The Arizona Justice Project will be having its annual gala, One Injustice Is One Too Many, on March 1, 2024 at the Scottsdale Resort and Spa. The event will honor Arizona Justice Project freed and exonerated clients as well as the dedicated people behind the scenes working to free the innocent. This year’s event will feature Kirk Bloodsworth, the first man in the country to have been sentenced to death in the state of Maryland and later exonerated with DNA evidence in 1993. For more information visit www.azjusticeproject.org
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00:00 >> The Arizona justice project's mission is to represent Arizona inmates who claims or
00:06 innocence of manifested injustice have gone unheeded.
00:09 On March 1st, the Arizona justice project has a big gala that you can help out to learn
00:14 more and here to help us is Lindsay Hurf of the AJP.
00:18 How are you doing?
00:19 >> Hi, I'm great.
00:20 Thanks for having me.
00:21 >> I hope that made all sense to people because people are wondering, okay, the Arizona justice
00:25 project, and it's really where we said it's to help inmates who have been incarcerated
00:30 or are on the way to incarceration.
00:34 And their case has kind of been either -- how we want to say, either overlooked in a way
00:41 and so that sends them to jail or not even being heard in the right way and that's where
00:45 you guys come in.
00:46 >> Right, yes.
00:47 So we're a nonprofit organization and individuals who have been convicted and are in prison
00:54 serving their sentence who have a claim of innocence that they did not commit the crime
01:00 or a claim of manifest injustice which might be an excessive sentence or something like
01:05 that will write into us.
01:08 And we receive about 400 requests for help each year.
01:13 And our staff and our legal interns vet every case and investigate cases and then we go
01:20 from there on who we can represent and help.
01:22 >> Yeah, and this is a very important project because we do have people who have been sent
01:26 to jail unjust for a lot of different reasons.
01:31 It's one, maybe they did not even commit the crime or be in the wrong place at the wrong
01:34 time or associate with people and that's where, again, these cases are very important to hear
01:38 because you're really taking someone's life away for a crime they didn't commit.
01:44 >> Right.
01:45 Yeah, there's impact on that person in the case of, you know, when someone is innocent
01:50 and they've been charged and convicted of a crime that somebody else committed, that's
01:55 something that the entire community deals with because then a guilty person is still
01:59 out there.
02:01 And you know, for individuals who are excessively sentenced, you know, that impacts not just
02:07 them but their entire families and loved ones and so there's a lot of rippling effects of
02:14 both wrongful conviction cases and manifest injustice cases.
02:17 >> Yeah, because people have to realize, you know, when someone does break the law, there's
02:22 so many other laws they've broken that get piled on and when they even break those laws,
02:27 I think people don't understand that we have so many different things.
02:29 I mean, even from, you know, parking tickets can actually get you arrested or speeding
02:34 can and people don't realize that and that's where some of these things go through.
02:37 It's amazing, you guys have helped 43 people already in Arizona, of course, get freedom
02:42 which is so important to their families and their lives.
02:44 >> Yes, yes.
02:45 >> I love it.
02:46 >> And we have the gala coming up.
02:47 Let's talk about the gala.
02:48 >> Yes.
02:49 >> So, like, Lindsay's so proud of this and you guys should be.
02:50 It's a big project to take on and it's there, as you said, you're helping families and people
02:55 so this gala coming up March 1st is very important for people to attend, isn't it?
02:59 >> Yes, yes.
03:00 So it's our big annual fundraiser where we bring the community together to support the
03:06 work of the Arizona Justice Project and this year I think we have 15 of our freed or exonerated
03:11 clients and some of their family members that will be there so we're excited to honor them
03:17 and then we have a keynote speaker is a man named Kirk Bloodsworth out of the state of
03:22 Maryland.
03:23 He was the first person to be exonerated by the use of DNA testing having been convicted
03:29 of a crime and sentenced to death row in Maryland.
03:32 He was exonerated 30 years ago and we've seen since the 90s how many more people, you know,
03:38 whose innocence have been proven through the use of DNA testing including here in Arizona.
03:42 >> Yeah, and that's the thing about this project is that you listen to every case in a way
03:47 you guys are -- there's pretty much criteria, too.
03:49 It's not just where anybody sends you something and you're like, okay, let's go help them.
03:53 There's a lot of criteria going into it, doesn't it?
03:55 >> Yes, yes.
03:56 I mean, it takes us months if not years to vet and investigate cases and see if we uncover
04:02 evidence of a wrongful conviction.
04:04 >> Yeah.
04:05 >> So if someone right now has a family member that they feel has been, of course, incarcerated,
04:10 you know, wrong, how do they get a hold of you?
04:13 Is there letters they send to you or they sit with you?
04:15 What do they do?
04:16 >> Yes, yes.
04:17 So most of the individuals who we receive, you know, a request for assistance are people
04:21 who are in prison who write us letters in the mail.
04:24 We still use the U.S. Postal Service to communicate with potential clients.
04:29 If there's somebody who sees this program and says my, you know, husband or nephew or
04:33 whomever might need, you know, the help of this organization, you can go to our website,
04:39 which is www.azjusticeproject.org.
04:44 And there is an application there on the website that a person could print out and send to
04:50 their loved one who can fill it out and send it back to us.
04:54 >> It's so amazing.
04:55 I read these stories about people who are being freed after these years of being in
05:00 jail through DNA and different things, that they actually started the process themselves
05:04 while they were in jail learning, and that's when they need someone on the outside to help
05:07 them.
05:08 So it's not where the people who are, you know, cases you're taking are just sitting
05:12 back and letting you do it.
05:13 They're there to help you, aren't they?
05:15 >> That's right.
05:16 That's right.
05:17 Yeah, they're proactively seeking our assistance and seeking the assistance of whoever is out
05:21 there to help them.
05:22 >> Wow, this is great.
05:23 Well, again, the gala is March 1st.
05:25 Information is right on the screen how you can get tickets and also go and learn more
05:28 about the Arizona Justice Project, which is so important to, again, people out there and
05:33 families.
05:34 So thank you, Lindsay, for coming in.
05:35 >> Thank you.
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