Aaron Thomas and Trish Palermo from Taft Law are volunteering with GNIP’s exonerated client Marvin Haynes to navigate what comes next in his legal journey after wrongful conviction. Read more about their experience.
Read moreGNIP legal intern reflects on first-hand post-conviction litigation experience
Summer legal intern, Anna Mae Engel, accompanied GNIP’s managing attorney, Andrew Markquart, to Mississippi to support during the evidentiary hearing for GNIP’s client, Amy Wilkerson. Amy has been incarcerated for a crime that she did not commit for 18 years. Below, Anna Mae details what it was like as a law student to attend the hearing and collaborate with the legal team to support Amy’s case.
Read moreMothers Never Flag in their Fights for Justice
This Mother’s Day is especially meaningful at the Great North Innocence Project. Already in 2023, we freed our first client who is a mother and saw her reunited with her children, and also grieved the loss of a freed client’s mother who never forgot about him.
Read moreVolunteer of the Month: Jacqueline Masse
Learn more about Jacqueline Masse and why she decided to volunteer for with the Great North Innocence Project.
Read moreThe Making of An Innocence Attorney
On February 15, Great North Innocence Project Managing Attorney Jim Mayer joined friends and family of his very first innocence client, Michael Wearry, to experience the height of any innocence attorney’s career: watching his client walk free from incarceration.
Read more about Michael's case and how Jim's experience working to free an innocent man from death row catalyzed his eventual career as a full time innocence attorney.
Read moreTwo of this year's Pro Bono Champion Award Winners Reflect on their Innocence Work with the Great North Innocence Project
At this year’s Benefit for Innocence, the Great North Innocence Project is debuting a new award, the Pro Bono Champion(s) of the Year Award, to recognize an individual pro bono volunteer or a pro bono team that have contributed significant time, expertise, resources, and passion towards investigating and litigating innocence cases in partnership with our organization.
This year, we’re honored to recognize the pro bono team representing GN-IP client Robert Kaiser with this award. Megan Christner, Alex Olson, and Sam Lockner of Carlson Caspers law firm, and Mark Bradford of Bassford Remele PA, have and continue to demonstrate their commitment to ensuring Robert Kaiser’s freedom after nearly 8 years of wrongful incarceration with passionate zeal.
We chatted with two of the awardees, Sam and Mark, to hear about their experiences as pro bono attorneys on a case whose outcome remains to be seen, but whose progress has been energizing and inspiring for all involved.
Meet GN-IP's New Law Clerk: Fionna Ek
During fall 2022, Fiona Ek is joining the Great North Innocence Project as a student law clerk. Fiona will be our office’s intake specialist and screen applications for potential new cases of innocence.
Read moreGN-IP visits Dakota Women's Correctional and Rehabilitation Center
In early August, GN-IP staff attorney Jim Mayer and director of communications & community outreach Hayley Drozdowski-Poxleitner traveled the eight hours to New England from Minneapolis to present about GN-IP’s services to the women at DWCRC. Adam Martin, GN-IP board member and CEO of the F5 Project, a nonprofit based out of Fargo that provides services and mentorship to formerly incarcerated people struggling with addiction recovery, joined Jim and Hayley.
Read more about what it’s like to present about GN-IP's services at a prison and the questions we heard from the audience.
New attorney joins GN-IP legal team
GN-IP is thrilled that Anna McGinn is joining the organization’s legal team as a Bank of America Fellow. A recent graduate of the University of Notre Dame School of Law, Anna will work with GN-IP for two years and increase our capacity to investigate claims of innocence, litigate cases where an innocent person has been wrongful convicted, and conduct advocacy towards criminal legal system reform.
Read moreLaw clerk Alexa Stebbins talks her first investigative trip & legal ethics
Summer law clerks Alexa Stebbins and Madison Wadsworth got their first taste of conducting legal investigations with a road trip to South Dakota this month to interview witnesses in a current GN-IP case. Prepped by GN-IP attorney Andrew Markquart, Alexa and Madison travelled to Hartford (a suburb of Sioux Falls) and Pine Ridge Reservation where they tracked down two people related to the case. We sat down with Alexa to learn more about what it takes to conduct legal investigations, what she learned from her trip, and why she believes innocence work is critical to making her a better attorney and our society a more just one.
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