Elon Law students join NC innocence project

The Durham-based center works with law school students in the state to review about 800 claims a year from inmates who maintain they are innocent. About a quarter of the claims are rejected during an initial screening by the center and the remaining cases are referred to law students for further review. Students examine evidence that wasn’t presented at trial and other
factors, and return their files to the organization for possible action.

Elon Law students became interested in participating in this work when Juan Melendez spoke at the school in November. He spent 17 years in a Florida prison after being convicted of murder in 1984. No physical evidence was
presented at the trial. Two witnesses whose credibility was later
challenged testified against Melendez. In December 2001, a Florida
Circuit Court overturned his conviction after it found prosecutors had
withheld critical evidence that undermined the guilty verdict.

Following Melendez’s visit to the Elon Law School, a group of 38 students accepted an invitation by Innocence Center director Chris Mumma to become involved in the work. Student organizers are Lindsey Deguerre and Drew Nettleman, and the faculty advisers are Catherine Dunham and Steven Friedland.

Last year, the North Carolina Innocence Inquiry Commission was created by the state and given powers to clear legal hurdles that block review of cases. The Commission and the Center on Actual Innocence will work together on these matters.

A March 7 Greensboro News & Record story details the work being done by Elon Law students with the Center on Actual Innocence. The newspaper lauded the work in its March 9 editorial, saying the innocence project meets the law school’s mission.

In addition to Elon students, law students at Duke University and the
University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill participate in the project.