POST-CONVICTION INNOCENCE
Fighting for freedom for the wrongfully convicted
Innocence & Justice Louisiana, formerly Innocence Project New Orleans, is the only nonprofit law office in Louisiana dedicated to freeing people who have been wrongfully convicted and incarcerated.
After direct appeals end, people in prison have no right to an attorney—except those on death row. This means nearly all people in prison must fight for their freedom and advocate for themselves without legal assistance—pro se—in state post-conviction proceedings and in federal court. This is very difficult to do. A legal claim in post-conviction proceedings must be based on new evidence that was not previously known or presented at their trial. For someone in prison, finding new evidence is nearly impossible.
Innocence & Justice Louisiana reinvestigates cases, uncovers new evidence, and files post-conviction petitions. Our people devote thousands of hours to investigating and litigating each case. On average, it takes over five and a half years to free or exonerate a wrongfully convicted person. The average number of years our clients were imprisoned prior to winning their freedom is 25.
For decades, Louisiana has incarcerated more people per capita than any other state in the country. This mass incarceration produces another grim statistic: Louisiana also leads the nation in wrongful convictions and exonerations.
