November 11, 2016
(WASHINGTON, D.C.) To date, three of the clients served by Catholic University law school's Innocence Project Clinic & Clemency Project have had their sentences commuted. In August, President Barack Obama granted commutation of sentences to 111 federal prisoners. One of those was Timothy L. Tyler whose application for commutation was submitted to the president by the clinic. During his administration, Obama has commuted the sentences of nearly 900 individuals - more than the past 11 presidents combined. Yet the United States still leads the world in its rate of incarceration and far too many people are serving excessive sentences, even for non-violent drug offenses. On Monday, Nov. 14 , the Clemency Initiative at the Columbus School of Law will present a panel discussion, "Your Voice, Your Future." The conversation will take place at 4 p.m. in the law school's Slowinski Courtroom. The panel will discuss clemency from several perspectives: policy makers working to expand the use of clemency, attorneys representing clients seeking clemency, and individuals who are free today because of a clemency grant.Panel speakers will include:
- The Honorable Robert L. Ehrlich, Jr., senior counsel in the Government Advocacy and Public Policy practice group at King & Spalding. He advises clients on a broad array of policy matters and their interactions with the federal government. Having served as governor, U.S. Congressman, state legislator, and civil litigator, he counsels clients on an array of government matters, with particular expertise in health care, finance and economic development.
- Van Jones, CNN political contributor, regularly appearing across the network's programming and special political coverage. Jones has founded and led numerous social enterprises engaged in social and environmental justice. These include: The Ella Baker Center for Human Rights, Color of Change, Rebuild The Dream, and The Dream Corps. Jones is a Yale-educated attorney. He is the author of two New York Times best-selling books, The Green Collar Economy (2008) and Rebuild the Dream (2012).
- Professor J.P. "Sandy" Ogilvy joined the faculty of the Columbus School of Law at The Catholic University of America in 1991 to teach civil procedure and interviewing, counseling, and negotiation skills, and to become its coordinator of clinical programs, a position he held until 2006. He currently teaches Civil Procedure, and directs the Innocence Project Clinic & Clemency Project. Also, he is the director of Law & Social Justice Initiatives and the director of the National Archive of Clinical Legal Education, which is housed at the law school's Kathryn J. DuFour Law Library.
Getting to Campus: The Catholic University of America is located near the Brookland-CUA red line metro stop. Please note the metro stop will be closed due to Metro's Safetrack. For directions to campus and a campus map, please click here .
