LANSING, Mich. – On Thursday, Oct. 2, the Cooley Law School Innocence Project will recognize National Wrongful Conviction Day with a free panel discussion at the law school’s Lansing campus. The event will feature exoneree Gilbert Poole Jr., as well as author, legal scholar, and Cooley graduate Nathan Goetting, who is now director of the George Romney Institute for Law and Public Policy at Adrian College. The event will also include Ohio Magistrate and Court Administrator Christy Cole and Cooley Law School Innocence Project attorneys.
Poole, who was represented by Cooley and exonerated in 2021, remains active in the Innocence movement, working with those who remain incarcerated as well as other exonerees.
Established in 2001, the Cooley Law School Innocence Project is the only post-conviction DNA innocence organization in the state. Since its inception, the office has screened over 6,000 cases and is responsible for the exoneration of nine individuals: Kenneth Wyniemko (2003), Nathaniel Hatchett (2008), Donya Davis (2014), LeDura Watkins (2017), Corey McCall (2021), Kenneth Nixon (2021), Gilbert Poole (2021), George DeJesus (2022), and Louis Wright (2023). It also helped to exonerate Lacino Hamilton and Ramon Ward, both in 2020, Terance Calhoun in 2022, and Crystal Mulherin and Duane Williams, both in 2024.
The project is staffed by Cooley Law School students, who work under the supervision of Cooley Innocence Project attorneys. Those interested in donating and supporting the work of the Cooley Innocence Project can do so at cooley.edu/academics/experiential-learning/innocence-project.
In its 12th year, Wrongful Conviction Day began as an effort of the Innocence Network, an affiliation of organizations dedicated to providing pro-bono legal and investigative services to individuals seeking to prove innocence of crimes for which they have been convicted, working to redress the causes of wrongful convictions, and supporting the exonerated after they are freed.
WHEN: Oct. 2, 2025, 12-1 p.m.
WHERE: Cooley Law School lobby, 300 S. Capitol Ave., Lansing, MI 48933