Ohio Innocence Project

Here are a few images from Saturday's successful event with Antioch College, our OIP-u chapter at the school, the Coretta Scott King Center for Cultural and Intellectual Freedom, and Yellow Springs Pride, where the documentary "Southwest of Salem" was screened. Afterwards, an audience discussion took place with Anna Vasquez, one of the four wrongfully-convicted women who together are known as "the San Antonio Four." Anna is now the Director of Outreach and Education for the Innocence Project of Texas.

The program opened with pre-screening remarks from King Center Director Professor Queen Zabriskie, who is also one of the advisors for the OIP-u chapter, along with OIP Director of Policy and Engagement Pierce Reed. The post-film discussion was moderated by Antioch OIP-u advisor and Pre-Law Professor Jacqueline Gaines and Antioch OIP-u advisor and Anthropology Professor Jennifer Grubbs. We were also very pleased to have Antioch College President Jane Fernandes join us for the program.

Thanks to everyone who showed up on Saturday and made this a great event!

This is a story of a man who has been locked up for more than 30 years but still maintains his unlike any other you are likely to come across. Jimmy Scott was convicted for actions that the prosecution said caused a Mississippi River flood to breech a levee and submerge thousands of acres of farmland in 1993. Experts say that's impossible. Scott, who has been a model prisoner, will go before the Parole Board for the first time in July, and plans to once again tell them he's innocent. That stand of principle could greatly diminish his chances for freedom.

Jimmy Scott has been in prison since 1994. He's up for parole and I'm still here. Scott has never stopped saying he is innocent. In 1998, I didn’t believe him. After almost 30 years of research, I know he’s correct.

After surviving more than 20 years on , analysis finally proved that Nick Yarris was an innocent man. Here's more about the story that inspired the current Tony-nominated play, "The Fear of 13."

Nick Yarris Was Wrongfully Imprisoned on Death Row for More Than 2 Decades. Inside His Life Today, Including How He Inspired a Tony-Nominated Show Nick Yarris spent over two decades wrongfully imprisoned on death row in Pennsylvania. Here's everything to know about where he is now, including how his story inspired the Tony-nominated Broadway show 'Fear of 13.'

Hard to explain a decision like this, other than to point out that one man's views are going to negatively impact across an entire state. Both houses of the legislature unanimously passed this legislation to provide modest help to the state's wrongfully convicted, but the governor for some reason chose to make this the first use of his veto power all year.

A big victory Thursday for the Mississippi Innocence Project, with a ruling by the state's Supreme Court that a woman imprisoned for the last 11 years is entitled to a new trial. Multiple issues have surfaced calling into question Tameshia Shelton's conviction. An inexperienced medical examiner now admits his conclusion that a man's death was a homicide was an error, and Shelton's own attorney failed to introduce at trial a su***de note the man had left behind.

Court paves way for new murder trial for Tameshia Shelton - Mississippi Today In a 6-1 vote Thursday, the Mississippi Supreme Court let stand a state Court of Appeals decision, ordering a new trial for Tameshia Shelton.

If you needed a rooting interest for the ongoing finals, here's a good one. A Texas Monthly magazine writer details former San Antonio coach and current team president Gregg Popovich's dedication to the innocence movement. He stepped forward in 2023 to help support a public awareness campaign for Rosa Jimenez, an Innocence Project client who was exonerated in 2021. Using his platform as the coach of the Spurs at the time, he urged people to find out if they could be potential kidney donors for Jimenez. With his help and others in the community, a donor was found and a little over a year later Jimenez got her life-saving transplant.

Every Spurs Fan Has a Story. Here Are Ours. Cheering for the silver and black means more than wins and losses.

Our OIP-u chapter at Antioch College is helping sponsor a special presentation on Saturday that will bring home the realities of what enduring is actually like. The program begins with a screening of the award-winning documentary "Southwest of Salem," about the persecution of the "San Antonio Four" in . The film will then be followed by a discussion with one of the members of that group, Anna Vasquez, who is now the Director of Outreach and Education for the Innocence Project of Texas. The event begins at 12 p.m. at the Little Art Theatre in Yellow Springs, Ohio. View a trailer for the film by scanning the QR code here.

A little different spin on this case from , but one that offers insights into the current state of the system. Anthony Hayes has spent the last five years under indictment in a cold case from 1988, and now the prosecutor has dropped the charges.

“I feel like it’s been a miscarriage of justice,” Hayes said. “I feel wore down. I feel broke down, man. All my (funds) being deleted down to nothing. My 401(k), I pulled everything out of there. I lost my business in Arizona. I lost my marriage. I lost my home. I lost everything.”

And his attorney admits that because of the immunity that prosecutors operate under, there's probably not any recourse for all of that available to Hayes. At the time in 2021 when investigators believed they had solved a cold case murder, the key they apparently were relying on were what was reported to be blood-stained jeans obtained from Hayes' sister. Subsequent testing, though, has proven "inconclusive," in the words of the prosecutors.

Mobile man decries ‘miscarriage of justice’ after murder charge finally dropped in cold case Five years after his indictment on a murder charge and nearly 40 years after the slaying, Anthony Lorenzo Hayes is a free man. Mobile County prosecutors on Tuesday asked a judge to dismiss the charge.

Pulitzer Prize-winning author Gilbert King has spoken twice at OIP events in recent years. The case at the heart of the book which won him his , "Devil In The Grove," has now resulted in the State of Florida approving for the descendants of the Groveland Four, young victims from a notorious case from the 1940s. King's efforts helped renew interest in the case, and led to the state in 2021 overturning the convictions in the case.

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Weddings are natural times for reunions, and here's one from Saturday that brought to mind events that literally changed the lives for all involved. From left in the first photo are OIP co-founder and director Mark Godsey, former Columbus Dispatch reporters Geoff Dutton and Mike Wagner and OIP client Raymond Towler. They were gathered at the reception to celebrate the marriage of Raymond to his long-time girlfriend Kelly McLaughlin, which took place late last fall.

Raymond served 29 years for a crime he did not commit until being in 2010. testing showed he was not the perpetrator of the crime. He was legally entitled by Ohio law to such testing all along, but the state wasn't processing such requests. Learning of that became the seed for an award-winning five-part series produced by Geoff and Mike called "Test of Convictions" where they examined cases of many Ohio inmates and came up with a list of 30 who were entitled to such testing whose cases looked most promising. OIP brought its expertise in helping partner with the reporters on the series. Of those 30, the tests proved seven had been wrongfully convicted, including three that were OIP clients. Another one of those three men, OIP client Robert McClendon, was also at Saturday's reception. It has been nearly 20 years since their project began, making Saturday's reunion a great opportunity for catching up and remembering all the hard work years ago that helped make such an evening possible in 2026.