Jee Park
Executive Director
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Jee Park (she/her)
Executive Director
Jee Park has served as Innocence & Justice Louisiana’s executive director since June 2018. Prior to joining Innocence & Justice Louisiana in January 2017 as the senior attorney for policy, Jee served as the deputy district defender of Orleans Public Defenders (OPD). She joined OPD in the spring of 2008 as a supervising attorney and directed OPD’s Special Litigation Division until 2014. Prior to OPD, Jee worked as a staff attorney at The Bronx Defenders in New York and was a Prettyman Fellow at the Juvenile Justice Clinic at Georgetown University Law Center. Jee is a graduate of the University of California, Berkeley School of Law and Wesleyan University in Middletown, CT. She clerked for Judge Emmet G. Sullivan of the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia.
Meredith Angelson
Deputy Director
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Meredith Angelson (she/her)
Deputy Director
Meredith Angelson is the deputy director of Innocence & Justice Louisiana and directs our Unjust Punishment Project. Before joining Innocence & Justice Louisiana in 2020, she worked at the Southern Poverty Law Center’s New Orleans office as a senior staff attorney in criminal justice reform and as a staff attorney at the Orleans Public Defenders (OPD). Meredith clerked for Judge Robert Sweet of the Southern District of New York. She is a graduate of New York University School of Law and Yale College.
Merrill Berkowitch
Staff Attorney
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Merrill Berkowitch (she/her)
Staff Attorney
Merrill Berkowitch joined Innocence & Justice Louisiana in 2023 after graduating from Tulane law school, cum laude, having worked as an extern with Innocence & Justice Louisiana during her third year as a law student. She received her bachelor’s degree in history and political science from Tulane University.
Sam Berkrot
Staff Investigator
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Sam Berkrot
Staff Investigator
Sam joined Innocence & Justice Louisiana in 2025. Fluent in both Spanish and English, he previously served as a Senior Bilingual Facilitator traveling with StoryCorps Mobile Tour, and also worked as an English as a Foreign Language teacher and curriculum designer in Ecuador and Chile. Sam graduated from the College of William & Mary with a bachelor’s degree in Sociology, concentrating in Social Problems, Policy, and Justice, and Government.
Alex Cahill
Staff Investigator
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Alex Cahill (she/her)
Staff Investigator
Alex Cahill joined Innocence & Justice Louisiana as an investigator 2022. Prior to her work at Innocence & Justice Louisiana, she did advocacy and volunteer work for the Petey Greene Program in Washington, D.C., supporting the academic goals of incarcerated students through tutoring and GED preparation. Alex received her bachelor’s degree from George Washington University where she studied global development and Spanish.
Zac Crawford
Staff Attorney/Wrongful Conviction Clinic Supervisor
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Zac Crawford (he/him)
Staff Attorney/Wrongful Conviction Clinic Supervisor
Zac Crawford joined Innocence & Justice Louisiana as a staff attorney in 2021. Prior to law school, he worked at Innocence & Justice Louisiana as case review manager and a junior investigator. He clerked for Judge Madeline H. Haikala of the Northern District of Alabama. He graduated Order of the Coif from Washington and Lee School of Law and Bowdoin College.
Huy Dao
Case Manager
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Huy Dao (he/him)
Case Manager
Huy Dao joined Innocence & Justice Louisiana as the case manager in 2015. Previously he was the case director at the Innocence Project in New York City, where he managed the Intake & Evaluation Department for 18 years. Huy graduated from Cornell University and received a Master of Fine Arts in writing from the New School.
Richard Davis
Legal Director
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Richard Davis (he/him)
Legal Director
Richard Davis has worked at Innocence & Justice Louisiana since 2005. He obtained his Master of Law degree from Loyola University New Orleans while working at Innocence & Justice Louisiana. He obtained a Bachelor of Law degree from the University of Sheffield.
Calvin Duncan
Law Fellow
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Calvin Duncan (he/him)
Law Fellow
Calvin Duncan joined Innocence & Justice Louisiana as a Law Fellow in summer 2023 after obtaining his J.D. from Lewis & Clark Law School. Calvin also has a B.A. in General Legal Studies from Tulane University’s School of Professional Advancement, where he now teaches Criminal Law as an adjunct instructor.
Prior to attending law school, Calvin Duncan was wrongfully imprisoned for twenty-eight years. During this time, he worked as Inmate Counsel Substitute. Polk Award winning prison journalist Wilbert Rideau recognized him as “the most brilliant legal mind in Angola.” Calvin was also instrumental in the U.S. Supreme Court holding in Ramos v. Louisiana that convictions by non-unanimous jury verdicts were unconstitutional.
Since his release, in addition to obtaining his B.A. and J.D., Calvin co-founded the Rising Foundation and First 72+ to help people returning from prison, obtained a Soros fellowship to help people in prison get access to case records, and co-created of the Visiting Room Project to share stories of people sentenced to life without parole. He is the author of The Jailhouse Lawyer, with Sophie Cull (Penguin Random House, 2025).
Kate Gauthreaux
Office Administrator
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Kate Gauthreaux (she/they)
Office Administrator
Kate Gauthreaux joined Innocence & Justice Louisiana as an office administrator in the summer of 2023. They have worked in the publishing and hospitality industries, while helping organize and support local mutual aid initiatives. They graduated from Louisiana State University with a bachelor’s degree in sociology and English.
Leora Greene
Client Services Advocate
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Leora Greene (she/her)
Client Services Advocate
Leora Greene first came to Innocence & Justice Louisiana as an Avodah Corps Member as a program assistant in the Client Services Division in 2022 and joined the staff permanently the following year. She graduated from Colorado State University with her bachelor’s degree in psychology and minors in political science and American Sign Language.
