Clemency Project Clinic Successfully Advocates for the Shortening of Prison Sentences
In the fall of her 2L year, Amy Cohen ’24 took Professor JaneAnne Murray’s evidence class. At the time, Cohen was weighing her clinical choices and Murray encouraged her to consider the Clemency Project Clinic, which advocates for individuals serving disproportionately long prison sentences.
“JaneAnne said to me, ‘There are many people are serving longer-than-needed sentences,’” recalls Cohen. “That stuck with me and drew me to the clinic.”
Cohen, newly graduated from Minnesota Law, was a co-student director of the Clemency Project Clinic along with Maggie Kovach ’24. February and March were particularly busy for the clinic, with four parole hearings for clients who were juveniles at the time of their offenses. Murray, the clinic’s director, explains that they took the clients on for clemency purposes. However, the Minnesota Pardon Board deferred the cases because all four ended up with a new parole process authorized by a statute passed in 2023, which makes juveniles who were given long sentences eligible for parole after 15 years instead of 30.
With three parole hearings on one day in February, Murray’s students, including Ian Mallery ’24, Bethany Jewison ’24, Sam Buisman ’25, and Carlisle Ghirardini ’24 fanned out to three prisons, with Murray and Cohen ’24 appearing remotely from Murray’s office. The clinic had positive outcomes for two of the four clients – “J” and “S.”
