Update on CPCC filing in the Mississippi Supreme Court: With the assistance of White & Case, a global law firm with more than 40 offices worldwide that is fortunately also dedicated to pro bono efforts, the CPCC filed a petition for post-conviction relief in the Mississippi Supreme Court on behalf of Justin Underwood. It has taken Justin 26 years to gather the evidence to prove that he did not receive a fair trial and that he is innocent of the murder he was charged with in 1994.

The petition asserts challenges to Justin’s conviction based on (1) newly discovered evidence; (2) the suppression of material exculpatory or impeachment evidence in violation of Brady v. Maryland; (3) due process violations based on perjured evidence at trial; (4) ineffective assistance of trial counsel; (5) violations of the Sixth Amendment jury trial right (including the ineffective assistance of trial counsel in failing to make a Batson challenge); (6) a request for post-conviction forensic testing; and (7) a claim of actual innocence.

Justin’s case number in the Mississippi Supreme Court is 2015-DR-01378-SCT, and the link is: https://courts.ms.gov/index.php?cn=83091#dispArea

White & Case was awarded the Exceptional Service Award for their efforts in Justin’s case by the American Bar Association: https://www.americanbar.org/…/…/2019-volunteer-awards-event/