Client of Prof. Murray, Clemency Project Highlighted in Report on the 'Trial Penalty'

The New York State Association of Criminal Defense Laywers (NYSACDL) has just released its report on the "Trial Penalty," a phenomenon described as prosecutors using their charging power to drive harsh plea bargains or punish the exercise of the right to trial. The report profiles several individuals, including Provard Jones, a 2017 client of the University of Minnesota Law School Project, directed by Professor JaneAnne Murray.

Murray, who (with her client's permission) presented Jones' case to the lawyers at Skadden Arps who drafted the report, says she is delighted that the NYSACDL featured Jones' case.  Murray, a former board member of NYSACDL, was on the taskforce of the National Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers (NACDL), which issued a national report on this practice in 2019, and she directs the NACDL Trial Penalty Clemency Project, which advocates for executive clemency for federal inmates serving sentences driven by the trial penalty.  This project secured 14 clemencies from President Trump on Jan. 19, 2021, two of whom were individual clients of the law school's Clemency Project.  (On the same date, Murray secured an additional 12 clemency grants from President Trump for low-level, non-violent drug offenders). Jones was represented by Murray and Jonathan Mansker '18.