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Join Students for the Innocence Project for our third annual symposium as we host speakers Sarah Chu, Alicia Carriquiry, Brandon L. Garrett, and Rodney Roberts. We are honored and excited to bring their unique voices to William & Mary and together we hope to drive a conversation about the role of false or misleading forensic evidence in wrongful convictions and the importance of good science in exonerations. RSVP HERE.

Sarah Chu joined the Innocence Project in September 2008. As the Senior Advisor on Forensic Science Policy, she supports policy work that focuses on improving the validity and reliability of forensic science. Prior to joining the Innocence Project, Sarah worked in executive search and as a middle school science teacher in the NYC public schools. She also represents her community on her local community board. During her academic career, Sarah published work in plant biology and musculoskeletal epidemiology. Sarah graduated from the University of California, San Diego with bachelor degrees in Biochemistry/Cell Biology, Communication, and a Masters in Biology. She also holds a Masters in Epidemiology from Stanford University.

Alicia Carriquiry is a Distinguished Professor of Liberal Arts and Sciences and a Professor of Statistics at Iowa State University. She researches applications of statistics in human nutrition, bioinformatics, forensic sciences and traffic safety, and has published over 100 peer-reviewed articles in corresponding academic journals. Dr. Carriquiry is the lead investigator for the CSAFE program, providing scientific oversight and research expertise. She was among the first to question the probative value of bullet lead analysis and also served as a member of the NAS committee on ballistic imaging. Professor Carriquiry participates in the Forensic Sciences certificate program at Iowa State University. She also serves on the OSAC subcommittee on Materials and Trace Evidence, and was named to the National Academy of Medicine.

Brandon L. Garrett teaches law at the Duke University School of Law, where he has been the L. Neil Williams, Jr. Professor of Law since 2018. Previously, he was the Justice Thurgood Marshall Distinguished Professor of Law and White Burkett Miller Professor of Law and Public Affairs at the University of Virginia School of Law, where he taught beginning in 2005. His research on our criminal justice system has ranged from the lessons to be learned from cases where innocent people were exonerated by DNA tests, to research on false confessions, forensics, and eyewitness memory, to the difficult compromises that prosecutors reach when targeting the largest corporations in the world. Professor Garrett directs the Center for Science and Justice at Duke Law, which conducts empirical criminal justice research.

Rodney Roberts was arrested in 1996 after an altercation with a friend. After several days in custody, he was charged with kidnapping and sexual assault of a 17-year old girl. His court appointed attorney advised him to plead guilty or spend the rest of his life in prison. Mr. Roberts had a good job and had recently moved with his young son into a new apartment. Even though he had not committed the crime for which he was charged, in hopes of getting back to his son as soon as possible, he pleaded guilty to the crime in exchange for a seven-year sentence. Mr. Roberts ultimately spent 18 years wrongfully incarcerated, first in prison and later in a treatment facility after the prosecutor’s office obtained a court order committing him as a “sexually violent predator.” However, DNA evidence ultimately excluded him as a perpetrator of the crime, and in 2014, he was exonerated and released. He is now an inspirational speaker and the founder of the Rodney Roberts Foundation, which helps others who have been wrongfully convicted.

Contact

Emily Milakovic: [[e|enmilakovic]] or Hannah Merrill: [[e|hcmerrill]]

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