Freedom Party 2022

A Celebration of Freedom & Community

What an amazing day at our second annual gathering specifically for freed people and their families, a Celebration of Freedom and Community. Since last year, our community has grown, allowing generations of families to come together in freedom and flourish. Attendees at this year’s event collectively lost more than 620 years to wrongful imprisonment. Several folks pictured spent more than four decades behind bars for a crime they did not commit. We held space together, we felt pain, but also resiliency, honesty, strength, and love. We are proud to stand with you and we respect you. The fight is never over.

Photo credit: Ellen Rogers Photography

NHPR Features NEIP Client, Jason Carroll

“Lawyers work to free N.H. man they say was coerced by police
to falsely confess to murder”

On June 29, 2022, we filed a motion to free our cient, Jason Carroll, who was wrongfully convicted of murder in New Hampshire. This is the first step in a long process, and we will never stop fighting until he is free and exonerated. If we are successful, as we must be, it will be the very first exoneration in a murder case in New Hampshire. Please read this NHPR piece o Jason’s story, listen to the 5-minute audio, and support our efforts to overturn this injustice.

NEIP Receives 2022 Champion of Justice Award

Discovering Justice Honors NEIP with 2022 Champion of Justice Award

More than 250 supporters gathered at the Moakley U.S. Courthouse to celebrate Discovering Justice’s 2022 Annual Gala: Connections and Community. Introduced by acting U.S. District Attorney Joshua Levy, Discovering Justice honored the New England Innocence Project with this year’s Champion of Justice award. We’re very grateful and humbled to be honored with this award and to be a part of such a special evening.

NEIP Executive Director, Radha Natarajan and Sean Ellis, Director of the Exoneree Network, delivered passionate talks about their work to free wrongfully convicted people from prison and help them rebuild in freedom. We appreciate all that Discovering Justice does to provide students and community members with civic education programs, helping them to explore the ideals of justice and engage in our democracy.

NEIP’s Executive Director, Radha Natarajan (pictured second from left), and Sean Ellis (pictured second from right), Director of the Exoneree Network, accepted the award. The event was attended by members of this community, including exonerees Robert Foxworth, James Watson, Dennis Maher, Ray Champagne, and more.

At the event, Discovering Justice played our “What Does Freedom Mean?” video and we wanted to share that video again here for folks who haven’t had a chance to view it, or would like to see it again. Find more videos and hear more exoneree stories on our YouTube Channel at www.youtube.com/newenglandinnocence.

Legislative Policy Update: June 2021 - 2022

Legislative Policy Update

Supporting changes that matter to communities we serve

In the past year, the New England Innocence Project testified in support of a number of legislative proposals that would have an impact on the people and communities we serve, including supporting exonerees upon their release from long-term incarceration, ending qualified immunity, and more.

Here are some key excerpts from testimony we gave over the past year:

Support for Wrongfully Convicted People After They Are Released from Prison

“I am here because many people believe that once a person is exonerated, they live like in fairy tales: happily ever after. The reality of life after prison, however, is anything but a fairy tale. Unfortunately, release after long periods of incarceration is like a second sentence but this one is served outside the prison walls. Few people leaving prison have the physical, social, or emotional resources and support necessary to restart their lives beyond the walls and this bill is necessary to start addressing those deficits. 

In Massachusetts, an exoneree spends, on average, 15 years incarcerated before they are released. That [means they’ve missed] 15 years of marriages, births, deaths, graduations, birthdays, and all other important family events. [They’ve also missed] 15 years of proper healthcare, educational opportunities, and work experiences. Immediately upon release, the Commonwealth that wrongfully incarcerated these folks, provides nothing by way of compensation for these losses or support for re-entry into society. While it’s possible to get some financial compensation through the court, this process is lengthy and far from straightforward. 

Many exonerees leave prison traumatized by their experiences behind bars. Not only have they missed the lives of their loved ones and their own lives outside the prison walls, but they have witnessed shocking and horrifying events from the confines of their cell. Technological changes outside the walls make reentry feel like time travel. 

