Intersection:
Systemic Racism + Wrongful Conviction

The University of Akron event discussion

Watch this timely panel discussion featuring four people who were wrongfully convicted, of crimes they did not commit, in Ohio’s courts. Download accompanying powerpoint.

Discussion featuring:

Moderator: Dr. Daniela Jauk, Assistant Professor, Sociology and Criminal Justice, The University of Akron

JáNae Powell: Former legal fellow of the Ohio Innocence Project. She is a JD candidate at the University of Cincinnati College of Law, a public speaker and writer, and “on the side” pursues a graduate degree in creative writing. I am very intrigued of her holistic approach to law where she has publicly spoken about the lawyer as presenter-advocate-storyteller.

The following, all of whom were wrongfully convicted, of crimes they did not commit, in Ohio’s courts:

  • Laurese Glover: One of the East Cleveland Three, who was a juvenile and transferred to adult court for trial on murder charges in 1996, spending 20 years in prison before exoneration.

  • Robert McClendon: Convicted 1991 of raping a child in Columbus based on eyewitness testimony of the victim (his daughter, whose eyes were covered during the assault), spent 17 years in prison before DNA exoneration in August 2008.

  • Ru-El Sailor: Convicted of murder in Cleveland in 2003 (although not even present at the murder scene), and forced to plead to perjury and obstruction of justice because he lied to the police, to protect his friend, at the time of investigation about the ID of the murderer. He spent 15 years behind bars.

  • Raymond Towler: Convicted of raping a child, assault and kidnapping based on mistaken witness ID, and false/misleading forensic evidence. Spent more than 28 years in prison, before DNA exoneration in May 2010.
    * He is also the artist who created the picture on the event poster.

News Coverage

Resources and Literature

Sponsoring Organizations

One way to get active is to connect to existing organizations, subscribe to their newsletters, attend their events, volunteer your time and learn how you can apply your skills for positive social change. Here are links to the co-sponsors of the event:

Ohio Innocence Project (OIP)
OIP wants to free every innocent person in Ohio who has been convicted of a crime they didn't commit. They provide legal services, professional and community education, legislative and policy advocacy, and plenty of resources and videos on their website.

OIP-u Tiffin University

OIP-u is Ohio's collegiate network of innocence advocates. This is the Tiffin University chapter. Their mission is to gain awareness for wrongful convictions all over the country but specifically in Ohio and in our university region.

OIP-u Akron
OIP-u is Ohio's collegiate network of innocence advocates. This is the University of Akron Chapter. Their mission is to gain awareness for wrongful convictions all over the country but specifically in Ohio and in our university region.

If you want to stay up to date with the Akron Chapter please subscribe to our listserv:

  1. Send a new message with listserv@lists.uakron.edu in the To field
  2. In the subject line, put subscribe ua-oip
  3. The body of the message should be blank.
  4. Send this from the address you want added to the list.

Sociology Club
UA's Sociology Club focus is on career education and research experience for Sociology undergraduates.

Co-sponsoring are also: