Above: Professor Erica Suter (center) with Innocence Project Clinic students
For Savannah Kirtley ’26 (back row, center), being one of the select six students in the new MOPD Innocence Project Clinic at the University of Maryland Francis King Carey School of Law is a dream opportunity.
“I’ve admired the work of the greater Innocence Project organization for a long time, and I never imagined I’d have the chance to do this kind of work as a law student,” said Kirtley who aspires to a career as a public defender.
Now, thanks to a partnership between Maryland Carey Law and the Maryland Office of the Public Defender (MOPD), Kirtley and her classmates are on the front lines of Innocence Project work.
The clinic, which launched this semester, is led by Professor Erica J. Suter, an assistant public defender best known as the attorney for Adnan Syed, whose quest for exoneration was detailed in the first season of the famed podcast Serial and the HBO documentary series “The Case Against Adnan Syed.”
Prior to founding the clinic at Maryland Carey Law, Suter directed the sister MOPD Innocence Project Clinic at the University of Baltimore School of Law after working in private practice as an appellate and post-conviction criminal defense attorney. Her advocacy has resulted in the reduction of hundreds of years of incarceration. Additionally, the life sentences of more than 20 of her clients were modified or vacated.
Under Suter’s supervision, student-attorneys will represent MOPD clients who maintain their innocence but have been convicted of serious crimes in Maryland state courts. Activities in the year-long clinic will include legal research, interviewing clients and witnesses, devising and implementing investigative strategies, and possibly drafting pleadings and arguing motions in cases involving claims of wrongful conviction.
Those are just the kinds of hands-on skills Kirtley is looking to gain, along with learning "what it takes to do this challenging but vital work with care and dedication.”
With the addition of the Innocence Project to the law school’s Clinical Law Program, Maryland Carey Law also joins the Innocence Network, an affiliation of more than 70 organizations around the world committed to combating wrongful convictions and reforming the criminal legal system. Being a member of the network is beneficial because it enables knowledge sharing and cooperation among participants.
To celebrate the clinic’s launch, Maryland Carey Law hosted an event on Sept. 17, which included a private screening of “Sixteen Years,” a documentary chronicling the journey of Jeffrey Deskovic, who was wrongfully convicted at 17 for the rape and murder of a classmate—despite DNA evidence that excluded him. Represented by the Innocence Project, Deskovic was exonerated after serving 16 years in prison. The true perpetrator, who was serving time for a similar crime, was later identified through further DNA testing.
Following the screening, Suter moderated a panel discussion featuring Deskovic, “Sixteen Years” filmmaker Jia Rivzi, and Bernard Webster, a Baltimore County exoneree.
Maryland Public Defender Natasha Dartigue also spoke at the event, expressing her delight that the Office of the Public Defender is now in Innocence Project partnerships with both of Maryland’s law schools.
“Wrongful convictions are preventable tragedies that demand urgent, systematic response,” said Dartigue. “MOPD’s establishment of a second Innocence Project Clinic—the Maryland Office of the Public Defender Innocence Project Clinic at Maryland Carey Law—embodies our fundamental commitment to revolutionary change and stands as proof that justice delayed need not be denied.”
The new clinic builds on Maryland Carey Law’s long and storied history as a national leader in clinical legal education, which reaches back to the Clinical Law Program’s founding more than 50 years ago.
“With the launch of the MOPD Innocence Project Clinic at Maryland Carey Law, we take our place within an international movement that syncs perfectly with the work this law school has been doing for many decades,” said Maryland Carey Law Dean Renée Hutchins Laurent. “We are incredibly grateful that all the pieces came together to make it possible.”
For her part, Suter is enthusiastic about continuing her innocence work at Maryland’s flagship law school. “My two favorite things,” she said, “are freeing humans and teaching students.”
To support the MOPD Innocence Project Clinic at Maryland Carey Law, visit this page.