[This bill] acknowledges the devastation of incarceration, provides accountability to the Commonwealth for the lives it stole, and aids the healing process of exonerees.”

– Executive Director Radha Natarajan testifies

Learn more about how you can support exonerees upon their release through the Exoneree Network.

The Dangers of Facial Recognition Technology

“I am here because in this age of ever-changing science, the adoption of unreliable technology can lead to wrongful convictions and years of wrongful imprisonment. Facial recognition technology (FRT) is unreliable, biased, and dangerous. These three qualities make FRT incongruent with a criminal legal system that prides itself on equity and fairness. FRT has no place in a courtroom or in a police station.”

– NH Staff Attorney Cynthia Mousseau testifies

Ending Life without Parole Sentences in Massachusetts

“The New England Innocence Project supports ending mandatory life without parole sentences. So many of our clients who are in prison right now, and nearly 40 percent of exonerees, were wrongfully convicted of murder and were sentenced to life without parole. When someone is murdered, there is significant community pressure for the police to make an arrest and to get a conviction. This kind of pressure leads to shortcuts in the investigation and it leads the police and prosecution to use unreliable evidence, such as informants and junk science. So far, in Massachusetts, life without parole sentences have stolen at least 695 years away from people convicted of murders they did not commit. 

I want to focus today on three reasons to give incarcerated people a CHANCE at parole after serving 25 years:

  • First, research shows that extreme sentences do not reduce crime rates. We know that as people age, they are rarely rearrested. In fact, the arrest rate at age 50 is only 2% and right now, 54% of people serving life without parole sentences in Massachusetts are over the age of 50. We also know that these sentences do not promote public safety because they have kept people in prison even when they were innocent.

  • Second, life without parole sentences disproportionately impact communities of color. While less than 10% of the state population is Black, 35% of the people serving these sentences are Black. In addition, Black people are disproportionately wrongfully convicted: in fact, 48% of exonerees in Massachusetts are Black. These statistics tell us that Black people are more likely to be wrongfully deprived of their freedom permanently without any hope for their release. 

  • Third, life without parole sentences are extremely expensive. As people age, it becomes more costly to house and care for them even as they are less likely to commit crimes. In 2020, even with COVID-19, we spent more money on incarceration than on public health. 

The proposed bill does not simply release people into the community. It merely provides a chance for them to demonstrate why it is safe to do so. This bill provides hope, sometimes the only thing innocent individuals can hold onto while incarcerated.”

– Executive Director Radha Natarajan testifies

Ending Life Without Parole Sentences in Rhode Island

“In the United States, there have been 3,096 exonerations, or cases in which a person was wrongly convicted of a crime and later cleared of all the charges based on new evidence of innocence.  34 of these innocent people were sentenced to death and 223 of them were sentenced to Life Without Parole.  These wrongful convictions were the result of flaws in our criminal legal system - both mistakes and purposeful wrongdoing, including mistaken eyewitnesses, unreliable forensic evidence, and coerced confessions.   And they are just the tip of the iceberg.  At the New England Innocence Project we receive hundreds of letters from innocent people in prison throughout New England each year asking for our help.

It is in part due to these known wrongful convictions that support for the death penalty has declined significantly around the country in the last 30 years.  A recent survey by the Pew Research Center found that 78% of American adults believe there is some risk that an innocent person will be put to death.  That risk is not mitigated by a Life Without Parole Sentence which is, at its core, a sentence to death in prison.”

– Staff Attorney Laura Carey testifies

Ending Qualified Immunity

“I am writing because the New England Innocence Project seeks to increase truth, accountability, and fairness in the criminal legal system. Qualified immunity provides unjust shelter to governmental actors who have engaged in unethical practices, which can result in the incarceration of people for crimes they did not commit, and prevent exonerees from collecting monetary compensation for the years of wrongful imprisonment they have suffered. In a criminal legal system that prides itself on equity and fairness, there is no room for doctrines that allow persons in power to behave with impunity.”

