The Life After Innocence Project

The After Innocence Project recently met one of our first clients, Chicago-native and recent exoneree Jerry Miller.

It was an amazing meeting, and we walked away from his house humbled and honored to be working with him.

Though we’ll be posting more about Jerry’s life after innocence in the near future, let me tell you a little about him now.

Jerry is probably one of the more famous exonerees in the country.

In 1982, the State of Illinois unjustly convicted Jerry of rape, robbery, and kidnapping. For more than 20 years, he proclaimed his innocence. Then, in 2005, The Innocence Project took on his case. Through their efforts, Jerry was paroled in 2006. He was officially exonerated on April 23, 2007, when he also became the 200th person exonerated by DNA evidence in the U.S. More than a year later, in October 2008, Jerry was finally pardoned by the Governor of Illinois.

If you google Jerry’s name, it is difficult to find a major newspaper or news program in which he has not been featured. From The Colbert Report to Bill Moyers’ Journal, Jerry is one of the faces of American exonerees.

And yet, despite his fame, Jerry still struggles against the same legal system and government bureaucracy that imprisoned him for a crime he did not commit. For example, though Jerry’s record was supposed to be expunged almost two years ago, his unjust convictions were still recently showing up on employee background checks and making it difficult for him to find work.

You might assume that if the government realized it had convicted an innocent person, it would do everything it could to make amends for the horrible wrong it committed. But too often it’s the opposite. As David Bates, a Chicagoan who served 11 years for a crime he did not commit once told me, “it was bad on the inside, but in many ways, it’s worse on the outside.”

This is precisely why Laura Caldwell and the Loyola University Chicago Law School started The Life After Innocence Project. We want to help exonerees reclaim their rights as innocent people, as well as enable the Loyola community and other caring citizens to join us in this fight.

Check back soon for more posts and interviews from Jerry, as well as our other client Dean Cage. We’ll also be telling you about ways you can help.

If you want read more about Jerry, check out his profile at the Innocence Project.

Jerry on the Colbert Report:

…and here are a few links to Jerry’s videos.

Jerry on Bill Moyers Journal.

Jerry’s video profile at The Innocence Project.