, and ineffective assistance of counsel Ineffective assistance of counsel is an issue raised in legal malpractice suits and in appeals in criminal cases where a criminal defendant asserts that their criminal conviction occurred because their attorney failed to properly defend the case. . "If these factors led to wrongful convictions in just one percent of cases, then there are 13,000 innocent people languishing in American prisons," said Brooks. |
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