– Staff Attorney Laura Carey testifies

Preventing Wrongful Convictions By Challenging Unreliable Evidence

Preventing Wrongful Convictions By Challenging Unreliable Evidence

NEIP welcomes our inaugural Forensic Science Justice Attorney

Every day, in criminal courts across New England (and the nation), unreliable evidence is used to support prosecutions and take away people’s freedom.  This unreliable evidence can come in many forms including flawed “scientific” expert opinions, unreliable witness observations, and biased opinions from police officers that someone “looked suspicious.”  This evidence is admitted at bail hearings, pretrial hearings, and at trial, and it is nearly impossible to effectively challenge every piece of unreliable evidence for every person facing criminal charges. At the New England Innocence Project, we are committed to helping people who face criminal charges expose the errors in their cases and we are committed to bringing to light the ways our system has failed to safeguard freedom. 

We were fortunate enough to receive a grant from the Cummings Foundation to support a two-year fellowship for a special pilot program designed to prevent wrongful convictions before they happen by challenging unreliable evidence.  We are thrilled that Benjamin Evans joined our staff on March 1, 2022, as our inaugural Forensic Science Justice Attorney.

Benjamin Evans, Forensic Science Justice Attorney

Benjamin Evans had been a public defender for 16 years prior to joining NEIP. He had practiced in the Massachusetts trial and appellate courts, supervised public defenders, and was honored with the Massachusetts Bar Association’s Access to Justice Defender Award. CPCS, the Massachusetts public defender’s office, granted him a two-year leave in order to fulfill this important role with NEIP.

Benjamin began his work by meeting with public defenders to identify areas where he could support their efforts to challenge unreliable evidence. As a result of those conversations, he narrowed his focus to two main areas: examining identifications of people from surveillance footage – evidence that we know has caused wrongful arrests and wrongful convictions – and “expert” opinions by police officers that are known to be based on unreliable and/or biased foundations. 

We anticipate Benjamin’s work will have a significant impact and will further NEIP’s mission to prevent wrongful convictions.

In-depth Investigations Make Finding the Truth Possible

In-depth Investigations Make Finding the Truth Possible

In the past year, our investigators spent more than 1,550 hours
working on NEIP cases, involving more than 120 witnesses


When someone has been wrongfully convicted of a crime they did not commit, it often means their case has been built on unreliable evidence.  In a case involving faulty forensic science, we can bring in scientific experts to help uncover the error.  Or if physical evidence exists, we may be granted the chance to retest it with new technology - like DNA - to find answers.  But in the majority of cases, that unreliable evidence came from witnesses who lied or were mistaken.  As a result, we’re required to take on the more challenging work of demonstrating innocence through extensive investigations.  Our clients often tell us that what they want most is for the truth to come out. Our experienced and devoted investigators play a critical role in freeing innocent people, and without them, we could not meaningfully support our clients’ fight for truth and for freedom.

During the last year, NEIP has dedicated significant resources to the investigation of wrongful conviction cases.  We increased our investigative team, adding a third investigator who is focused on Connecticut cases and Massachusetts cases involving Spanish-speaking witnesses.

Collectively, our incredible investigators spent more than 1,550 hours working on NEIP cases, involving more than 120 witnesses. 

Pictured (left to right): Don Juan Moses, NEIP investigator John Nardizzi, and exoneree James Watson. James was exonerated in 2020 after being wrongfully incarcerated for 40 years.

These witnesses were from cases that are decades old and have been located both across the country and outside the United States.  We are fortunate to have investigators who leave no stone unturned in the pursuit of the truth, and overturning wrongful convictions requires nothing less.

Lawyers are often praised for their work in exonerations, while investigators can get overlooked in the story.  At the New England Innocence Project, we see investigation as an essential part of our work.  It is foundational to our clients’ quest to get answers about what actually happened. And we are so grateful to have exceptional investigators who make an impact every day as part of our team fighting for freedom.

Learn more about how investigative work helps free the innocent.

Pursuing Systemic Change through Our Amicus Work

Pursuing Systemic Change through Our Amicus Work

A Reflection on NEIP’s Policy Change Efforts, June 2021 - 2022

As part of our mission to correct and prevent wrongful convictions, we must continue to pursue systemic change through our amicus work.  Our advocacy efforts in court aim to make the law more responsive to people’s needs and community demands.

