The Ohio Innocence Project, or OIP, is a nonprofit dedicated to helping wrongfully convicted individuals in Ohio. Founded in 2003 and based at the University of Cincinnati College of Law, the OPI works to identify and exonerate those convicted of crimes they did not commit.
Last week, Tara Rosnell, chair of OIP's Board of Advocates, spoke with WYSO Community Voices Producer Mary Evans about the exoneration process in the season five premiere of ReEntry Stories. In this week's conversation, Rosnell returns and talks about the obstacles she faces as an attorney doing this important work. Excerpts from that conversation are below.
The following transcript is lightly edited for length and clarity.
Tara Rosnell: So one challenge, I guess I'll say, is financial. OIP is a small nonprofit. They are part of U.C. law school, and the cost of investigating these cases has gone up over time.
I think fewer of our cases are DNA cases, and more of them involve extensive investigation. And so we hire investigators for that work. And also just travel costs of, you know, the students driving around to the different prisons and meeting with our our clients, etc..
So costs have just gone up. That's one thing. And then the second thing, I guess I would say possibly even just more important in terms of challenges to students, it's difficult work emotionally. So there are times when we think that it is clear that a particular client has not committed a crime, but we're not able to find new evidence, or we're not able to find what we need, especially in cases where they may have taken a plea bargain. In those cases, since the bar is extremely high.
And so working with someone that you know is innocent and who has a very long sentence, but not being able to do anything in certain cases, that's very tough. And that's one of the roles of the board of directors is, I think, to kind of be a sounding board and emotional support for the staff attorneys who work for many years. And our average case can take about seven years. And there are a lot of setbacks during those times, even in cases where we are ultimately successful in getting a person exonerated. There are many setbacks along the way, and it's very difficult when a person and their family is affected by that.
Working with someone that you know is innocent and who has a very long sentence, but not being able to do anything in certain cases, that's very tough.Tara Rosnell
Mary Evans: You know, for me, I was guilty of the crimes I did. However, I do feel like the sentence was maxed out compared to some of the other individuals in my, you know, committing county and what they might have been sentenced to. That's neither here nor there. And I'd always heard that when you took a plea, you know, there was no option for appeal or anything like that. It was kind of like set in stone. So I think it's monumental that you're able to help individuals kind of like have a voice when they've taken an appeal in a court system.
So what happens? Where is the justice for victims? You know, the victim or the victim's family? Because now, okay, we got it wrong. This wasn't the person. And they never go back to try to find the person who actually did it. How does that work?
Rosnell: Yeah, that's a great question. Sometimes, actually, OIP is successful in figuring out who the person who really did it is. That has happened, especially in cases with DNA testing.
Other times that does not happen. And then it just depends. I mean, the state continually solves cold cases. But the longer you are...I mean, these cases take so long to get through the system that oftentimes, you know, the evidence just may not exist anymore. You may not be able to find the witnesses or to find the evidence or evidence has been lost or destroyed through the course of those years. And then they are not able to do that.
Evans: Well, I thank you so much for your time and for explaining these processes. And I hope that people are listening.
Rosnell: And thank you, Mary, for your work in shining a light on this issue. It's really important and really appreciated.
Support for ReEntry Stories comes from The Montgomery County Office of Reentry and the Eichelberger Center for Community Voices at WYSO.
