The opportunity to stand up for social justice is drawing more and more students to the University of Cincinnati College of Law.

"More of our students come in with an interest in seeing justice done, seeing right prevail," says associate dean Barbara Watts, MA (Ed) '69, JD '78. "They're eager to roll up their sleeves and begin doing the right thing."

Roughly 27 percent of upper-class law students participate in the optional real-world experiences, Watts estimates. "They feel good about helping people while they're learning. It's a lot of work, but it's compelling, engaging work. And it's amazing to see how devoted they become."

The state of Ohio allows third-year law students to work with real clients under direct supervision of an attorney. The College of Law offers its students three types of real-client experiences:

Domestic Relations/Domestic Violence Clinic -- UC students represent clients seeking relief from domestic violence or legal assistance with child support, child custody and visitation. The clinic is operated in partnership with the Legal Aid Society of Greater Cincinnati.

Appellate Practice Clinic -- Possibly the first program of its kind in the Midwest, the clinic lets student teams spend a year working on appeal cases for indigent defendants and argue before the court. The firm Squires, Sanders and Dempsey pays for attorney Pierre Bergeron to work with the students one day a week. In 2005, the students won a motion to keep an immigrant from being deported while his appeal was pending. The appellate clinic lasts a year so students "see all the aspects of the appeal from beginning to the end," Bergeron says. "It's kind of daunting when you first take a case on appeal. I don't want the students to be intimidated. I want them to be comfortable with the whole process."

The Innocence Project -- The national program works to exonerate the wrongfully convicted through post-conviction DNA testing and evidence that can conclusively prove innocence. The Ohio Innocence Project, based at UC, was founded in 2003, at a time that Ohio statistically had one of the largest prison populations without access to an Innocence Project. Funded entirely through private donations, the project provides the kind of legal experience unmatched in the classroom or on most jobs available to law students.

Initially, 19 students began working full time on the project over a summer, screening more than 250 requests from prisoners, then selecting six cases for complete investigation based upon the possibility of introducing new evidence to exonerate the prisoners, such as DNA testing or digital enhancement of old video films. During the school year, work continued on a part-time basis for class credit under the direction of Mark Godsey, UC professor and former federal prosecutor.

UC students had their first victory early in 2005 when Gary Reece walked away from prison after serving 25 years of a 75-year sentence for the rape and attempted murder of a woman in his apartment building.

No forensic evidence ever tied Reece to the case to begin with, and four UC students spent a year and a half developing new evidence. Their efforts included bringing a prominent forensic investigator into the case and establishing that the rape victim had a history of self-mutilation.

In 2007, the Ohio Innocence Project was subject matter for pilot episodes for two different TV series. "Court TV" featured one of the UC cases in debuting a new series called "Justice Delayed." Earlier in the fall, a new A&E network series called "Innocence Files" featured three UC students and their work developing the ongoing case of inmate Glenn Tinney.

In the Project’s four years of existence at that time, the students, who work with real clients under direct supervision of professors and an attorney, had screened thousands of requests from prisoners and had produced enough evidence to free three men.

In the spring of 2007, benefactors Lois (A&S ’60) and Richard Rosenthal had made their second $1 million gift to the college in support of the Lois and Richard Rosenthal Institute for Justice/Ohio Innocence Project.

In April 2010, law students' successful work through the Innocence Project paved the way for groundbreaking reform in wrongful convictions early when Ohio Gov. Ted Strickland signed into law Senate Bill 77, which sets statewide standards for retaining biological evidence, requires the taking of DNA in felony arrests and requires new procedures for police lineups.

No. 2 — Clarence Elkins (2005)
Read his full story here.

No. 3 — Christopher Bennett (2006)
Read his full story here.

No. 4 — Paul Bruce (2008)
Released after serving more than 14 years in prison and having maintained his innocence the entire time.

No. 5 — Robert McClendon (2008)
Imprisoned on a rape charge in 1990, Ohio inmate Robert McClendon gained his freedom in 2008 after UC law students convinced the court to grant a DNA test. (See a video with McClendon.)

