Ultimate Justice: Four Perspectives on Wrongful Convictions of the Innocent—“The Faces of Wrongful Conviction”

The Siegal Lifelong Learning Program will host a series of events on the Ohio Innocence Project during October. Sessions in the Ultimate Justice: Four Perspectives on Wrongful Convictions of the Innocent series will be held Wednesdays Oct. 3-24 from 7 to 8:30 p.m. at the Landmark Centre (25700 Science Park Drive, Beachwood).

About the series

The sessions will examine and discuss the Ohio Innocence Project’s efforts to exonerate innocent people convicted for crimes they did not commit. Attendees will hear from exonerees on their stories and experiences of conviction, incarceration and ultimate freedom. Participants will examine the root causes of wrongful convictions through review of Blind Injustice by Mark Godsey, director of the Ohio Innocence Project. Lawyers who have litigated cases leading to exonerations also will discuss the strategies and technical aspects of their work. The series will be composed of the following talks:

• “The Faces of Wrongful Conviction” Oct. 3;
• “The Myths and Realities of Wrongful Convictions in Popular Culture” Oct. 10;
• “Anatomy of an Exoneration” Oct. 17; and
• “Causes of Wrongful Conviction: Why Innocent People Get Convicted of Crimes They Did Not Commit” Oct. 24.

The series is free and open to the public. Register for the full series. This series is made possible through the generosity of Dworken & Bernstein Co., LPA, and Northeast Ohio Board of Advocates for Ohio Innocence Project.

About the first event

The series will open with a discussion titled “The Faces of Wrongful Conviction” Oct. 3. Alec Berezin, member of the Northeast Ohio Board of Advocates for the Ohio Innocence Project, will lead the session, which will feature candid and compelling conversations with the people who know the realities of wrongful convictions best: Ohioans who were wrongfully convicted. Raymond Towler, Dean Gillespie and Nancy Smith will offer insight as they discuss how they went from their normal everyday lives to being accused, arrested, prosecuted and imprisoned for years for crimes they did not commit. Learn what went wrong, what went right, where they are now and the struggles they faced after being released. This presentation is made possible through the generosity of Lee and Theresa Markowitz.