Lawyer of the Year
Charlotte Whitmore's work in BC's Innocence Program to secure the release of Thomas Rosa after thirty-four years in prison has won her "Massachusetts Lawyers Weekly's" 2023 honor.
Innocence Program
Innocence Program
In the Boston College Innocence Program, students study the problem of erroneous convictions and work to remedy and prevent these injustices. Clinic students and faculty represent individuals wrongly convicted in Massachusetts for crimes they did not commit and collaborate with public, private, and nonprofit partners in litigation and public policy reforms.
Our Clinic focuses on cases involving complex factual investigation as well as work with scientific and forensic experts. We co-counsel with the Committee for Public Counsel Services Innocence program and with other attorneys and we also accept cases even where no other counsel is appointed and even if no DNA evidence is available to prove factual innocence.
As part of the Innocence Program, students:
- Evaluate cases of individuals who maintain they did not commit the crimes for which they were convicted and punished
- Represent individuals seeking relief from wrongful conviction or access to scientific testing of physical evidence to prove their innocence
- Plan and conduct factual investigations, including witness interviews
- Work with scientific experts, forensic witnesses, and crime labs
- Draft motions, supporting affidavits, and memoranda in support of motions for forensic testing and post-conviction relief
- Prepare for and participate in judicial proceedings
- Write amicus briefs on issues relating to wrongful convictions
- Engage with faculty and graduate students from Psychology and Social Work on breaking edge on multidisciplinary research to inform public policy
The BC Innocence Program's experiential placements are enriched by two classroom components:
A weekly experiential seminar devoted to skills training and ethical and professional discernment
The Wrongful Convictions Seminar, in which students study the problem of erroneous convictions from academic and multidisciplinary perspectives and write and present their own research papers
The BCIP also provides undergraduate internships and public education and attorney training programs highlighting the latest in the field.
Featured Stories
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Court Vacates Conviction of Innocence Program Client
Finding that “justice may not have been done,” a Suffolk County Superior Court has vacated the 1976 murder and armed robbery convictions of Boston College Innocence Program (BCIP) client Milton Jones. The clinic's victory is its fourth in the past three years.
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How the Innocence Program Became an Exoneration Powerhouse
This BC Law clinic has engaged students and similar organizations in vast advocacy efforts, and before the pandemic, secured the release of four individuals from wrongful imprisonment in the span of just two years.
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Choy Exonerated in Parents’ Death
The BC Innocence Program played a pivotal role in a judge's decision on evidence of innocence and prosecutorial racism to vacate the convictions of the first Asian-American exonerated in Massachusetts.
Read the feature story in BC Law Magazine. Also covered by Boston College Magazine, and The New York Times.
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Innocence Client Exonerated in Double Murder
Ronnie Qualls was exonerated after the Suffolk County District Attorney formally dismissed all charges pending against him in connection with a 1992 double homicide in Boston’s Roxbury neighborhood. Qualls served 27 years in prison before his release.
Read the feature story in BC Law Magazine. Also covered in The Boston Globe.
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The Innocence Whisperers
The BCIP and co-counsel Chauncey Wood successfully moved to vacate Christopher “Omar” Martinez's murder conviction and secure his release from wrongful incarceration after 20 years.
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“The BC Innocence Clinic was by far the most gratifying educational and professional opportunity I have ever had.”