Members of the campus chapter of the Ohio Innocence Project with the San Antonio Four, wrongfully incarcerated for the sexual assault of two girls, the nieces of one of them, in the late 1990s.
Ohio University students are taking advantage of opportunities to help the falsely accused and convicted through a collaboration between the Ohio Innocence Project and the Center for Law Justice & Culture.
The Ohio Innocence Project, an initiative based at the University of Cincinnati’s College of Law and dedicated to seeking justice for these wronged populations, also provides research and career advancement opportunities, such as law clerking, for OHIO students and alumni.
Campus chapters of the Ohio Innocence Project-U educate undergraduates and the community about the causes of wrongful convictions and the plight of the exonerated. The OHIO campus chapter has been active for four years, bringing speakers to campus and participating in statewide conferences.
Dr. Haley Duschinski and Larry Hayman lead the Ohio University campus chapter of the Ohio Innocence Project-U, which creates opportunities for student advocacy at colleges and universities throughout the state. Duschinski is Associate Professor and center director, and Hayman—an attorney and an OHIO alum—is OHIO’s Pre-Law Advisor.
Students pose on stage with the San Antonio Four guest speakers.
Calling Attention to the Plight of the Innocent
The Ohio Innocence Project lobbies and educates prosecutors and defense attorneys on wrongful convictions. They also assist exonerees in seeking redress from the government, which depends in part on the prosecutor and county in a given case. Since its inception, work by the Ohio Innocence Project has led to the release of 28 wrongfully convicted Ohioans, who collectively served over 525 years behind bars. “That makes us one of the top-performing members among the international Innocence Network,” the Ohio Innocence Project’s website states.
“The goal,” Hayman says, “is to prevent wrongful convictions, rather than focusing solely on exonerations.”
Students also engage in fundraising initiatives, which recently assisted in the development of an Innocence Project chapter in Puerto Rico.
A Strong Presence on Campus and in Ohio
OHIO’s chapter, which is dynamic and growing, is one of Ohio’s largest OIP-u chapters. Hayman and six OHIO students recently attended an Ohio Innocence Project conference in Columbus and made a strong showing.
“Of the five institutions represented at the conference, OHIO was the largest contingent by far,” Hayman explains. “The purpose of the conference was to discuss and ensure shared goals, form collaborations, and develop next year’s OIP-u plans and initiatives,” he adds.
Students attend OIP-u Conference led by OHIO alum Pierce Reed
The conference was spearheaded by Pierce Reed, an OHIO alum (’86) and recent College of Arts & Sciences Notable Alumnus, who serves as the Program and Policy Systems Liaison for the Ohio Innocence Project.
OHIO’s chapter has been able to host several exciting Ohio Innocence Project events:
- “Brendan Dassey: A True Story of False Confession”—presented by Dassey’s post-conviction attorney Steven Drizin. Drizin discussed wrongful convictions, juvenile legal issues, and law enforcement pressures. Dassey’s false confession was featured prominently in the popular documentary, Making a Murderer.
- “Blind Injustice: A Former Prosecutor Exposes the Psychology and Politics of Wrongful Convictions”—featuring Mark Godsey, co-founder and director of the Innocence Project. Godsey is also the author of Blind Injustice.
- A screening of The Central Park Five—a film that chronicled the false confessions and convictions of five men wrongly accused in the Central Park jogger case. One of the five, Dr. Yusef Salaam, attended the film screening and a panel discussion.
- A screening of Southwest of Salem: The Story of the San Antonio Four, attended by the four women wrongfully accused of molesting two young girls. They spent 15 years in prison fighting for their freedom.
Nick Eaton, Katie Basalla and Alexa Jesser
OHIO Students Launching Legal Careers
During the 2017-18 school year, several OHIO students were accepted to the University of Cincinnati College of Law—the home institution for the Ohio Innocence Project. Three of these students, Nick Eaton, Alexa Jesser, and Katie Basalla, have been selected to be Ohio Innocence Project fellows.
After their first year of coursework, the fellows will work at the Ohio Innocence Project as law clerks.
“The fellowship is very selective,” Hayman explains. “Only a few are offered each year, so having three students from OHIO receive the fellowship is remarkable. All three of these students earned CLJC undergraduate certificates at OHIO,” he adds.
OHIO launched a Master of Arts program in Law, Justice & Culture in Fall 2018, which is already proving a success.
Devin Ordich
Hayman notes OHIO alum Devin Ordich as a particularly illustrative example. Ordich, who earned her B.S. in Forensic Chemistry in 2018, is currently pursuing an M.A. in Law, Justice & Culture, is “interested in the intersection between law and science, as well as wrongful convictions,” Hayman states.
Ordich, too, is doing work with a forensic attorney for the Ohio Innocence Project as part of her M.A.
“Ordich’s duties include examining files and testimony, checking for gaps between law and science, and assessing what can one really testify to,” Hayman notes.
Learning Communities Lead the Way
Students who are interested in the legal profession begin to receive invaluable training during their first semester at OHIO, where the campus learning communities incorporate the Ohio Innocence Project’s invaluable mission.
Hayman teaches the pre-law first-year learning community, while Duschinski teaches the law, justice and culture first-year learning community. Ohio Innocence Project presentations take place in both.
Duschinski also teaches first-year students about the Ohio Innocence Project and wrongful convictions in CLJC’s innovative interdisciplinary first-year course, CAS 2500: Breaking the Law. This course, which enrolls 80 students each fall semester, provides a gateway to the CLJC undergraduate curriculum, and it focuses on law and justice in relation to citizenship, global affairs, human rights, public health, and science and technology.
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