It was 2008, and mounting statistics were pointing to a problem with legal representation in the Keystone State.
"The national Innocence Project, based in New York, was getting an overwhelming number of inquiries from Pennsylvania — and Philadelphia in particular — and said clearly something is going on in Pennsylvania," said Nilam Sanghvi, legal director of the Pennsylvania Innocence Project.
IF YOU GO
● WHAT: Conversations for the Common Good: The Pennsylvania Innocence Project
● WHEN: Thursday, Oct. 8
● WHERE: WVIA Public Media Studios, 100 WVIA Way, Pittston
● DETAILS:
— Continuing Legal Education session, 4-5 p.m., for attorneys only
— Public reception, doors open at 5:15 p.m.
— Panel discussion taping, 6 p.m.
● HOW TO REGISTER: Tickets are free but limited. Visit this page to register.
That was the impetus to start the group, which represents clients who have been convicted in Pennsylvania state or federal court.
The mission of the Pennsylvania Innocence Project, which opened the following year, 2009, is to exonerate innocent people, prevent wrongful convictions and support formerly incarcerated individuals as they transition to freedom.
"Since we opened our doors, we've welcomed home 40 innocent people," said Sara Nolan, the group's director of development. "Together, they lost 1,000 years of their lives to wrongful incarceration."
WVIA is partnering with the Pennsylvania Innocence Project and the Myers, Brier & Kelly (MBK) legal firm to educate the public about the innocence movement in Pennsylvania, how wrongful convictions happen and what the community can do to help.
"Conversations for the Common Good: The Pennsylvania Innocence Project," is a television panel discussion that will be recorded before a live audience at 6 p.m. Thursday, Oct. 8 at WVIA Public Media Studios.
Public tickets to attend the taping are free, but limited, and available at this link.
The program will feature short-form documentaries that share the personal stories of individuals who were wrongly convicted.
Alongside conversation with legal advocates, it will highlight the perseverance it has taken panelists to obtain freedom and the varying aspects of each impacted person's reentry journey.
"The Innocence Project matters because the justice system works best when all stakeholders are vested in getting to a decision that's correct and held accountable when decisions that are incorrect are made," said attorney Daniel Brier, a partner in the MBK law firm who serves on the Pennsylvania Innocence Project board.
The project, which has offices in Philadelphia and Pittsburgh, serves wrongfully convicted people all over Pennsylvania.
"The event at WVIA is a great opportunity to make our neighbors here in Northeastern Pennsylvania aware of the important work that the project does," Brier said.
"I thought bringing the project here — including some of the exonerees who will share their very compelling stories — was the best way to get the word out," he said.
Falling through the cracks
Those 40 innocent people Nolan mentioned served, on average, close to 25 years per person, she said.
"It's a huge detriment," she said.
It also puts them in a position which sets them apart from other people returning to society after incarceration.
"They kind of fall through this gap where they're not necessarily able to go towards traditional reentry supports because they are not carrying that conviction," Nolan said.
"Nor are they able to just jump into your traditional educational or workforce development programming because they've missed huge amounts of time when they could have and should have been able to be involved in education and all kinds of other things," she said.
That is why the group has been developing reentry programs in recent years, Nolan said.
"I think it's really important for us to continue building that up," she said. "The more victories we see in court, the more we have a reentry population that is really in need of help to rebuild a life after this terrible wrong."
Protecting 'sacred' constitutional rights
WVIA News asked Brier what he would say to members of the public who might think those improper convictions are part of the cost of operating an imperfect human legal system that handles a massive number of cases every year.
"Well, I think in an abstract sense, people might be comfortable with that notion, but you'll never find someone who's comfortable with that notion if they know somebody who they believe is actually innocent, who has been convicted of a crime they didn't commit," Brier said.
"Our basic liberty and our basic constitutional right to be protected from unjust prosecutions is sacred," he said. "Without groups like the Innocence Project, without some corrective measure, I think the abuses in the system would get worse because they would never be exposed."
The project's overall Pennsylvania caseload hints at the potential for a significantly larger number of wrongful convictions than those which have been overturned.
While the project has welcomed home 40 innocent people, as Nolan put it, the group has received over 8,000 requests for assistance since it opened, Sanghvi said.
Determining whether a case is worth taking up requires "a rigorous four-stage review process that takes many years," Sanghvi said.
"It really takes us confirming that everything we're finding points towards that this person was not involved, and we're not seeing anything that suggests that they were involved in the crime in any way," she said.
That can include lab work such as DNA testing, or using evolving forensic fire science investigation techniques, Sanghvi explained.
But it's also about traditional interviewing skills and research.
"Sometimes it's just going out and talking to witnesses. What did they see? What didn't they see? Assessing their credibility," Sanghvi said. "It's also [about] if we're able to gain access to the full police investigation files and the district attorney's files, finding evidence of innocence that was known before trial and was never turned over."
"So, finding something pretty concrete pointing towards innocence is what tips us over to deciding that we want to take on the case," she said.
What sets Pennsylvania apart?
Back to 2008: What was it about Pennsylvania's criminal justice system that has generated so many referrals, prompting the national Innocence Project to look more closely at the state?
"There's a history of non-disclosure of exculpatory information in Pennsylvania, even though the Constitution says you have to provide it," Sanghvi said, referencing evidence that would exonerate a defendant.
That is particularly true in Philadelphia County, which is where most of the homicide convictions come from, she said.
"We also [were], until a couple years ago, the only state in the country that had no statewide funding for indigent defense," Sanghvi added. "And so the county-by-county funding system with really low rates for court-appointed counsel — who again handle most of the homicide cases in Philadelphia County — leads to really high rates of ineffective assistance of counsel compared to the rest of the country."
"The list goes on, but those are two examples of places where we're pretty starkly historically behind what other states are doing," she added. "And we're seeing ineffective assistance of counsel and official misconduct at much higher rates than you're seeing in many other places in the country."
Brier echoed those points.
"I will tell you that they get thousands of letters every year from people who seek their help," he said of the project.
"They're not all cases that are worthy of the project's effort and mission, but you know there has been, sadly, a history of prosecutions that were based on bad evidence and bad police work and bad DNA — or sometimes no DNA," Brier said.
"It's been a real issue."
