A Celebration of Freedom and Justice

More than 600 people joined us in New York City on Wednesday for our third annual Celebration of Freedom & Justice. The event honored Bob Balaban, director, producer and actor for producing and directing the play The Exonerated; Jason Flom, a long-standing Innocence Project board member and President of Lava Records; and the law firm of Weil Gotshal for their extensive pro bono support of the Innocence Project. The night included performancesby Blue Man Group and Phoebe Snow and readings by Aidan Quinn and Brooke Shields.

CNN anchor Jami Floyd blogged about the event:

There were more than 600 people in the room, all supporting the mission. But it’s not enough.

If you do the numbers, there are probably thousands more innocent people in prison; and fighting to win the release of an innocent person is the noblest thing a lawyer can do. If Barry Scheck and Peter Neufeld retire tomorrow, they’ve done more good work than most lawyers do in a lifetime. But the heroism of two men is not enough.

Read Floyd’s full post

here

and watch video

here

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At the event, Innocence Project Board Member John Grisham announced the formation of the Innocence Project Artists’ Committee, a group of writers, directors, actors, visual artists and musicians who support the Innocence Project and are helping raise awareness about wrongful convictions. The committee includes Stephen Colbert, James Gandolfini, Nora Ephron, Judy Collins, Nia Long, Sarah Jessica Parker, Matthew Broderick and many more.

Read more about the new group here

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