Greg Jean
Staff Investigator
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Greg Jean (he/him)
Staff Investigator
Greg joined Innocence & Justice Louisiana in 2024. His diverse professional experience includes seven years as a lead mechanic at Dashing Bicycles and service with the New Orleans Public Library, where he was a member of the REACH team and Public Services while contributing to the Access and Opportunity Committee. Greg received his bachelor’s degree in history from Xavier University of Louisiana.
Mick Kligler
Social Worker
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Mick Kligler (he/him)
Social Worker
Mick Kligler joined Innocence & Justice Louisiana as a Social Worker and Supervisor to the Client Services Division in 2024. Prior to joining Innocence & Justice Louisiana, Mick spent three years as a client advocate at the Orleans Public Defenders (OPD). Mick completed graduate fieldwork as a restorative justice facilitator with the Center for Restorative Approaches and as a therapist at the Broadmoor Improvement Association. He holds a master’s in Social Work from Louisiana State University and a bachelor’s degree in comparative literature from Brown University.
Esme Lee
Data and Community Coordinator, Louisiana Law Enforcement Accountability Database (LLEAD)
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Esme Lee (she/her)
Data and Community Coordinator, Louisiana Law Enforcement Accountability Database (LLEAD)
Esme Lee joined Innocence & Justice Louisiana in 2025. Prior to joining Innocence & Justice Louisiana, Esme was a campaign organizer for the North Carolina Democratic Party Coordinator in Wilmington. She graduated from Dartmouth College with a bachelor’s degree in East Asian studies and comparative literature.
Elena Malik
Staff Attorney
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Elena Malik (she/her)
Staff Attorney
Elena Malik joined Innocence & Justice Louisiana in 2023. Prior to joining Innocence & Justice Louisiana, she was a staff attorney at the Environmental Defense Fund and a legal fellow at the Promise of Justice Initiative. Elena clerked for Chief Judge Nannette J. Brown of the Eastern District of Louisiana. She graduated magna cum laude from the University of Michigan law school, where she served as a student attorney in the Michigan Innocence Clinic for two years, and has a bachelor’s degree in foreign service from Georgetown University.
Jerome Morgan
Peer Mentor
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Jerome Morgan (he/him)
Peer Mentor
Jerome Morgan joined Innocence & Justice Louisiana as a Peer Mentor in 2025. Previously, he was a Youth Advisory Board Specialist with the Center for Restorative Approaches, and a Director of Culture and Environment at the Rooted School. He is also the Co-Founder and Program Director at Free-Dem Foundations, an organization that helps support young people through teaching life skills, connection to vocational training, encouraging community engagement and advocacy and providing pre-adult transitional services. Jerome has earned a Trauma & Recovery Certificate from the Harvard/Massachusetts General Hospital Program in Refugee Trauma and completed the Andover Bread Loaf Educators’ Workshop. He is a published author and frequent public speaker on the criminal legal system.
Jerome was wrongfully convicted of second-degree murder at age 17 and sentenced to life without parole. He spent nearly 20 years at Louisiana State Penitentiary before his conviction was overturned. He was exonerated in 2016.
Caitlin Newswanger
Staff Attorney/Wrongful Conviction Clinic Supervisor
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Caitlin Newswanger (she/her)
Staff Attorney/Wrongful Conviction Clinic Supervisor
Caitlin Newswanger joined Innocence & Justice Louisiana in 2021. Previously she worked at Southeast Louisiana Legal Services in the Veterans and Innovative Projects Unit. Prior to law school, she worked as a social worker in several shelters for unhoused people and street outreach teams in Pennsylvania and Virginia. Caitlin graduated from Loyola University College of Law in New Orleans. She obtained her bachelor’s degree and master’s in social work from Virginia Commonwealth University.
Libra LaGrone Pealer
Managing Director
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Libra LaGrone Pealer (she/her)
Managing Director
Libra LaGrone Pealer joined Innocence & Justice Louisiana in 2021. She previously served as the finance/development manager at the Newcomb Art Museum, the deputy director/curator of Southern music at The Ogden Museum of Southern Art and has consulted independently for multiple arts and cultural organizations. She holds an M.L.A. from Tulane University and a bachelor’s degree in political science from the University of North Alabama.
Leah Perila
Program Assistant
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Leah Perila (she/her)
Program Assistant
Leah Perila is currently serving as a Jesuit Volunteer Corps member at Innocence & Justice Louisiana, where she works as a Program Assistant for the Unjust Punishment Project. She graduated from the University of Notre Dame in May 2025 with a bachelor’s degree in Economics and Global Affairs and a minor in Poverty Studies.
Tina Turner
Staff Investigator
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Tina Turner (she/her)
Staff Investigator
Tina joined Innocence & Justice Louisiana in 2026. Her prior experience includes various forms of journalism and digital production, including award winning podcasts and reporting for Alabama Public Radio as the inaugural Jim Lehrer Fellow with PBS NewsHour, where her reporting on Black women and race in America was recognized by the Aspen Institute. She received her bachelor’s degree in Communication and Information Science from The University of Alabama.
Erica Williams
Events and Development Manager
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Erica Williams (she/her)
Events and Development Manager
Erica Williams joined Innocence & Justice Louisiana in 2023. Previously, she worked at The Pro Bono Project as the programs operations manager and CASA New Orleans as an AmeriCorps Fellow. Erica graduated from Louisiana State University and Mississippi State University with degrees in Kinesiology and worked in athletic training for several years.
Work with Us: Volunteer and Career Opportunities
We rely on the dedication of interns, volunteers, and staff to make our work possible. The time, talent, and passion of those who join us help drive investigations, support clients, and ultimately free more people. Whether you’re a student, legal professional, or community member, there’s a role for you here.