No. 6 — Joseph Fears (2009)
Another wrongfully convicted Ohio prisoner went free in March thanks to the Ohio Innocence Project, which is based at UC. After serving time for a 1983 rape committed in Columbus, Ohio, Joseph Fears Jr., 61, went free in March 2009 when student research encouraged a county prosecutor to search for evidence eligible for DNA testing. Results proved another felon committed the crime.

No. 7 — Nancy Smith (2009)
After serving 15 years for children molestation, Nancy Smith, a Head Start bus driver, was exonerated when a Loraine County Common Pleas Court judge granted a new trial, then acquitted her in 2009. OIP faculty and students say that her conviction was based upon the testimony of very young children who had been coached by their parents and that the children’s stories both contradicted each other and contained inaccuracies. In the end, the children and their parents received millions of dollars in settlements.

But in January 2009, the Ohio Supreme Court reinstated the original conviction, ruling that Judge James Burge lacked the authority to hold a new sentencing entry and issue an acquittal. In April 2011, the OIP filed a petition with Gov. John Kasich asking him for clemency because the Supreme Court did not overturn the finding that she was not guilty.

Read more here.

No. 8 — Willie Knighten Jr. (2009)
Read his whole story here.

No. 9 — Raymond Towler (2010)
After nearly three decades of being locked up for a crime he did not commit, 52-year-old Raymond Towler was released from prison in May 2010. The Cleveland man was the longest serving wrongfully incarcerated inmate to be released in Ohio history and one of the longest in United States history.

DNA testing conclusively proved that Towler was not the perpetrator in a juvenile rape and assault case that occurred in 1981. UC law students Eric Gooding, Brian Howe, Matt Katz and Chris Brown worked on the case with Professor Mark Godsy, Ohio Innocence Project director. (Watch a video of Tower talking to UC students.)

No. 10 — Walter “Wally” Zimmer (2011)
Wally Zimmer served 12 years in prison for a murder based primarily on the testimony of a “snitch” who said he saw Zimmer and another man commit the murder. The Ohio Innocence Project worked on the case for more than five years when DNA testing not only failed to implicate Zimmer, but revealed that the snitch’s DNA was all over the crime scene. Furthermore, the victim’s blood was found on the snitch’s pants.

After the DNA results came in, prosecutors offered to release Zimmer and drop murder charges if he would plead guilty to a theft charge. Zimmer took the deal. (His co-defendant, represented by the New York Ohio Innocence Project, was also released.) Read more.

No. 11 — David Ayers (2011)
After serving a decade for a murder that he had always said he didn’t commit, David Ayres was freed from the Cuyahoga County jail on Sept. 12, 2011. In 2010, the Ohio Innocence Project was instrumental in getting DNA testing done, which excluded Ayers from key evidence at the crime scene. (Read his whole story.)

No. 12 — Roger “Dean” Gillispie (2011)
After serving 20 years in prison for rapes that he had always maintained he did not commit, 46-year-old Roger “Dean” Gillispie walked out of prison into the arms of his mother and father on Dec. 22, 2011. The Ohio Innocence Project worked on this case (its first case) for nine years before a federal judge overturned Gillispie's conviction based upon him not getting a fair trail in 1991. (Read his whole story.)

New state standards

On a broader scale, two years of UC law students' research paved the way for groundbreaking reform in wrongful convictions in 2010. In April of that year, Ohio Gov. Ted Strickland signed into law Senate Bill 77, which sets statewide standards for retaining biological evidence, requires the taking of DNA in felony arrests and requires new procedures for police lineups.

LINKS:
UC hosts 1st International Innocence Project Conference
Clarence Elkins freed
David Ayers freed
Dean Gillispie freed
Ohio Innocence project website
Watch video of Towler on MSNBC
Watch video of exonorees' music, artwork from UC's New Media Bureau
Two-Minute Science Lesson: How Forensic DNA Testing Works