A department of Justice grant to the LSU Law Center and Innocence Project New Orleans will help establish the school’s Wrongful Conviction Clinic. Professor Robert Lancaster, Assistant Dean of Experiential Education says the half a million grant will allow students to learn about the causes and remedies of wrongful convictions and procedures.
“To obtain not only the evidence but the ability for someone to go back into court and to demonstrate that they were wrongfully convicted,” said Lancaster.
Lancaster says the Clinic will allow IPNO to expand its capacity to review cases, locate evidence, and conduct DNA testing. It will also allow LSU Law students to gain practical experience.
“So, it’s a great opportunity for our students, not only to work with attorneys that do this on a regular basis, but also gain real lawyering skills while they’re still in law school,” said Lancaster.
Lancaster says the goal is to enroll six to eight law students, each semester in the program.
“Because it will be very important to give them intensive supervision of their work. These will all be third-year law students qualified to practice under the Louisiana Supreme Court student practice rule,” said Lancaster.
As of October 2020, IPNO has already assisted in the exoneration or freeing of 36 innocent individuals who’ve spent a combined total of more than 873 years in prison.
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