During the fall 2020 semester, Cumberland School of Law launched the Cumberland Veterans Legal Assistance Clinic (C-VETS) and the Cumberland Innocence Clinic—the first of their kind in the state of Alabama. Being able to provide these real-world experiences for our law students has been so rewarding, while proving to be both challenging and amazing as we’re hitting the ground running.
C-VETS, led by Judge John L. Carroll '74, is a full-service clinic helping veterans with civil, criminal and administrative matters. It has been featured in Cumberland’s publications this year, so now I will share more about the Cumberland Innocence Clinic and two new clinics that launched this spring, the Criminal Appeals Clinic and the Capital Defense Clinic. While we did not anticipate that the clinics would start in these “most interesting” times, we’ve gone forward with optimism.
Cumberland Innocence Clinic
Twenty-five students (and counting) worked on cases this year, screening and evaluating innocence claims of people incarcerated in Alabama prisons, engaging in intensive investigation work and legal research projects, and even drafting post-conviction pleadings in preparation for eventual litigation in some cases. The work of this clinic was made possible through a partnership with the Georgia Innocence Project (GIP). Thanks to their support, GIP’s Alabama fellow attorney Meagan Hurley is guiding the students’ work as the clinic’s co-instructor. She will continue working with us through August 2021, at which point GIP will end its involvement in Alabama to focus on Georgia cases.
I could go on forever about the Innocence Clinic and the clinics in general. The Innocence Clinic has been the highlight of my time at Cumberland. Participating in this clinic has allowed me to learn practical skills and become a stronger advocate while working to (hopefully) reverse a wrongful conviction.Jennifer Townsend - Third-year student
A focus of the clinic’s work is to help innocence claimants navigate Alabama’s post-conviction process to access their cases’ forensic evidence, which may aid them in proving their innocence. Most of these claimants have biological evidence in their cases, but the science was not available at the time of their trial to meaningfully test and evaluate that evidence. Advances in forensic science and DNA technology now allow more precise results than previously possible in many cases. Cumberland students are investigating these innocence claims and preparing them for future litigation in order to recruit counsel to propel the cases forward. Several Cumberland alumni have volunteered to represent our initial innocence claimants, and they will file the motions and pleadings that our students are drafting. We are still looking for pro bono attorneys to assist with cases that we are evaluating this spring.
Like other ventures that started in 2020, the global pandemic and economic crisis affected us, making us especially grateful for support from our Cumberland and larger legal communities. Much of the credit for the clinics’ existence goes to our students, who advocated for the clinics in summer 2020. Cumberland administrators and faculty permitted us to offer the clinics and the law library generously arranged for us to have access to invaluable research databases. And finally, the GIP covered case expenses and allowed Hurley to bring her expertise to our course.
The need for an organization in Alabama that does innocence work in noncapital cases is compelling. Innocence and criminal justice issues are deeply woven into Alabama’s history, as illustrated by the Scottsboro Boys case and Monroeville native Harper Lee’s famous work, To Kill a Mockingbird, among other examples. Extrapolating from known DNA exonerations in the U.S. and the most conservative estimates, approximately 4-6% of the nation’s incarcerated population is innocent, according to the Center on Wrongful Convictions. Alabama, with the fifth-highest prison population per capita in the U.S., potentially has between 1,110 to 1,670 innocent people currently incarcerated. Alabama is the only southeastern state without an innocence organization. All of the nearby states—Georgia, Florida, Louisiana, Mississippi, Tennessee and the Carolinas—have innocence organizations. While there are world-renowned organizations that have represented exonerated persons in Alabama cases, including the Equal Justice Initiative, Southern Center for Human Rights and the Southern Poverty Law Center, those groups’ work, by necessity, has concentrated on systemic criminal justice reform and death penalty litigation.
Cumberland’s Innocence Clinic has the potential to make a difference in Alabama. The clinic’s small size is a challenge, but it also gives us an advantage. The biggest cost of an innocence organization is normally personnel and office space. Starting the Innocence Clinic at a law school with GIP’s assistance allowed us to operate with a fraction of the resources that such a project would normally require. Because of the pandemic and limited resources, the clinic is currently reviewing only cases previously submitted to GIP, but we hope that we can find the resources to continue providing access to justice for Alabama’s imprisoned innocent after GIP involvement in Alabama ends. Between Cumberland students and alumni, and their interest, determination and commitment to improving Alabama’s criminal legal system, anything is possible.
Criminal Appeals and Capital Defense Clinic
Two new clinics started at Cumberland School of Law this spring. Both are hosted by the Jefferson County Public Defender’s Office, a state agency that represents indigent defendants in capital and noncapital cases at trial and on direct appeal. Adam Danneman, the Jefferson County public defender, was integral in conceptualizing both clinics. The Criminal Appeals Clinic is headed by Alisha McKay, appellate attorney for the Jefferson County Public Defender’s Office, who is teaching students to draft appellate briefs and related pleadings for real clients. Students are learning substantive law and procedure and the lawyer’s true skill in applying the law for the best results for a client. In the Capital Defense Clinic, students are working with deputy public defender Sammie Shaw on capital cases and related skills such as interviewing, drafting motions and preparing mitigation for the capital sentencing phase of a trial.
To learn more about or to provide support for Cumberland School of Law's clinics, email clinics@samford.edu.
