How a Louisiana nonprofit helped wrongful conviction go mainstream

Innocence and Justice Louisiana celebrates its 25th anniversary this weekend — and the 78 people its legal team has helped get free from life sentences.

Why it matters: Once someone is convicted and faces a life sentence, their legally mandated representation generally ends after a direct appeal, even though other appeal options may remain.

That's where the nonprofit steps in, and its work has helped bring the idea of wrongful conviction into the mainstream.

What they're saying: "The innocence movement in the last 25 years has changed the discourse in the criminal legal system," says IJLA executive director Jee Park. "Just because there's smoke, there isn't [always] fire."

A lot has changed about how criminal justice plays out and gets investigated in the past few decades, especially with technological advancements in DNA science.

The National Registry of Exonerations, for example, tracks false convictions beginning in 1989 — the same year that DNA first helped exonerate someone, Park notes.

"Even if [police] are working carefully and thoroughly, they make mistakes, they have tunnel vision, they settle on a suspect, and they [can] begin to build a case around the suspect as opposed to the facts of the crime," Park says.

"We've shown that over and over and over and over again in our cases."

Catch up quick: IJLA was founded as Innocence Project New Orleans in 2001 when recent Tulane Law graduate Emily Bolton noticed the discrepancy in how the state requires legal representation for convicted people who are sentenced to death — but not for those sentenced to life in prison.

In those cases, many learned to represent themselves.

One example: Calvin Duncan, the "jailhouse lawyer" who worked with IJLA to prove his innocence and who was later elected New Orleans clerk of criminal district court. (He faces another court battle after that office was eliminated.)

The intrigue: The organization also pursues compensation for people the state recognizes as wrongfully convicted, though Louisiana Attorney General Liz Murrill has opposed nearly all compensation claims since taking office in January 2024, Verite's Richard Webster reports.

What's next: IJLA will celebrate its anniversary Saturday at a gala at Xavier University.

Duncan will receive the organization's John Thompson Award for Courage and Justice during the event.