Given the fact that Pennsylvania has one of the highest incarceration rates in the country

and some of the toughest discovery roles for defense attorneys, it's pretty remarkable

that it wasn't until 2009 that an Innocence Project was established in the state.

Originally housed at Temple University, it was staffed by a small team that was assisted

by students from Temple Law School and Villanova University School of Law.

Over the past eight years, the Pennsylvania Innocence Project has multiplied and grown,

and now has programs at Thomas R. Klein Direct School of Law, the University of Pennsylvania

Law School, Rutgers University Law School, and Penn State School of Law.

And in 2016, they opened offices in Pittsburgh housed by Duquesne University Law School.

The first time that I met the folks from the Pennsylvania Innocence Project was last year.

I shared a panel with the very dynamic, charismatic Marissa Bluestine, who was that time the legal

director of the Innocence Project.

After I gave my remarks, I listened to her talk about some of the pressing cases that

they were dealing with.

One of them stunned me and haunted me for weeks after I left that event.

So later that year, as Susan, Colin, and I were exploring new possible wrongful conviction

cases to cover this year, I remembered the case that Marissa spoke about.

It was about a young man named Sean Thomas.

My name is Marissa Bluestine.

I am now the executive director for the Pennsylvania Innocence Project as about three weeks ago.

Before that, I was the legal director and had been since the project started in April 2009.

And I have been Sean Thomas' attorney almost that entire time since 2009.

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