Innocence Project

The Innocence Project of Texas Clinic is offered as a full-year, four credit hour graded course during the Fall and Spring semesters. Participants earn two credit hours per semester and earn a total of four credit hours for the year. The Innocence Project is also offered as a graded course over the summer. Participants in the summer session must enroll in both Summer I and II sessions and will earn two credit hours for the entire summer. Grading is on a pass/fail basis. The clinic is limited to 15 students for the Fall/Spring semesters and 15 students for the summer sessions.

This clinic is a vital part of the Innocence Project of Texas, a consortium of law clinics at five universities devoted to freeing the innocent from prison and improving the Texas Criminal Justice System through direct action. Students are given the responsibility to investigate claims of actual innocence filed by individuals in Texas who have been convicted and who have exhausted their appeals. Anyone interested in helping the wrongfully convicted or in criminal defense work should consider applying for the Innocence Project of Texas Clinic.

Students from the Innocence Project of Texas Clinic will join efforts this year with students from the Wesleyan Innocence Project at Texas Wesleyan School of Law to conduct a historical review of over 200 DNA cases in Dallas County. They will review cases in which DNA testing was requested but routinely denied. Of the several cases studied in Dallas since 2001, 15 ended with exonerations based on DNA tests.

Each participant is assigned between 5-10 cases during a semester. Should a student determine a viable instance of wrongful conviction, the student conducts further investigations to determine how innocence can be proven, and how the incarcerated individual may be released from prison. Finally, the student may draft an application for a writ of habeas corpus or a clemency petition.

The Innocence Project at The Texas Tech University Law School is part of the Innocence Project of Texas. The mission of Innocence Project of Texas is:

• To identify, investigate and document claims of actual innocence
• To work to exonerate those persons who have been wrongfully convicted
• To educate students, citizens and public officials about wrongful convictions, how they occur and how they can be prevented
• To advocate for criminal justice system reforms to prevent wrongful convictions and achieve justice
• To assist the wrongfully convicted with their adjustment back into society

Prerequisites

• Participants must be in their second or third year as law students
• Required class: Criminal Procedure
• Students cannot be on academic probation