Adnan Sultan, a senior staff attorney at the Innocence Project, litigates post-conviction cases nationwide to secure DNA testing and overturn wrongful convictions. He also teaches in the Innocence Project clinic at Cardozo.

Prior to joining the Innocence Project, Adnan worked as a staff attorney at The Bronx Defenders for five 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.

Alicia Cepeda Maule is the digital engagment director at the Innocence Project. In this role, she leads the organization in digital strategy and audience growth, revenue, and advocacy.

Alicia developed and led the digital strategy that helped stop the executions of Rodney Reed in Texas and Pervis Payne in Tennessee. She and her team have won more than 10 awards, including Webbys, Shortys, Tellys, the Clarence Jones Impact Award, and more. Prior to joining the Innocence Project, Alicia was a social media and community editor at msnbc.com and a digital organizer on President Barack Obama’s 2012 reelection campaign. Alicia graduated from Brown University in 2011 with a B.A. in Africana studies.

Christina Swarns is the executive director of the Innocence Project.

Prior to joining the Innocence Project, Christina served as the president and attorney-in-charge of the Office of the Appellate Defender, Inc., one of New York City’s oldest institutional providers of indigent appellate defense representation; as the litigation director for the NAACP Legal Defense & Educational Fund, Inc., America’s premier legal organization fighting for racial justice; as a supervising assistant federal defender in the capital habeas corpus unit of the Philadelphia Community Defender Office; and as a staff attorney for the Legal Aid Society’s Criminal Defense division in New York.

Christina argued, and won, Buck v. Davis, a challenge to the introduction of explicitly racially biased evidence in a Texas death penalty case, in the United States Supreme Court. Christina was the only Black woman to argue in the 2016 Supreme Court term, and is one of the few Black women to have argued before the nation’s highest court. Christina earned a J.D. from the University of Pennsylvania Law School and a B.A. from Howard University.

She previously served as the president and attorney-in-charge of the Office of the Appellate Defender, Inc. , one of New York City’s oldest institutional providers of indigent appellate defense representation; as the litigation director of the NAACP Legal Defense & Educational Fund, Inc., America’s premier legal organization fighting for racial justice; as a supervising assistant federal defender in the capital habeas corpus unit of the Philadelphia Community Defender Office; and as a staff attorney for the Legal Aid Society’s criminal defense division in New York. Christina argued, and won, Buck v. Davis, a challenge to the introduction of explicitly racially biased evidence in a Texas death penalty case, in the United States Supreme Court. Christina was the only Black woman to argue in the 2016 Supreme Court term, and is one of the few Black women to have argued before the nation’s highest court. Christina earned a J.D. from the University of Pennsylvania Law School and a B.A. from Howard University.

Justin Chan is the Innocence Project’s editorial director, where he oversees the organization’s website and collaborates with the senior leadership team and programmatic staff on institutional messaging. 

Justin joined the organization in 2021 and comes with more than a decade of experience in journalism, having written for Law.com, Mic, Forbes, HuffPost, Time Out New York, Entrepreneur.com, and Yahoo. His work frequently touches on issues impacting marginalized communities, including racism, immigration, and economic disparities. He holds a master’s degree in magazine journalism from Columbia Journalism School and a bachelor’s degree in political science and English from Macaulay Honors College. Justin also holds a certificate in digital marketing from Columbia Business School Executive Education. He previously volunteered at Reading Partners, a nonprofit organization dedicated to helping at-risk youth improve their literacy.

Chris Fabricant is the director of strategic litigation (Joseph Flom Special Counsel) at the Innocence Project. In this role, he leads the Innocence Project’s strategic litigation department, whose attorneys develop and execute national litigation and public policy strategies to address the leading causes of wrongful conviction. 

Chris is one of the United States’s leading experts on forensic sciences and scientific litigation. Prior to joining the Innocence Project, he was a longtime public defender and law professor. He frequently serves as a public speaker on law reform issues, and is widely published in both legal scholarship and in mainstream media. In his new book, Junk Science and the American Criminal Justice System, Chris examines the role that faulty scientific evidence has in continuing and strengthening an unjust and racial biased criminal legal system.

Robyn Trent Jefferson is a senior paralegal at the Innocence Project. 

Prior to joining the Innocence Project, Robyn enjoyed a diverse career as a litigation and real estate paralegal for more than 34 years. 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.

Simran Sohal is a senior case analyst at the Innocence Project.

Simran returned to the organization after interning in the intake department the previous year. Graduating from Williams College in June 2020, she received a double B.A. in Psychology and English with a concentration in Justice and Law Studies. While at Williams, Simran conducted independent research on the relationship between procedural justice and jury nullification. Outside of the academic sphere, she volunteered as a responder to a hotline service for survivors of sexual violence and their allies and organized initiatives to prevent future instances of such harm.

Stacey Anderson is the legal policy analyst with the Innocence Project. In this role, she is responsible for legal research to support advocacy campaigns across the country, including 50-state comparisons of key provisions in criminal justice statutes and case law.

Prior to joining the Innocence Project, Stacey was a Marciano Legal Fellow with the Rape, Abuse, & Incest National Network, where she did legal research and legislation drafting focused on sexual violence response, Title IX, and constitutional law. Stacey is a proud graduate of Northeastern University, in Boston, and earned her J.D. from Widener University Delaware Law School. While in law school, Stacey served as the Mid-Atlantic Regional Chair of the National Black Law Students Association. Stacey is passionate about the Innocence Project’s mission and believes public policy is the root to manifest change.

Tebah Browne is the forensic science policy specialist for the Innocence Project. In this role, she assists the policy department with policy work that focuses on the reliability, validity, and regulation of forensic science techniques and technology.

Prior to joining the Innocence Project, Tebah worked at the Legal Aid Society in its DNA unit as the in-house scientist and DNA analyst. Tebah graduated from John Jay College with B.S. and M.S. degrees in forensic science, with concentrations in molecular biology and toxicology. Tebah is currently pursuing a PhD in forensic investigative sciences at Oklahoma State University, where her dissertation focuses on the implementation, regulation, and education of forensic science in developing nations.

Vanessa Meterko is the research manager at the Innocence Project.

Prior to joining the Innocence Project, Vanessa conducted research and published on a variety of topics, including health care, subtle discrimination, and wrongful convictions. She also served as an advocate for survivors of intimate partner violence and sexual abuse in New York City. She earned her M.A. in forensic psychology from John Jay College of Criminal Justice.

Vanessa 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. She is a nationally recognized expert on wrongful convictions and the use of DNA to establish innocence. In 2012, she contributed to the National Institute of Justice’s “DNA for the Defense Bar,” a report for criminal defense attorneys on understanding and applying DNA science in the courtroom.