In the last year, we have filed numerous amicus letters and briefs in the Supreme Judicial Court. Here are just a few of the issues we have been raising with the Court in the last year:

  1. Gang evidence must be heavily scrutinized in joint venture cases because it takes on an outsized, and racialized, significance in jurors’ minds

  2. Showup identifications disproportionately contribute to wrongful convictions and should be excluded as admissible evidence in court except in rare circumstances

  3. The Court should abolish pretextual traffic stops: The overwhelming evidence of racial bias in pretext stops renders them unreasonable

  4. Police officers’ subjective perceptions of suspicion are neither inherently nor especially reliable

Our amicus work is just one of many ways we advocate for freedom and fight against injustice, and we are grateful to our community partners, with whom we work in coalition, as well as our pro bono partners, who support this aspect of our work.  The fight continues.

Your Help is Vital to Bringing Clients Home

Join the Fight for Freedom:
Have 2X the Impact until June 30, 2022

By Stephanie Hartung
Board member and Senior Staff Attorney,
New England Innocence Project


My name is Stephanie Hartung and I’ve been a proud board member at the New England Innocence Project for almost 10 years. When I was a young public defender, I saw first-hand how easily an innocent person can be wrongfully convicted in the American criminal system.

My first felony trial involved an innocent man charged with armed robbery. He was facing a mandatory sentence in prison and was being prosecuted solely based on eyewitness testimony. I knew that jurors can be – and are – easily persuaded by unreliable evidence, including mistaken eyewitness identifications. While my client was ultimately acquitted, he came too close to being wrongfully convicted.

Over the course of my career, it became painfully clear how often wrongful convictions happen and just how essential the work of the New England Innocence Project is – a lifeline for wrongfully convicted people who remain in prison and their loved ones.

 
 

Over the years, it’s been my privilege to watch NEIP grow as an organization, allowing the team to take on more cases, and making freedom possible for even more incarcerated people in need of help. In fact, I am thrilled and humbled to share that I will soon be joining NEIP full-time as a Senior Staff Attorney. Together, we can continue this work and make an even bigger impact.

Although I am joining the NEIP team at a time of great growth and success, there is so much work left to do. Without experts, investigators, and our community, we could not continue this work. Your help is vital to bringing our clients home, and to helping freed people heal after such tremendous loss.

Make a gift today and every dollar you give
will be matched (2X) until June 30, 2022 (up to $25,000).


Will you join me in the fight for freedom and consider making a matching gift today? Thank you!

Celebrating freedom, love, healing, and joy at the 2022 Innocence Network Conference

Enjoy images of freedom, love, joy, celebration, and healing!

Boston represented in Phoenix this April at the 2022 Innocence Network conference, the world's largest gathering of exonerees, freed people, their families and advocates, and others who work to create change. At the conference, the people freed after wrongful convictions together spent a collective 6,030 years in prison for crimes they did not commit. 

“It’s always a beautiful thing when the exoneree community comes together. In some ways, it’s because you know that the person standing next to you understands you more than your own family,” said exoneree Sean Ellis, Project Coordinator for the Exoneree Network. “Even if you might not know the person, they understand what you’ve gone through, so there is that relatability. I imagine it’s something like being a soldier at war who returns home. You come back to a world where nobody understands you, but you know that the person you were in the trenches with, they get it, and that’s comforting.”

Exoneree James Watson (center) rides in an airplane for the first time.

“At the conference, you have this cohort of people who, almost to a person, had spent 30 or more years in prison. It seemed like each one of them was experiencing multiple firsts,” said NEIP board member, Lisa Kavanaugh, Director of the CPCS Innocence Program.  “They were different for each person, but there was something very powerful about watching those moments and how they appreciated them for each other.”

For some, it was their first time on an airplane in decades, if not the first flight in their lifetime. For others, after years wrongfully convicted and imprisoned, taking a plunge in the resort swimming pool was likened to “being baptized.”  Basking in the Arizona sunlight, this unique community came together in solidarity, sharing hugs, tears, celebrations, and healing.

