Alabama Initiative

In 2007, the Georgia Innocence Project (GIP) began accepting inquiries from Alabama inmates who may have claims of actual innocence.“There are now more than 200 Americans whom DNA evidence has proven innocent long after their convictions. Alabama is one of only two states not currently served by a regional or state Innocence Project, and we feel that justice in Alabama cannot wait another day,” said Aimee Maxwell, GIP Executive Director. As of June 2008, GIP currently has dozens of volunteer attorneys, along with 6-12 law student interns per semester, who help process cases. Since its establishment in 2002, GIP has received more than 3500 requests for its assistance.

Four GIP clients have been exonerated and freed. Clarence Harrison served nearly 18 years in prison before being exonerated in 2004. Robert Clark was behind bars for almost 25 years before DNA testing freed him in late 2005. Pete Williams, exonerated in February 2007, served more than 21 years in prison before testing proved him innocent. John White left prison in December 2007 after serving more than 12 years for a crime he did not commit.

In the cases of Clark, Williams and White, the same testing led police to the true perpetrators of the crimes for which GIP’s clients were wrongly convicted. GIP is assisting all these men in rebuilding their lives through its Life After Exoneration program.GIP is a nonprofit organization founded in August 2002 with the mission to free the wrongly prosecuted through DNA testing, to advance practices that minimize the chances that others suffer the same fate, to educate the public that wrongful convictions are not isolated or rare events, and to help the exonerated rebuild their lives.Alabama inmates may write GIP at 752½ North Highland Avenue, Atlanta, Georgia 30306. GIP investigates only those cases in which DNA evidence not previously tested might prove innocence.