Our Mission
Fighting to Free the Forgotten: Non-DNA Innocence
Since the advent of DNA testing, no one can deny that wrongful convictions are a major problem in our criminal justice system. But less than 10% of criminal cases have DNA evidence to test. We focus on the other 90+%, the forgotten population of innocent prisoners in New York whose last hope for justice is EXI undertaking old fashioned, gum-shoe investigations and sticking it out through hard-fought legal battles – battles that are unfortunately waged in a broken, uncaring, and dysfunctional system.
Very few lawyers and organizations have the expertise and resources to effectively handle non-DNA innocence cases, which are complicated and expensive. It can, and often does, take years of hard work to win a non-DNA exoneration. But EXI is in it for the long haul, wholeheartedly dedicated to freedom and justice for its clients: we are creative, scrappy and fearless. Once we take on a case, we are relentless and never give up.
Who We Are
Glenn Garber,
Founder & Director
Glenn A. Garber has been a criminal defense attorney in New York City for over 20 years. His lifelong commitment to representing the indigent started after graduating from Cardozo School of Law in 1989, when he began his career as a public defender at the Legal Aid Society. In the early 1990s, he built a private practice with a strong emphasis on criminal trials and appeals, post-conviction litigation, and civil rights. Glenn A. Garber has represented countless clients in their criminal defenses. All the while, he remained dedicated to serving the poor, doing substantial work for the indigent on state homicide and federal death penalty cases.
In 2002, Glenn was introduced to innocence work. Working with the Innocence Project, he won exoneration for Hector Gonzalez who had been wrongfully convicted of murder in 1996 (read the article). Recognizing the despair and destruction caused by a wrongful conviction and the importance of reclaiming the lives of so many other desperate innocent prisoners (especially those whose cases lack DNA), Glenn A. Garber has committed himself to helping this forgotten population in their fight for freedom.
Rebecca Freedman,
Assistant Director
Rebecca Freedman is EXI‘s Assistant Director and is an adjunct professor of clinical law at Brooklyn Law School where she teaches the BLS/EXI Innocence Clinic. She evaluates cases for actual innocence claims, conducts and oversees investigations, writes post-conviction motions and appellate briefs, and supervises student interns and volunteers. Rebecca also conducts trials, post-conviction hearings, and argues appeals and is EXI’s resident expert on eyewitness identification and false confessions. Rebecca is a graduate of the School of Law at Washington University in St. Louis.
Board of Directors
The Exoneration Initiative is committed to freeing the wrongfully convicted. Focused on The Exoneration Initiative’s mission statement, the Board of Directors oversees the basic functioning of the organization and helps it to achieve its near and long-term goals.