UW clinic seeks to hold justice system accountable

In 1997, the Innocence Project Northwest Clinic (IPNW) was formed at the UW School of Law by current director Jacqueline McMurtrie and volunteers.

"The IPNW serves many purposes: To provide access to the justice system, to educate students in real court cases and to teach the public about wrongful convictions," she said

One of the many successful cases taken on by the IPNW is the infamous Wenatchee sex ring. First breaking international news in 1994, a group of 43 adults from Wenatchee, Wash., was arrested on 29,726 counts of child sex abuse involving 60 children.

As the cases progressed, however, incidents of police coercion and falsification were discovered. By the end of the trials, the IPNW was successful in winning the freedom of 10 of the 43 original adults convicted.

In hindsight, McMurtrie said she believes that the Wenatchee sex trials highlight the problems with the legal system.

"In Wenatchee, there was a breakdown in all different parts of the system," she said. "There weren't the checks and balances in place to ensure impartiality."

Most recently, the IPNW has taken on the case of Ted Bradford.

Accused of breaking into a house and raping a woman, Bradford was questioned for more than seven hours by police [HTML_REMOVED] six months after the crime occurred. Ultimately, Bradford told detectives what they wanted to hear because he was hungry, tired and just wanted to go home, thinking that DNA evidence would clear his name, McMurtrie said.

On the day of his trial, however, Bradford was convicted and sentenced to prison for nine years despite inconsistencies and contradictions presented by the prosecutors.

While Bradford ended up serving the entirety of his sentence and is now free, he still wants a retrial to clear his name using DNA evidence that had been omitted. If successful, Bradford will become the first person in Washington state history to be cleared by DNA evidence.

A graduate last June from the UW School of Law, Theresa Connor worked on the Bradford case for two years with the IPNW.

"Ted lost nine years with his wife and children," she said, "and there is still someone out there who committed the crime."

Through a selective application process, the IPNW yearly accepts 10 students like Conner to learn about the legal system in-depth and work with actual cases.

One student chosen by the IPNW this year is Lara Zarowsky. In her third year of law school, Zarowsky had a specific goal in mind when she applied to the IPNW: to address the shortcomings of Washington's courts.

"The [judicial] system is good in a lot of ways," she said. "But mistakes happen, and nothing is really built in to correct those mistakes."

While the primary purposes of the IPNW are to represent innocent inmates and provide firsthand experience to UW law students, Zarowsky said she believes that the IPNW serves a far greater purpose.

"The clinic offers you the opportunity to make a real difference in people's lives," she said, "and that's something I'm proud to be a part of."

Contributing writer Nathan Lee: development@thedaily.washington.edu