“I’ve had the privilege of attending the Innocence Network Conferences with NEIP for the last 10 years,” said NEIP board member, Stephanie Hartung. “I never cease to be inspired by this unique and special community of exonerees and all the people who work for their freedom — family, supporters, attorneys, staff, investigators, and journalists. I’m so proud to be a part of the NEIP team, and the innocence community.”

“For me, it was also awesome to see all of the attorneys, and the people who helped work for our freedom, celebrate with us. It felt great to see how they are still so invested in our lives,” said exoneree Ray Champagne (pictured right at the Innocence Network Conference), Research and Planning Coordinator for the Exoneree Network. “There is a message there that you are important not just because of your wrongful conviction, but as a human being,” adds Ray.

The Boston Globe reporter, Andrew Ryan, even wrote a special front page feature story about the event, as well as the important work of the Exoneree Network and the leadership of exonerees Sean Ellis and Ray Champagne.

The Exoneree Network, a peer-led initiative funded by the New England Innocence Project, fosters a welcoming community for freed people while supporting the practical, emotional, and spiritual reentry needs of exonerees as they work to rebuild their lives in freedom.

While every release and reunion after years of wrongful incarceration is joyous, it is not always easy. There is no existing infrastructure to assist an innocent person who spent decades in prison for a crime they did not commit.  Therefore, exonerees returning from long-term incarceration back into the community must rebuild from almost nothing.

“We have many short and long term goals for the Exoneree Network and one of our larger and more immediate goals is the acquisition of an ‘Exoneree House,’ which is important for so many reasons,” said Sean Ellis.  “When an exoneree is released from prison, oftentimes you have no family to come home to and little-to-no resources and it is a struggle to find secure housing. With an Exoneree House, we can provide a safe and supportive place to stay while offering resources and wrap-around services, including job and tech training, as we start to transition and reclaim our lives back.  With public support, I think we can make this dream a reality, and provide much-needed hope and good will to people who had so much taken from them.”

To learn more about the Exoneree Network and how you can provide support, please click below.

DNA Testing Can Give Us Answers: Every DA’s Office Should Want Them

 

DNA Testing Can Give Us Answers:
Every DA’s Office Should Want Them

 

Today is National DNA Day, a day where we celebrate the power of DNA to help us find answers. DNA can help us get information about our ancestors or develop responses to medical conditions. It can also uncover terrible miscarriages of justice: it can demonstrate that someone was wrongfully convicted and imprisoned for a crime they did not commit.

At the New England Innocence Project, wrongful convictions are far from theoretical. We receive hundreds of letters from innocent people in prison throughout New England each year asking for our help. In some of these cases, if physical evidence was collected and still exists, we can test it for DNA to show the person convicted was not the person who committed the crime.

To date, there have been 552 exonerations in which DNA testing played a role. So far, DNA evidence has been critical to proving the innocence of two of our own clients in Massachusetts, Dennis Maher and Gary Cifizzari. Both Dennis and Gary were given life sentences. The evidence against them appeared indisputably strong to the juries, judges, appellate courts, and prosecutors who presided over their cases. In Dennis’s case, five eyewitnesses identified him. In Gary’s case, 3 bitemark experts claimed his mouth made the marks on the victim’s body. In both cases, this evidence was wrong, and the DNA evidence definitively proved what they had been saying all along: They were innocent. Together, Dennis and Gary spent 54 years in prison for crimes they did not commit.  And they are not alone. DNA testing has been shown to be a reliable and accurate way to find answers. So, why would any DA’s office deny or delay our requests to conduct this kind of scientific testing?

For the people we represent throughout New England, some of whom have been incarcerated in harsh conditions for 10, 20, or even 30 years, awaiting a chance to prove their innocence, the additional obstacles created by prosecutors simply to get DNA testing can be excruciating and are entirely unwarranted. While there is no denying the accuracy of DNA testing, a request for testing, and even a result that affirms our client’s innocence, does not actually overturn a defendant’s conviction. A court still has to review the evidence and decide how to proceed. In some cases, prosecutors had originally sought scientific testing before conviction, but the technology was not advanced enough to get results. Incredibly, even in those cases, some prosecutors will still oppose post-conviction DNA testing. That’s true even though payment for testing does not come out of a prosecutor’s budget. The New England Innocence Project has paid for testing through donations we receive and through federal grants from the Department of Justice. In one case, our incarcerated client even paid for part of the testing in his own case. Finally, DNA testing is conducted by a private lab and the results are shared simultaneously with the prosecution and the defense.

