Upon being freed from death row on February 5, 1999, Anthony Porter lifts Professor David Protess in an embrace as then-students Shawn Armbrust (back turned), Syandene Rhodes-Pitts and Tom McCann watch. Porter had come within 50 hours of execution before being exonerated with evidence developed by Protess and his reporting team.

Innocence Project

Founded in 1999, the Medill Innocence Project at Northwestern University gives undergraduate students firsthand experience in investigating wrongful convictions under the tutelage of Professor David Protess, the Project's director.

Protess and his journalism students have uncovered evidence that freed 11 innocent men, five of them from death row. The Project's work, which has been featured on "60 Minutes," "48 Hours," "Dateline NBC" and the front pages of The New York Times and the Washington Post, has been cited for stimulating a national debate on the death penalty.

Former Illinois Gov. George Ryan credited the Project's investigations, particularly in freeing death row inmate Anthony Porter in 1999, with helping provide the impetus for his moratorium on the death penalty in January 2000 and his subsequent decision to grant clemency to all death row inmates before leaving office in January 2003.

One of the four prisoners whom the governor exonerated outright, Aaron Patterson, had been the subject of the Project's investigations since its inception. The exoneration came on the basis of new evidence of his innocence -- and the guilt of two other men in the crime for which Patterson was accused -- developed by Protess and his students.

"A system that depends on young journalism students is flawed," Ryan said in his speech granting the blanket clemency, during which he also praised Protess for being a teacher who has "poured his heart and soul" into helping his students free innocent men.

Alumni and Staff

Beyond its public policy impact, the Project has inspired numerous Medill students to pursue careers that serve the public interest. Project alumni have become investigative journalists, authors, reporters, public interest lawyers and civic leaders.

Shawn Armbrust Class of 1999 Anthony Porter case J.D., Executive Director, Mid-Atlantic Innocence Project Reflections on the Medill Innocence Project	J. Carl Ganter Class of 1991 (MSJ) David Dowaliby case Photojournalist and Director, Circle of Blue Reflections on the Medill Innocence Project
Ari Berman Class of 2005 Anthony McKinney case Contributing writer and investigative reporter, The Nation magazine Reflections on the Medill Innocence Project	Stephanie Chen Class of 2007 Christopher Abernathy case Features Writer and Producer, CNN Reflections on the Medill Innocence Project

The Project's staff include a program assistant who helps screen and respond to requests for assistance from prisoners and their advocates, and a private investigator who locates key sources and ensures students' safety while they are engaged in investigations. The current program assistant is Rebekah Wanger, J.D., a licensed attorney, and the private investigator is Sergio Serritella, President of Tactical Solutions. Serritella is also a teaching assistant who helps develop investigative reporting strategies.

The Project is now part of the Innocence Network, a consortium of more than 50 journalism and law schools across the country, of which Protess is a founding board member. And Medill's Project has extended its own geographic reach beyond Illinois, sending students to investigate murder cases in Texas, Indiana and Michigan.

Funding for the Project comes from a generous gift by the Alphawood Foundation and individual donors.