Innocence Project New Orleans
Innocence Project New Orleans (IPNO) is a nonprofit legal organization that represents innocent and unjustly sentenced people serving life sentences in Louisiana and southern Mississippi. It is the first organization in the Innocence Network to be established in the Deep South. Based in Mid City, New Orleans neighborhood of New Orleans, it is staffed by attorneys and non-legal staff and supported by volunteers and law clerks. Work. Innocence Project New Orleans states that its mission is to "free innocent people sentenced to life in prison and those serving unjust sentences. We recognize the root causes  of wrongful convictions and unjust sentences as systemic racism and inequities. We work to expose and address these root causes by sharing our clients’ stories in court, the legislature, the community and the media. We support our clients living well and fully in the world after their release." Funding. Chief sources of funding for the Innocence Project New Orleans include the National Institute of Justice, the Bureau of Justice Assistance, and The Louisiana Public Defender Board. IPNO also holds a fundraiser gala annually in May and accept individual donations. Founding. In 1999, Emily Bolton was awarded an Equal Justice Fellowship  and later a Soros Advocacy Fellowship to establish Innocence Project New Orleans. The two year fellowship was worth $72,000 and IPNO was officially recognized by the National Association of Public Interest Law (now Equal Justice Works) in 2001. Emily Bolton. Born in England, Bolton graduated from Tulane University School Of Law and began studying wrongful convictions in the Greater New Orleans area. Under her leadership, IPNO grew from a staff of one to nine and had freed 27 innocent prisoners in a span of 4 years. House Bill 305. In 2011, Louisiana passed a house bill that provides the  reduction of a defendant's sentence for substantial assistance in an investigation. IPNO was opposed to the bill but negotiated with lawmakers to help ensure when a snitch witness testifies they are protected by the court, and the content of their deal and the substance of their testimony is disclosed to the defense. Notable Cases. Travis Hayes. 17 year old Hayes was under the influence of marijuana at the time of his interrogation for the murder of grocery-store owner Tommy Vanhoose. He was questioned through the night by at least three different police officers without an attorney or even  a parent present. After eight hours of interrogation, through which he and his co-assailant Ryan Matthews gave consistent accounts of their whereabouts that day, Hayes finally agreed to his interrogators' version of events. He placed himself at the scene of the crime, though he could not give the police any details whatsoever about the crime. DNA testing later linked an unrelated man to the killing, and both Travis and Matthews were exonerated.