Maryland public defender boosts exoneration efforts with 2nd innocence clinic at Maryland Carey School of Law

By Kendra Bryant
AFRO Intern 

Maryland’s Office of the Public Defender (MOPD) reinforced its commitment to tackling false convictions, launching another Innocence Project clinic at the University of Maryland Francis King Carey School of Law (Maryland Carey Law). Maryland’s first was established at the University of Baltimore School of Law (UBalt Law). 

“With this powerful partnership between Maryland’s premier legal institutions,” said Maryland Public Defender Natasha Dartigue in a statement, “we’re creating an unprecedented force for justice that will scrutinize questionable prosecutions, challenge faulty evidence, and zealously advocate for those who have been wrongfully convicted.”

The initiative introduces fresh leadership to the MOPD Innocence Project Clinic at UBalt Law, along with an acquittal-concentrated clinic, the MOPD Innocence Project Clinic at Maryland Carey Law. Scholars working in the clinics will garner hands-on advocacy and legal skills throughout the year, both of which are beneficial for successful careers in criminal justice fields and public defense. 

“This collaboration represents a significant step forward in our efforts to provide our students with hands-on legal experience while making a meaningful impact on the lives of those who have been wrongfully convicted,” said Maryland Carey Law Dean Renée Hutchins Laurent. 

The programs come at a pivotal time when the awareness of false convictions is increasing nationally.  

According to the National Registry of Exonerations 2023 Report: 

• ●  Those cleared during 2023 spent 2,230 years in prison.
• ●  More than half of releases were made possible by innocence-focused programs. 
• ●  Dating back to 1989, nationally, 34,798 cases were cleared. Exonerees served 31,678 years in jail.

Maryland Carey Law’s new exoneration project is set to be run by Erica Suter, who is a public defender assistant and former director of UBalt Law’s MOPD Innocence Project Clinic. She’s most known for being the post-conviction attorney who worked to free Adnan Syed.

The University of Baltimore’s program is now being led by Rachel Bennett, most recently a senior attorney at the Amica Center for Immigrant Rights.  She was previously an assistant public defender for 11 years, most recently as a felony attorney in Baltimore County.

“We value our longstanding partnership with the Maryland Office of the Public Defender and are thrilled that our state will soon have two law school clinics working to exonerate the wrongfully convicted,” said UBalt Law Dean LaVonda Reed. “Our incoming Innocence Project Clinic director, Rachel Bennett, brings extensive experience and passion for this important work, and we look forward to continuing the clinic’s advocacy with our student-attorneys.”

Bennett assumed her new role on July 1. The clinic is scheduled to launch at the start of the 2025 fall semester and is enrolling students.

Changing lives since 2008, the work of UBalt Law’s MOPD Innocence Project Clinic serves as a blueprint for this collaboration. Since its launch, the clinic has won shortened sentences and freedom for convicted persons in 20 cases, including that of Adnan Syed and John Huffington, who obtained a pardon after a total of 32 years in prison, with 10 under death row. 

“Innocence Project Clinics transform lives and reveal deep flaws in our criminal legal system,” said Dartigue. “Exposing wrongful convictions is not only life-changing — it is essential to the pursuit of justice.”