Most Moving Speakers At Inaugural Fundraising Dinner Mississippi Innocence Project Were Dennis Fritz and Cedric Willis

The most moving speakers at inaugural fundraising dinner for the newly-established Mississippi were Dennis Fritz of Oklahoma and Cedric Willis of Mississippi, two men wrongfully convicted of separate crimes, so says Gregory Wells Bowman .
Associate Professor of Law
Director, International Law Center
Gregory Wells Bowman has a blog called "Law Career Blog", ALL ABOUT LAW SCHOOLS, CAREERS IN LAW, AND ALTERNATIVE CAREER OPTIONS FOR LAWYERS

Below is from his blog. To read more click Here

The Mississippi Innocence Project

Tonight I attended the inaugural fundraising dinner for the newly-established Mississippi Innocence Project. Originally a branch of the Innocence Project in New Orleans, the MIP is now housed at the University of Mississippi School of Law in Oxford, Mississippi. (The national Innocence Project's website is located here.) I have not had much time to reflect on the event as of yet, so this post is essentially a recounting of my observations from the evening. Not a news report per se, but also not an opinion piece. Something in between, I suppose.

I attended the dinner for two reasons. First, as I have stated before on this blog, I am the faculty adviser for the Mississippi College School of Law's student-run Public Interest Law Group (PILG). Second, I attended because Mississippi is badly in need of public interest law support. It's a poor state with a relatively high crime rate and a wide gulf between the haves and the have-nots. So organizations like the MIP need support and assistance from entities like PILG and my law school.

Tonight's keynote speakers were Mississippi author John Grisham and Chicago author Scott Turow. They were eloquent, witty and passionate, which is no surprise--but the evening's most moving speakers were Dennis Fritz of Oklahoma and Cedric Willis of Mississippi, two men wrongfully convicted of separate crimes. Fritz and Willis each served 12 years in prison before being exonerated and released.

Authors John Grisham, Dennis Fritz, Scott Turow to Speak at Miss. Innocence Project Dinner Fundraiser

Monday Oct. 22, Authors John Grisham, Dennis Fritz and Scott Turow will attend a dinner together in order to raise money for the Mississippi Innocence Project at the Ole Miss law school. The Fundraiser Dinner is to support the Mississippi Innocence Project for wrongly convicted.
John Grisham, Dennis Fritz and Scott Turow have supported similar projects in law schools across the country.
John Grisham author, "The Innocent Man," profiling a man wrongfully convicted and freed years later with the help of several attorneys and the Innocence Project.
Dennis Fritz author of "Journey Toward Justice". Thanks to help from the Innocence Project of New York, Fritz was granted a new trial, found innocent and freed from prison in 1999.
Scott Turow is the author of "Presumed Innocent". All three books are a Bestseller on Amazon.com

The Mississippi Innocence Project was established with initial funding by Grisham and Columbus attorney Wilbur Colom, a graduate of Antioch Law School. Tucker Carrington, director of the Mississippi Innocence Project, said he expects 300 to 350 guests to attend the dinner.

Cedric Willis of Jackson, Miss. is also scheduled to speak. Willis was convicted in 1997 of murder and robbery and sentenced to life in prison despite the fact that DNA evidence excluded him as the perpetrator. Thanks to help from the Innocence Project of New Orleans, Willis was granted a new trial, found innocent and freed from prison in 2006.

The Innocence Project is currently a network of law schools, journalism schools and public defender offices. To prevent future wrongful convictions, they work with legislators and law enforcement on local, state and national levels to conduct research and training and propose a vast range of solutions for them.
The Innocence Project is a non-profit legal clinic that was founded in 1992 at Yeshiva University. The project is dedicated to helping wrongfully convicted people by the means of DNA testing and reforming the criminal justice system to prevent future injustice.
In the United States, 208 individuals have had their convictions overturned due to DNA testing, including 15 who served on death row.
Each inmate served an average of 12 years in prison before they were found not guilty.