Innocence Project New Orleans will host its 10th Anniversary Gala on Thursday, May 19, featuring Leslie Hendrix (Law & Order), along with Congressman Cedric Richmond and New Orleans Dixieland Jazz Band “Some Like It Hot”.
The gala will be a celebration of 10 years of working to secure the freedom of factually innocent prisoners. It will celebrate Innocence Project New Orleans’ work and the courage and perseverance of their clients. It will also honor the commitment and support of all those who have joined the fight to right wrongful convictions – donors, volunteers, judges, legislators and members of the bar and the community.
Innocence Project New Orleans (IPNO) represents innocent prisoners serving life sentences in Louisiana and south Mississippi, and assists them with their transition into the free world upon their release. IPNO works in the states with the country’s highest incarceration rates and the highest rates of wrongful conviction in the country. By identifying and remedying cases and causes of wrongful conviction, they engage in high impact, frontline advocacy in the courts of law and public opinion, and lead community-based responses into the mistakes made by their criminal justice system. Last year alone they secured exonerations for eight men (29 were exonerated nationally).
Since its inception, IPNO has secured the freedom for 19 wrongfully convicted prisoners.
The event takes place at Generations Hall, 310 Andrew Higgins Drive, New Orleans. More information can be found here.
