Reflecting on the Power of Community
11.21.17 By Maddy deLone, Innocence Project Executive Director
John Nolley, the man behind bars for close to 19 years for the murder of a Bedford, Texas woman was released on Tuesday May 17, 2016 with help from The Innocence Project, after serious concerns were raised about his trial and conviction. (Photo by Ron Jenkins)
The Innocence Project’s 25th year will soon come to a close. Over the last 12 months, we’ve taken a few moments to pause and reflect on how far we’ve come and how far we still have to go. With Thanksgiving approaching, I’d like to pause once more.
One theme that has come up again and again this year is community. Our wide network of dedicated supporters, staff, clients and partners has always been an essential part of the Innocence Project’s success. We wouldn’t be here today without the support, partnership and vision of thousands of people around the world. I joined the organization a little more than 13 years ago, and I have been humbled and amazed again and again by the countless people who go above and beyond to help us set innocent people free from prison and pass critical criminal justice reforms.
Related: My first Thanksgiving home in 28 years
Whether you work on wrongful convictions yourself or you help to spread the word about our cases and reforms or you’ve been a financial supporter of our work, you have built this movement. And it truly means the world to us.
On behalf of our clients—some of whom are still fighting for freedom, some of whom are spending their first Thanksgivings as free men and women, while others have enjoyed 20 Thanksgivings since they were released—thank you for helping to make their freedom possible.
Innocence Project Eric Kelley with his family moments after he was released from prison in New Jersey on Nov. 8, 2017.
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June 14, 2019 at 8:27 am
November 22, 2017 at 5:42 pm
He is my big brother he is an innocent black men he been in prison for 4 years now for a crime he did not committed
Where does one turn when it’s the city and the state that committed the crime of an Intentional, Illegal, Unlawful Arrest by the state prosecutor’s filing of a fraudulent affidavit and the courts conspiring with the defendants in a matter of a gross and grave miscarriage of justice?
Evidence has been prepared and presented (4th civil lawsuit), on the record that shows the state prosecutor denied exculpatory evidence of a “NOT Guilty Plea”, the courts abused their discretion…by not following the rules of law…rule 91.06, the current federal district court case is being delayed, denied or dismissed, primarily because it’s PRO SE, and that the Attorney General, the District Attorney, the mayor, the Prosecuting Attorney, the Congressman, the Governor, the local FBI, the DOJ, et al, simply want to pass the buck on filing appropriate criminal charges against one of their own.