2008 Innocence Network Conference - San Jose, CA

Pictured: (from right to left) Florida Exonerees Alan Crotzer, Wilton Dedge, Larry Bostic, Chad Heins, IPF Executive Director Seth Miller, IPF Board Chair Mark Schlakman (second row); at 2008 Innocence Network Conference, March 29, 2008, San Jose CA

Last weekend (March 28-30), I traveled to San Jose, California to attend the 2008 meeting of the International Innocence Network at Santa Clara University. The Innocence Network is a consortium of organizations from North America and abroad that focus their work on freeing innocence individuals from prison. Not only did I have the privilege of meeting people from all over America, Canada, England, Australia, and New Zealand who are doing the same work as IPF, but I had the honor of meeting many of the over 70 exonerees in attendance.

For staff at innocence projects, the conference offered various programs and panels designed to flesh out issues different projects are having related to litigation, policy, and project management. Exonerees also were able to attend programs on managing money, coping skills, anger management, and leadership in the Innocence Movement. I was very lucky to have attended the conference with a number of Florida exonerees (pictured above).

I wanted to extend a personal thank you to all the folks at Santa Clara University and the Northern California Innocence Project for putting on one hell of an event; to the folks at The Innocence Project in New York for showing me and Florida's exonerees a good time, and all of the exonerees in attendance for their continued strength and courage.

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