Post-conviction Litigation

Adnan Sultan is a senior staff attorney at the Innocence Project. He litigates post-conviction cases nationwide on behalf of individuals seeking access to DNA testing and relief from wrongful convictions, and has instructed law students as part of the Innocence Project clinic at Cardozo. Prior to joining the Innocence Project, he worked as a staff attorney at The Bronx Defenders, where he represented thousands of clients charged with misdemeanors and felony crimes from arraignments to trial. In addition, he was a member of the Bronx Defenders’ Forensic Practice Group, where he consulted with attorneys and conducted trainings on DNA evidence. Before working at the Bronx Defenders, Adnan was a Prettyman Fellow at Georgetown Law School, where he both represented clients charged with misdemeanor and felony crimes in D.C. Superior Court and supervised third-year law students in Georgetown’s Criminal Justice Clinic. He graduated from American University’s Washington College of Law.

Aiyana joined the Innocence Project as a paralegal in fall 2024.

Prior to joining the IP, Aiyana worked with the Public Science Project on youth participatory action research regarding student safety in New York City, and with the Vera Institute of Justice on qualitative research that included investigations of racial inequities in Washtenaw, Michigan’s criminal legal system.

After graduating from Williams College with a double B.A. in political science and psychology, and a concentration in Africana Studies, Aiyana earned both a Master of Arts and a Master of Philosophy in psychology from the Graduate Center at City University of New York (CUNY GC).

Aiyana is currently a doctoral candidate in critical social psychology at CUNY GC, where she challenges dominant research methodologies and studies justice movements rooted in solidarity with/among incarcerated people facing long sentences. She also contributes to local grassroots campaigns dedicated to de-carceration and family reunification through parole and clemency.

Angie is a senior staff attorney at the Innocence Project. Prior to joining the Innocence Project, she was a supervising attorney at the Legal Aid Society’s Criminal Appeals Bureau, where her practice encompassed court-appointed appeals and post-conviction matters in state and federal courts. She has also worked as a staff attorney at the Office of the Appellate Defender and The Center for Appellate Litigation. She began her legal career as a litigation associate at Milbank LLP and clerked for the Honorable Andre M. Davis on the United States Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit. She is a graduate of the University of Pennsylvania Carey Law School, where she was an articles editor for the Law Review, and received her undergraduate degree from the University of Pennsylvania.

Christa Alexander joined the Innocence Project as a post-conviction litigation fellow in the fall of 2023.

Prior to joining the Innocence Project, Christa attended St. John’s University School of Law. While at St. John’s, she worked as an intern at the Legal Aid Society Criminal Defense Practice, Appellate Advocates, New York County Defender Services, Federal Defenders Western District of Missouri Capital Habeas Unit, and her law school’s Defense and Advocacy Clinic. She is also the founding member of her law school’s first criminal public defense organization, SJU Defenders. Prior to attending law school, she worked for two years at the New York City Mayor’s Office of Criminal Justice on the implementation of the NYS Bail Reform Law, supervised release, and alternatives to incarceration.

Christa graduated summa cum laude from Binghamton University in 2018 with a B.A in political science and sociology. She is also a member of the Phi Beta Kappa Honor Society. Christa is passionate about disrupting cycles of incarceration and providing zealous advocacy in her legal career.

Gemma joined the Innocence Project as a paralegal in the post-conviction litigation department in July 2024. Prior to joining the IP, Gemma graduated from Fordham University with a BA in Political Science and a minor in English. While in college, Gemma interned at Sanctuary for Families’ Incarcerated Gender Violence Survivors Initiative where she provided direct support to survivors of domestic violence in prison. She also interned at the Innocence Project’s PCL department and at PEN America’s Prison and Justice Writing Program. In pursuit of her major, she completed a research project on the impact of racial demographics of federal judges on criminal sentencing in New York State. Gemma is passionate about advocating for and amplifying the voices of incarcerated people.

Hannah joined the Innocence Project as a staff attorney in 2023. Before the Innocence Project, Hannah worked at Justice 360, a non-profit organization in her home state of South Carolina, where she represented men facing the death penalty and children facing death-in-prison sentences. Hannah has also worked as an adjunct clinical professor at Cornell Law School. She began her legal career as a law clerk, first to Justice Harold Eaton on the Vermont Supreme Court and later to Judge Richard C. Wesley on the United States Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit. Prior to law school, Hannah served as a Peace Corps volunteer in Paraguay. She is a graduate of Cornell Law School and Duke University.

Jane litigates post-conviction cases nationwide on behalf of individuals seeking access to DNA testing and relief from wrongful convictions.  Jane also oversees the Innocence Project clinic in partnership with Cardozo School of Law, developing curriculum and instructing students in all aspects of post-conviction practice. Prior to joining the Innocence Project, Jane worked for five years as a public defender with The Bronx Defenders where she was also a supervising attorney. Jane graduated from Georgetown University Law Center in 2011 and she graduated from Columbia University with a B.A. in political science in 2008.

Jessica Spencer joined the Innocence Project in 2023, after spending eight years as a trial attorney at the New Jersey Office of the Public Defender. At the OPD, Jessica served as sole counsel on hundreds of felony cases, worked with experts on DNA and fingerprint evidence, and had an undefeated trial record. She also litigated the first motion to compel discovery related to facial recognition technology in the state of New Jersey and led the digital evidence team of the statewide Forensic Working Group for five years. Before joining the OPD, Jessica clerked on the United States District Court for the Northern District of California and the Sixth Circuit Court of Appeals. She graduated from Stanford Law School in 2013 and received a B.A. in religious studies from Washington University in St. Louis in 2010.