In some Massachusetts counties – including Middlesex, Suffolk, and Hampden – we have been able to get agreements to testing very quickly, allowing us to get answers without extensive legal filings, hearings, and burdens placed on experts and witnesses. When we have to fight for DNA testing through litigation, it can add months and sometimes years to the process, while our clients languish in prison.

Many District Attorneys have received federal grants to test evidence in old sexual assault cases and have used DNA evidence to pursue leads in unsolved “cold” cases. This April 25, we call on District Attorney’s offices throughout the region to extend their reliance on DNA testing to cases where people assert their innocence, including our current and future clients, and where there is evidence that could provide long-awaited answers.

It is clear to all willing to look that wrongful convictions are not unicorns. In fact, they happen regularly. Where prosecutors are willing to examine old convictions, where they are willing to value justice over finality, we can truly find answers. That’s all we want. That’s what any of us should want. And, at minimum, that’s what we should expect from every District Attorney.

Nobody understands the struggle like an exoneree

"Nobody understands the impact of living in a cage, except for someone who has been there."

— Ray Champagne, Exoneree &
Exoneree Network Research & Planning Coordinator

Photos by Tony Irving Photography

The men pictured above were wrongfully convicted in Massachusetts. They are now part of a community that supports each other through the journey of returning home after long-term imprisonment. The Exoneree Network, led by exoneree and NEIP Trustee, Sean Ellis, and exoneree Ray Champagne, aims to provide essential support for freed people  — from housing assistance and psychological support to phones and technological training.

Boston Globe features the Exoneree Network

The Boston Globe reporter Andrew Ryan captures the leadership of Sean Ellis and Ray Champagne and the important work of the Exoneree Network in this feature, “As more wrongful convictions unravel, exonerees help one another adjust to life beyond bars”.

Read the article

On Sunday, March 13, the Exoneree Network hosted a community gathering (see photo slide show above) to celebrate freedom and to welcome home Stephen Pina, who was just released after 28 years wrongfully incarcerated.

“Prison is an ugly place. When you come out, that doesn’t shut off. Guys have a hard time. I had a hard time and I’m still struggling, but I personally have a lot of support and that support has grown through the Exoneree Network,” said Ray Champagne, exoneree and Research & Planning Coordinator for the Exoneree Network. “Nobody understands the impact of living in a cage, except for someone who has been there. We have to be a larger voice for each other.”

“For me, this work is healing. If I can use my experience to help somebody coming after me, so they don’t have to struggle to the degree I have struggled, I’d want to provide that,” said Sean Ellis, exoneree, NEIP Trustee and Exoneree Network Project Coordinator. “This event was an opportunity for members of the community to come together for the first time in a long time, in fellowship, and kind of have a check-in with one another.”

“For me, it was the first time I had an introduction to everybody outside of Zoom. It was just a time for exonerees, those freed-but-fighting, and their people to meet each other and mingle and be free together on the other side of the prison wall,” said Ray. “The Exoneree Network offers each newly released person who needs them a phone and a laptop. We also had a couple of individuals from Roca giving technical training to people who attended for anybody who wanted it.”

“There is a need for the people who have been recently released to be empowered and feel a sense of individuality, rather than property,” adds Sean. “To the extent that we can help someone just coming home to not have to continue to ask how to use a phone or technology, we’re trying to empower one another to try to make this transition out into the world to break out of the subservient kind of relationship.”

“If you don’t have anybody supporting you, you have nothing when you go from your prison cell to walking out of the courthouse. You have no immediate funds. You can’t even go buy a cup of coffee or water.  We have the New Day fund where we give $500 to each individual who is freed. It’s not a lot, but for some it’s a lifeline,” said Ray.

