Cooley Law School’s Innocence Project will join Riverwalk Theatre’s Talkback events during the play ‘The Exonerated.’ Tracey Brame, the project’s director, and Marla Mitchell-Cichon, a professor emeritus and counsel, will lead discussions on Feb. 17 and Feb. 24 respectively. The play tells the stories of six wrongfully convicted individuals.
‘The Exonerated’ will be performed from Feb. 15-18 and 22-25 at Riverwalk Theatre in Lansing. Brame and Mitchell-Cichon will lead discussions after the performances on Feb. 17 and Feb. 24. The play offers the Innocence Project a chance to discuss their work in freeing wrongfully convicted individuals.
The Cooley Innocence Project, part of the Innocence Network, is Michigan’s only post-conviction DNA innocence organization. The project has helped free over 375 wrongfully convicted prisoners, mainly through DNA testing. Since its inception, the project has reviewed over 6,000 cases and has helped exonerate nine individuals.
Among those exonerated by the Cooley Innocence Project are Kenneth Wyniemko, Nathaniel Hatchett, and Louis Wright, who was released in 2023 after 35 years of wrongful imprisonment. The project also helped in the exoneration of Lacino Hamilton, Ramon Ward, and Terance Calhoun.