Ji-hye joined the Innocence Project as a paralegal in August 2023. Prior to starting at the Innocence Project, Ji-hye developed an interest in client-centered advocacy work as a housing justice organizer with Manufactured Housing Action. She has experience researching climate litigation and human rights law at Seoul National University, tracking racial disparities in incarceration with the Hawai’i Appleseed Center for Law and Economic Justice, and serving as a legislative intern for the U.S. Senate. Ji-hye graduated from Yale University in 2022, where she earned a B.A. in Ethnicity, Race, and Migration and was a Human Rights Scholar. She is an avid writer of poetry.

Kaila Johnson joined the Innocence Project as a post-conviction litigation fellow in the fall of 2023. Prior to her arrival, she attended the University of California Los Angeles School of Law within the David J. Epstein Public Interest Law & Policy Program and specialized in critical race studies. While at UCLA Law, Kaila served for two years as the prison law & policy fellow, bringing community leaders and legal scholars together on campus to foster discussions and hold events centered on addressing and combating the far-reaching effects of the American carceral system. At UCLA Law, she also helped found and served as a co-chair of Law Students for Decarceration, a student group devoted to abolition efforts on campus and within the larger southern California region. Kaila graduated from Brown University in 2019 with B.A’s in political science and English. She looks forward to a long legal career rooted in service and hopes to help build a more humane and restorative criminal legal system in her lifetime.

Kanani joined the Innocence Project as a paralegal in July 2022. Prior to joining the IP, Kanani worked as a resource coordinator at the Center for Court Innovation, where she supported clients charged with misdemeanors in New York; as a research consultant for Kaunalewa, a nonprofit pursuing environmental justice in Hawai’i; and as a Stanford Human Rights Fellow at the Tuol Sleng Genocide Museum in Phnom Penh, Cambodia. Kanani graduated from Stanford University with her B.A. in international relations and a minor in German studies in 2019, where she focused on the relationship between history, human rights, and racial justice.

Robyn Trent Jefferson enjoyed a diverse career as a litigation and real estate paralegal for more than 34 years before joining the Innocence Project.

A born advocate, she has always been passionate about effecting change for those who are and have been wronged and, in the last 10 years, has had more opportunities to dedicate more of her time in pursuit of much needed reform.

Sarah Jean-Charles believes that every person deserves justice and fairness in their interactions with the criminal justice system. That’s why she joined the Innocence Project in its mission to free wrongly convicted people and reform the system.

As a legal assistant, she assists the post-conviction litigation department with the case-related needs of the department and various projects as needed. She provides critical support to both attorneys and paralegals alike to facilitate the day-to-day operations of the department. She is grateful for the opportunity to be able to participate in the intense work that goes into freeing our innocent clients.

Sarah previously worked at the New York City Law Department, where she was a paralegal aide for the Operations Division. She is a graduate of John Jay College of Criminal Justice where she received her Master’s in Criminal Justice.

Sarah enjoys baking, journaling and reading in her free time.

Shabel has joined the Innocence Project as a post-conviction litigation fellow. Prior to joining the Innocence Project, Shabel worked as a staff attorney with the New York Immigrant Family Unity Project (NYIFUP) at Brooklyn Defender Services, which is the first and largest public defender program in the country offering universal representation for low-income immigrants that are detained under ICE custody and facing deportation. Shabel graduated from the University of Pennsylvania Law School in 2019, obtaining both a Juris Doctor and a Master of Science in social policy. Shabel was part of the inaugural class of the Black Defender Leadership Institute, which trains emerging Black advocates and supports them in becoming the next generation of leaders who are equipped to dismantle systems of racialized oppression.

Tim joined the Innocence Project and returned to New York in 2023, after spending over five years representing death-sentenced individuals in Texas. Tim’s work with Texas Defender Service and the Capital Habeas Unit of Federal Public Defender in Austin included leading interdisciplinary teams litigating post conviction matters in both state and federal courts. Before moving to Texas to represent clients convicted of capital offenses, Tim spent nearly a decade as a trial attorney with Brooklyn Defender Service, advocating for individuals charged with various crimes across the borough. Tim began his legal career as a staff attorney with the United States Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit. He maintains a commitment to fighting the injustices that permeate our criminal legal system and to furthering our mission. He brings compassion, humility, and resilience to the Innocence Project. Tim graduated from Roger Williams University School of Law in Rhode Island, and received a B.A. in philosophy from Clemson University.

Vanessa Potkin is the director of special litigation at the Innocence Project. She joined the organization in 2000 as its first staff attorney, and has helped pioneer the model of post-conviction DNA litigation used nationwide to exonerate wrongfully convicted persons. Vanessa has represented and exonerated over 30 innocent individuals, from Louisiana to Nevada, who collectively served over 500 years of wrongful imprisonment, five of whom were originally prosecuted for capital murder. Vanessa maintains a post-conviction docket, crafting litigation strategy, writing motions, and litigating in trial and appellate courts nationwide to secure post-conviction DNA testing and to obtain relief based DNA test results, and other exculpatory evidence in cases involving: false confessions, erroneous eyewitness identification, informant testimony, faulty forensics, prosecutorial misconduct and ineffective assistance of counsel. She works with a wide-range of forensic experts. She also trains and mentors other attorneys at the Innocence Project. Vanessa is a nationally recognized expert on wrongful convictions and the use of DNA to establish innocence — she is regularly consulted by attorneys, judicial and legislative committees, and media outlets. She was a member of an eight-person multidisciplinary technical working group that collaborated on a report for criminal defense attorneys published in 2012 by the National Institute of Justice to increase understanding of the science of DNA and its application in the courtroom (“DNA for the Defense Bar”). Vanessa is an adjunct professor of law at Cardozo School of Law and co-taught the Innocence Project Legal Clinic beginning in 2000.