William S. Boyd School of Law University of Nevada, Las Vegas
 































Innocence Clinic

Students in the Innocence Clinic investigate claims of wrongful conviction by Nevada state prison inmates referred from the Rocky Mountain Innocence Center (RMIC), which is the innocence project for the states of Nevada, Utah and Wyoming.  At the conclusion of this two-semester clinic, students recommend to the RMIC whether to close investigation, continue investigation or proceed to litigation.  Through their examination of police investigatory materials, trial materials and witness interviews, students learn to carefully and skeptically analyze facts, to search for information that is not contained in a case record, and to assess how the same events might generate conflicting or competing stories. In the fall semester, the clinic seminar focuses on systemic causes of wrongful conviction, such as mistaken eyewitness identification, false confession, faulty forensic science, prosecutorial misconduct and ineffective assistance of counsel, and ways to reform the criminal justice system to mitigate these causes.  In the spring semester, the seminar critically examines the goal of reliability in the criminal justice system and the postconviction legal remedies available to correct wrongful convictions in cases of actual innocence.


CLINICAL PROGRAM
FACULTY & STAFF

Professor David Thronson
Associate Dean for Clinical Studies
Co-Director,
Immigration Clinic

Professor Mary Berkheiser
Director,
Juvenile Justice Clinic

Professor Ann Cammett
Director,
Family Justice Clinic

Professor Martin Geer
Director,
Externship Program

Professor Kate Kruse
Director,
Innocence Clinic

Professor Rebecca Nathanson
Director, Education Advocacy Clinic
and Kids' Court School

Professor Leticia Saucedo
Co-Director,
Immigration Clinic

Professor Anne Traum
Director,
Federal Appellate Clinic

Angela Morrison
Legal Director
Nevada Immigrant Resource Project (NIRP)

Joe Honrath
Clinic Operations Manager

Carmen Chang
Legal Secretary

Taurus Duncan
Legal Secretary

Janet Wilson-McFarland
Legal Secretary

Carlos Morales
Clinic Receptionist

Morgan Flaherty
Clinic Student Assistant

Koa Perlac
Externship Student Assistant

 

   © 2006 University of Nevada, Las Vegas