Externship Search

“I had several large on going projects at the CIU, as well as a few smaller projects interspersed throughout the semester. Two of the larger projects were discovery-related. The first was an intensive review of files and documents from a triple homicide to ensure that the CIU’s eventual recommendation to DA Krasner was correct. The second was listening to many hours of prison calls for exculpatory or inculpatory evidence. The third and final large project, unrelated to discovery, involved utilizing my coding/excel abilities (from my previous job) to help the CIU create a more efficient case management system. I plan to continue informally helping the CIU with this task next semester. My smaller, one-off assignments included things like (1) pro se case reviews, (2) legal research tasks, (3) attending hearings (one in which an individual was released and exonerated!), (4) interviews at prisons, and (5) sitting in on meetings.” “I reviewed documents that had previously been reviewed by outside counsel to ensure the completeness and accuracy of the earlier review. I listened to prison calls to see if the defendant mentioned interactions with particular detectives. I reviewed pro se petitions to see if they met the requirements for the CIU to accept their cases or conduct further investigation. I then wrote memos summarizing the facts of the case and my evaluation of the merits of the petitions. I inventoried boxes and wrote summaries of cases related to a major case in preparation for a PCRA hearing. I then attended that hearing. I interviewed the ADAs in the CIU to hear about their ongoing projects.” “Throughout the semester I worked on a variety of matters, all of which entailed different responsibilities… . The pro se cases exposed me to various potential claims of wrongful conviction and actual innocence. Through those matters I also became more familiar with the procedural history of cases and the ways to obtain and concisely summarize trial transcripts. Next, [I learned to] to pay close attention to detail as I reviewed documents for key Brady material. In addition, [other] cases allowed me to recognize the importance in verifying the credibility of wrongful conviction claims, and how difficult and time consuming this initial stage can be. Finally, [I increased] my understanding of false confessions and the importance of finding patterns between these false confession cases to ultimately argue that there was a “pattern and practice” of eliciting false confessions. While working on all of these matters, particularly in a newly established office, I also became aware of the importance of indexing case files and having an organized system to review these files.” “ “I did a ton of investigation work. I read through case files and boxes to determine the investigation needs for the individual cases. But the actual process for reviewing each person’s claim of actual innocence or wrongful conviction differs. Before delving into the review, I take an initial pass at the evidence by doing the inventory, I then do a trial digest and a timeline of all the important and key events. Once I have a general idea of the issues in the case, I determine the investigation needs, which could be anything from re-interviewing witnesses/suspects/relatives etc., requesting call records, re-examining physical evidence, or using photogrammetry to better capture the details within images.”