Twelve California prison inmates are working to gain their freedom, thanks to the help of a group of lawyers called the California Innocence Project.
To draw public attention to their work, three members of the group walked 700 miles from San Diego to Sacramento in June.
“I would never walk 700 miles if I did not believe all of these people are innocent,” said Alyssa Bjerkhoel, one of the group’s attorneys. “Each case is unique and has its own injustices; I do not doubt the innocence march or the innocence of these clients.”
“Our court system is set up to favor jury decisions and uphold convictions even in light of doubts about someone’s guilt,” Bjerkhoel explained.
“Once you’re convicted, there is a presumption that the conviction is valid and it’s extremely hard to overcome that presumption,” said Bjerkhoel. “Moreover, on direct appeal, the appellate courts, and supreme courts are limited to considering only evidence adduced at trial.”
Many times, the wrongful conviction is not obvious from the records or there is no indication of a constitutional violation, she added.
“It’s usually not until we conduct an extensive investigation into a case and discover evidence not in the record, that the courts are finally aware of the injustice,” said Bjerkhoel.
In discussing the courts, Bjerkhoel said the Anti-Terrorism and Effective Death Penalty Act (AEDPA) changed habeas law forever. It severely limited the ability of state prisoners to bring their cases to court, she said.
“Who was going to vote against the ‘AEDPA’ right after the Oklahoma City bombing? No one,” Bjerkhoel said.
She explained that when her organization goes to federal court in an innocence case, there are a slew of obstacles to overcome.
“First, the highest court must have heard all the claims we are bringing in federal court.
“Second, the petitioner must file the habeas petition within AEDPA’s one-year statute of limitations,” said Bjerkhoel. “If not, we have a whole separate hearing on our client’s innocence before we can present the constitutional violations.
“Third, they have to show the state court was unreasonable in its application of clearly defined federal law, which is almost an impossible burden,” Bjerkhoel said. “Because of this, most of our cases are litigated in state court.”
The California Innocence Project is based at California Western School of Law in San Diego. It investigates claims of wrongful convictions in Southern California counties, explained Bjerkhoel.
“We receive roughly 2,000 claims of innocence per year. Of those 2,000 cases, we launch investigations into roughly 50 cases. Of those 50, maybe one or two will actually go to court,” she stated.
“The California 12 were clients weeded out from those 2,000-a-year cases over the 13 years of our office’s existence where we truly believe these individuals are innocent,” she said.
One of the 12 is the case of a San Quentin resident, Guy Miles.
“I was sentenced to life for robbing a Fidelity Financial in Fullerton, California,” said Miles. “The basics of my case came down to eyewitness testimony, and they were all wrong because I was living in Las Vegas, Nevada when the robbery happened.”
Bjerkhoel said her boss, Justin Brooks, the director of the California Innocence Project and law professor at California Western School of Law, came up with the idea for the march.
The walk was held because some of the cases being litigated for years cannot seem to get clients out through the courts, she said. Three of the 12 have actually had their convictions reversed and subsequently reinstated by the appellate courts, she added.
“It’s hard to put into words how many hours we have spent preparing for the innocence march,” said Bjerkhoel. “We’ve spent countless hours litigating these cases before we decided to take them to the governor.”
Bjerkhoel said they experienced many challenges during the walk: back and knee pain, extensive blisters, allergic reactions, 50-mile-per-hour winds, extreme heat and extreme cold.
Bjerkhoel said most of her thoughts were of their clients and that it was their strength that kept her going.
“I am not sure I would have the faith to press on if I was in their situation. I admire their courage in the face of extreme odds.”
–JulianGlenn Padgett
