Georgia Innocence Project Inc.

“Walter jospin wendy shoob board member board member spouse”

“Amended and restated by-laws. Major changes: - instituted a staggered board with three initial classes: a (3 year term), b (2 year term), and c (1 year term). Subsequent terms are three years, and board members can be re-elected for an additional three year term. - the executive director and secretary are designated as officers of the organization, and the board is given the discretion to determine the other officers of the organization. - a minimum of eight persons is established for the board, with no maximum. - an idemnification clause is added which idemnifies the board members and the executive director. - action is allowed without a board meeting with written consent by a majority of directors. - a pre-set quarterly meeting schedule is established.”

“A draft of the form 990 is provided via email to the board of directors before being filed and directors are invited to review and share their thoughts. In addition, members of the executive committee review the form with the executive director to ensure that it is free from errors and discrepancies.”

“All members of the organization are required to sign a conflict of interest policy and report any potential conflicts to the executive director. The executive director is required to report any potential conflicts to the board president. The organization reviews potential conflicts as reported to determine whether or not a conflict exists, and if a conflict does exist, what steps can be taken to address that conflict. If a conflict is identified it is documented, along with any steps taken to mitigate the conflict.”

“Compensation for the executive director is determined by the board of directors after reviewing data from the guidestar nonprofit compensation report, as well as information from the forms 990 of similarly situated nonprofits in the atlanta area.”

“Compensation for key employees is determined by the executive director using the same resources. Compensation decisions, and changes to compensation are documented contemporaneously within each employee's file.”

“Forms are made available to the public upon request. Forms 990 can be found through guidestar and other similar services.”

“Georgia innocence project's mission is to: free the imprisoned innocent using dna-related post-conviction litigation. Educate others about the problem of wrongful convictions. Advance practices to prevent others from suffering the same fate. Connect the exonerated with resources to help rebuild their lives.”

“The board of directors recently approved an expansion beyond litigating cases strictly under georgia's post-conviction dna testing statute (o.c.g.a. 5-5-41(c)) and shifting into broader miscarriage of justice/ actual innocence litigation, which generally is brought via state and federal habeas proceedings. As dna testing becomes more common before trial and evidence is increasingly lost or degraded in older cases, post- conviction dna testing becomes less relevant. Additionally, and oddly enough, as modern post-conviction dna testing becomes more sensitive due to advancements in technology, it actually also becomes less relevant. For example, while dna testing can now tell us who touched or wore an item of evidence, it also often contains the dna of other people completely unrelated to the crime who may also have handled the evidence at any point in time. We have several current cases where post-conviction dna testing is exculpatory but insufficient to entitle our clients to a new trial. Thus the need has arisen to shift into broader actual innocence litigation. Gip also eliminated a mission-related activity during the last 12 months, which actually is causing us to temporarily add a mission-related activity during the two-year transition period. In 2007, gip began accepting cases from alabama because there was (and still is) no innocence organization based in alabama. Over the years, it became clear that gip did not have the capacity or resources to effectively investigate and represent clients in alabama, and the alabama efforts were significantly hindering our ability to be effective in georgia. In april 2019, after considerable research and soul searching, we decided to no longer accept cases from alabama. We have since rejected 84 intake-stage alabama cases and closed two late-stage cases. However, we cannot abandon our existing alabama clients. So we have hired an attorney who will work with us starting in september 2019 for two years as an alabama fellow, dedicated to ensuring that these innocence cases each find a new home with a skilled attorney, while the fellow also helps build a framework for future innocence work within alabama.”

“The georgia innocence project (gip) investigates criminal convictions where modern dna testing was not available at the time of trial. If there is a compelling claim of innocence and dna evidence still exists, gip litigates to test that dna and prove actual innocence. Since its inception, gip has received more than 7,400 requests for assistance. Gip and co-counsel at the southern center for human rights won an extraordinary motion for new trial (emnt) for our client johnny lee gates, who has spent 42 years in prison (26 on death row) for a crime he did not commit. Following emnt proceedings with our co-counsel at the innocence project, another client's conviction was vacated based upon exculpatory dna test results -- he spent almost 30 years in prison for a rape he did not commit. We secured post-conviction dna testing in four cases. We educated 800 students in eight schools around atlanta about wrongful convictions on wrongful conviction day. The innocence network conference (900 people, including 200+ exonerees) was hosted in atlanta and gip made a strong showing there -- gip and exonerees presented at sessions and gip's executive director and a gip board member each gave talks at the opening plenary.”