In addition to food and technology training, the Exoneree Network had a selection of toys for people to select from for the young people in their lives. The toys had been donated by the Massachusetts Court Reporters Association and were displayed at the community gathering, providing exonerees with a chance to bring surprises home to their children, grandchildren, nieces, and nephews. The event space was generously donated by Roca in Chelsea. 

“The event was a chance to welcome Stephen Pina into the exoneree community,” said Sean. “I spent time with Stephen on the inside and then to ultimately see him come home six years after my release and welcome him into a safe community that understands what he’s gone through; to be able to provide him with these critical tools that are going to help him, not just continue to fight his case, but to also help him acclimate to the outside world, I can’t stress enough how meaningful that was.”

“The Exoneree Network event was just a really awesome experience, it was momentous on a personal level,” said Ray.  “When you help somebody, you feel good. Nothing gives me greater joy than to help people do for themselves.”

“We can only do this work with the financial support from our community,” said Sean. “Whatever the Exoneree Network gets in donations, we give to help freed people rebuild their lives, and there is such incredible need. With the community's help, we look forward to doing more of this in the future.”


Brown & Rudnick Recognizes Radha Natarajan in Women's History Month Celebration

Brown & Rudnick LLP features Natarajan in “Women Trailblazer” Series

"I am proud of standing with people in their fight for freedom."

As part of their Women’s History Month celebrations, pro bono partner Brown & Rudnick LLP, features a Q&A with our Executive Director, Radha Natarajan, in their “Women Trailblazers”.

We are honored to have strong women leaders at the New England Innocence Project fighting everyday for freedom!

NEIP to be Honored at Discovering Justice 2022 Annual Gala, June 22

We're pleased to share that Discovering Justice will be honoring the New England Innocence Project with the 2022 Champion of Justice Award at their June Gala, "Connections & Community," on June 22, 2022.

Discovering Justice provides thousands of students across Massachusetts with access to enriching civics programs that emphasize critical thinking, compassion, and self-discernment, to encourage students to be bold leaders and agents for change in their communities.

The event will take place on the evening of Wednesday, June 22, 6 - 8:30 p.m. at Harborside, on the lawn of the John Joseph Moakley U.S. Courthouse. We look forward to participating in this event!

Executive Director, Radha Natarajan, Invited to Participate in Women of Color Leadership Circle

As part of an ongoing effort to uplift the leadership and voices of women of color in Greater Boston, The Boston Foundation and Boston Women’s Fund has announced the fifteen nonprofit leaders who comprise the 2022 Anna Faith Jones & Frieda Garcia Women of Color Leadership Circle, including NEIP Executive Director, Radha Natarajan.

The Circle is a six-month cohort program that seeks to honor the leadership, strength, and resilience of women of color who do incredible work within their communities and provide them with a cherished space to share challenges and opportunities.

“Undisclosed” Podcast Features NEIP Client

Season 6 of the Podcast “Undisclosed” Features NEIP Client, Jason Carroll
The State vs. Jason Carroll


Our client, Jason Carroll, was wrongfully convicted of murder in New Hampshire. Based on a false confession, one of the leading causes of wrongful convictions, Jason has now spent nearly 32 years in prison for a crime he did not commit. No one in NH has ever been exonerated after a murder conviction. We are fighting for Jason Carroll's freedom and exoneration. Attorney Rabia Chaudry covers the case in Season 6 of the Undisclosed Podcast, the State vs. Jason Carroll. Listen to Season 6 of Undisclosed and look out for updates on Jason's case.

Sean Ellis to Participate in Panel Discussion at UMass Lowell

“Do You See What I See? The Wrongful Incarceration of Sean K. Ellis”
Wednesday, February 16, 4 - 6 p.m.


WHEN: February 16, 4 - 6 p.m.

