Speakers Bureau
We connect wrongful conviction experts with schools, colleges, companies, and organizations around the world. Our team of inspiring speakers includes people who were incarcerated for crimes they did not commit and staff members each working to correct wrongful convictions and prevent future injustices. Book a speaker online or call 212.364.5384 for more information.
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Featured Speaker
Orlando Boquete
At the time of his trial, Orlando Boquete only spoke Spanish, was unable to navigate the complicated legal system, and was let down by his legal team. He was sentenced to 50 years in prison and the day he arrived at the maximum security prison, he had one goal and that was to leave.
Orlando Boquete
Speaking topics: Compensation, DNA, Race

Orlando Boquete at the 2022 Innocence Network Conference in Phoenix, AZ. (Image: Kenny Karpov/Innocence Project)
On May 23, 2006, Orlando Boquete’s conviction for attempted sexual battery and burglary was vacated. DNA testing on the victim’s clothing proved that he was not the man who committed the crime. His release from state custody was delayed until August 22, 2006, when he was released from the custody of the Immigration and Customs Enforcement Agency.
At the time of his trial, he only spoke Spanish, was unable to navigate the complicated legal system, and was let down by his legal team. He was sentenced to 50 years in prison and the day he arrived at the maximum security prison, he had one goal and that was to leave.
Mr. Boquete was wrongly convicted of burglary and attempted sexual battery in Florida in 1983. Two years later, he escaped Florida’s Glades Correctional Institution — a place he never should have been — and lived on the run as a fugitive from injustice for 11 years before he was caught and reincarcerated. The Innocence Project then took up his case, and he was freed by the courts — with an apology from the State Attorney’s Office — in 2006.
More about this speaker
Life is great because I’m free.
Orlando Boquete
Adnan Sultan
Adnan Sultan is a 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.
Adnan Sultan
Speaking topics: DNA, Litigation

Adnan Sultan is a 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. He also instructs 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 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.
Carlos Sanchez
Carlos Sanchez was only 17 when, after an eight-hour interrogation by police without a lawyer or guardian present, he signed a confession taking responsibility for the 1992 murder of his girlfriend - a crime he did not commit.
Carlos Sanchez
Speaking topics: Coerced Confession, Social Justice, Wrongful Conviction

Carlos Sanchez spent nearly 25 years—more than half of his life— in prison for a murder he and his attorneys maintain he did not commit before he was granted parole in January 2017 and released in May 2017.
Sanchez was only 17 when, after an eight-hour interrogation by police without a lawyer or guardian present, he signed a confession taking responsibility for the 1992 murder of his girlfriend. The confession was the only evidence linking him to the crime, and it was taken under circumstances now known to be associated with false confessions. The statement was also at odds with physical evidence collected in the case.
Clay Chabot
Clay Chabot, a former operations specialist for the U.S Navy, maintained his innocence throughout the 22 years he spent in prison for the 1986 murder of a young Texas woman. After post-conviction DNA tests excluded Chabot and identified another man as the source of critical evidence from the scene, Chabot’s conviction was vacated in 2009.
Clay Chabot
Speaking topics: DNA, Social Justice

“A part of me is irritated, angry and disgruntled because I went above and beyond for this country and was repaid by being convicted of a crime I didn’t commit.”
Clay Chabot, a former operations specialist for the U.S Navy, maintained his innocence throughout the 22 years he spent in prison for the 1986 murder of a young Texas woman. After post-conviction DNA tests excluded Chabot and identified another man as the source of critical evidence from the scene, Chabot’s conviction was vacated in 2009. Despite the powerful new DNA and other evidence of Chabot’s innocence, prosecutors announced they would put him on trial a second time. Having already served more than two decades of a life sentence, Chabot accepted a plea bargain, agreeing to plead guilty to the murder in exchange for a sentence of time served. His plea bargain would allow him to go home for good.
Johnny Hincapie
In 1990, 18-year-old Johnny Hincapie was wrongfully convicted in the murder case of Brian Watkins in New York. Hincapie falsely confessed to the attack after he was physically coerced by an investigator on the case.
Johnny Hincapie
Speaking topics: Coerced Confession

“I believe that the innocent should be separated from any and all prosecutions in our judicial system. No correlation should exist. Having a separated agency that reviews and impartially declares innocence would eliminate wrongful convictions forever.”
In 1990, 18-year-old Johnny Hincapie was wrongfully convicted in the murder case of Brian Watkins in New York. Hincapie falsely confessed to the attack after he was physically intimidated and psychologically coerced by an investigator on the case. Hincapie testified that the cop beat him and yelled racial slurs. In 2015, based on new testimony from two witnesses as well as a co-defendant who said that Hincapie was not involved in the attack, a New York judge overturned his conviction. Hincapie was exonerated after he spent 25 years in prison for a crime he didn’t commit. Today, Johnny—a gifted speaker—shares his powerful story along with education on coerced confessions and criminal justice reform at organizations across the United States.
Laurie Roberts
Speaking topics: Compensation, Policy, Wrongful Conviction

Laurie Roberts is a State Policy Advocate for the Innocence Project.
She previously served as the legislative director for Texas State Representative Jessica González and oversaw a sweeping legislative agenda that focused on a range of criminal justice reform, including innocence reforms, indigent defense, bail reform, and human trafficking. She previously worked for State Representatives Justin Rodriguez and Rafael Anchia. Laurie began her career at Issue One, a Washington DC-based nonprofit dedicated to reducing the impact of money in American politics. She worked in multiple capacities, rising to senior associate — a role in which she managed all external communications efforts and developed high-level branding campaigns for more than 100 former members of Congress. Laurie also proudly served as a White House intern for President Obama in 2011. She graduated from the University of Massachusetts Amherst with a BA in political science, and holds a Masters in public affairs from the Lyndon B. Johnson School of Public Policy at the University of Texas at Austin, where she was the recipient of the JJ Pickle Public Service Scholarship.
Nathaniel Erb
Speaking topics: Compensation, Policy, Wrongful Conviction

Nathaniel Erb is a State Policy Advocate at the Innocence Project.
Prior to joining the organization, Nathaniel operated a private consulting and lobbying practice, Erb & Associates, which specialized in domestic and international laws related to human trafficking and forced labor. He worked with elected officials, the private sector, and NGOs to implement legislation and policies spanning human trafficking and forced labor, protections for migrant workers, supply chain transparency, access to education, habitat destruction, immigration reform, and financial crime intelligence gathering. Nathaniel was inspired to work at the Innocence Project through his work addressing the wrongful incarceration of survivors of human trafficking and improving human trafficking criminal laws and policies. He co-authored and co-led the successful passage of “Trafficking Survivors Relief Act of 2017” in Washington, D.C. and the “True Freedom Act of 2020” in Maryland, which create pathways to relief for survivors of human trafficking convicted of crimes they were forced to commit. He is the chair emeritus of the Youth Working Group of the U.S. National Commission for UNESCO, a member of the World Economic Forum’s Global Shaper community, and a regular lecturer on public policy and international institutions. He received his B.A. in Law & Society from Hood College, where he was a recipient of the Law & Society and the Virginia E. Lewis awards.
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