WHERE: University Crossing, Room UCC 260, 200 Pawtucket St., Lowell, MA 01854

ABOUT: University of Massachusetts Lowell is hosting a panel discussion featuring exoneree and NEIP Trustee, Sean K. Ellis, as well as NEIP Executive Director, Radha Natarajan; Miko M. Wilford and Erica Gagne, PH.D. of UMass Lowell

Event is free and open to the public

A new year in freedom

Exoneree Robert Foxworth reflects on his first year of freedom
and shares hope for the year ahead

“This past year was my first year in freedom after almost three decades in prison for a crime I did not commit. When the state of Massachusetts finally ordered my release, they merely opened the prison doors and said ‘you’re a free man’. For nearly 30 years, while I was wrongfully in their custody and under their control, they held the obligation of providing for my basic needs. In fact, if I had died in their custody, the state would have buried me. Yet upon my release, they offered no assistance in getting my life back on track. I was released in the middle of a pandemic, so jobs were not available. Income to buy food, clothing, and any necessities just wasn't there. How could the state concede that I’d been wrongfully convicted, wrongfully taken from my family for almost 30 years, yet offer me no help?

Thanks to my attorneys, my community, and to my family, I survived. Not everyone is so lucky. And while this first year was hard and painful at times, it was also quite beautiful. I've met people who mean the world to me. To them, I want to say thank you and I love you.

As I enter a new year in freedom, I hope to see the New England Innocence Project, and all of those who work tirelessly to help people like me, keep up their diligence and determination to get those who are wrongfully convicted released from prison. I truly celebrate when someone in our community finds freedom, because I know their situation all too well. For years I told anyone that would listen that I was wrongfully convicted. For so long, my words fell on deaf ears.

So while the New England Innocence Project keeps up their fight to right these wrongs, I will fight right beside them. I honor and respect all that they do on behalf of everyone they fight for.”

— Robert Foxworth,
Exonerated in January 2021

Hear more from Robert: Watch the video

Learn more about the peer-led Exoneree Network, which provides much needed support to exonerees in New England as they work to rebuild their lives in freedom.

Giving Tuesday Special Offer: Receive an Origami Gift

Thank you to all who donated to this campaign!


Giving Tuesday is November 30, a global day of giving, and
we're honoring the day in two very special ways:

 
 

  • First, donate $100 or more by midnight on Giving Tuesday, November 30 and you will receive an origami crane or wolf (pictured above) handmade by exoneree, Scott Hornoff. Inspired by the Japanese tradition and honoring the history of folding paper for symbolism and hope, Scott saw courage and freedom in these special animals during his wrongful imprisonment. Below, read how origami became a part of Scott's fight to overturn his conviction.

  • Second, Giving Tuesday is the official launch of our year end MATCH campaign! Thanks to a generous donor, all donations made from November 30 through December 31, 2021 will be DOUBLED (up to $25,000) dollar-for-dollar for twice (2X) the impact.

Learn more about Scott’s story, how he discovered origami, and the symbolism of the crane and wolf below.

Scott’s Story

Envisioning Freedom Through Origami

"In 1996, without any witnesses or evidence linking me to the crime, I was tried and convicted of first degree murder, and sentenced to life in prison for a crime I did not commit. I was scared, in shock and numb. I knew my fight for truth and freedom was going to take years, and I knew I was going to have a lot of time on my hands. Besides writing thousands of letters asking for help and spending countless hours in the law library researching my case and helping others, I  read hundreds of books, wrote a screenplay, poems, and taught myself to draw, but one of the first things I did was learn to fold origami.

I purchased a book of origami through a popular inmate bookselling company (Edward R Hamilton), and the two folds that I gravitated towards were the crane and the wolf. The wolf symbolizes courage, strength, perseverance and freedom. The crane reminded me somewhat of a phoenix, and I imagined myself ultimately spreading my wings and rising out of the fire and ashes of my confinement. I mailed many to family and friends, and even gave a few to other inmates.

Since my release and exoneration in 2002, I have revisited my book of origami from time to time and folded cranes and wolves, recalling the time I sat on my prison bunk doing that very thing for hours. Recently, a thought came to me of how I might share this art with others while also helping some of my heroes, the New England Innocence Project. This is my small way of trying to give back to a group of people who tirelessly fight for others' freedom and to prove their innocence when they have been all but forgotten."

- Scott Hornoff, Exoneree