Post by Anja Nieser on Sept 6, 2006 13:03:01 GMT -5
Fighting wrongful verdicts a passion----New to Utah: Lawyer brings
professional, personal experience to the Innocence Center
Since her days as a law school student, Katie Monroe has had a passion for
criminal cases with more questions than answers.
When she began screening cases for the Virginia Court of Appeals,
convictions with scant evidence or questionable circumstances concerned
her.
"I was able to convince some judges to take a second look at things," she
said. "In the legal field, this is where my passion lies."
In 1992, her professional interests and personal life collided when the
death of her mother's longtime companion landed Beverly Monroe in prison
for a murder she claimed she didn't commit. Katie Monroe's work led an
appellate court to overturn her mother's conviction in 2002.
This week, Monroe began a new chapter in her career as the 1st executive
director of the Utah-based Rocky Mountain Innocence Center (RMIC), a
privately funded organization that investigates claims of innocence in
Utah, Nevada, and Wyoming.
Jensie Anderson, RMIC president and a University of Utah law professor,
said Monroe's hiring marks a turning point for the group. In the past, a
part-time staff attorney handled most of the cases, with a few outside
attorneys assisting.
The group now hopes to increase its work in Nevada and Wyoming, from where
it has drawn fewer cases than Utah.
Monroe comes to Utah from The Constitution Project, a Washington, D.C.,
organization that unites bipartisan committees to find common ground on
charged issues, such as the death penalty.
Monroe recently finished working on the Project's judicial independence
initiative. She said she enjoyed the work of building consensus and wants
to contribute at the innocence center in a similar way.
"One of the most important things is to realize that law enforcement,
victims and criminal defendants all have the same goal in mind: to make
sure that we get the right person," she said.
Monroe said she hopes to work closely with others in the justice system.
"I really want to nurture relationships with police and prosecutors
because that's where the future of this lies," she said. "Our mission is
to help people in prison establish their innocence, but part and parcel of
that is education about how wrongful convictions occur and what can be
done to prevent them."
The experience of her mother going to prison has given Monroe a taste of
the harsh realities of the justice system.
"It takes very little time to rush to judgment," she said. "But to free
someone wrongfully convicted takes a lot of time."
Her siblings could not fathom that Beverly Monroe could be convicted of
murder after the death of Roger de la Burde, found on a couch with a fatal
gunshot wound to the head from his own handgun. But Monroe worried.
As an attorney, she knew there was a chance their mother could be
convicted. Regardless, "Nobody wants to believe innocent people go to
prison."
In overturning Beverly Monroe's conviction a decade later, a federal court
would call the case a "monument to prosecutorial indiscretions and
mishandling."
Shawn Armbrust, executive director of the Mid-Atlantic Innocence Project
and a former colleague, said Monroe is a rare find for the RMIC.
"She brings to it not only a lawyer's ability to analyze, but also her
personal experience, which is something I don't think any other innocence
project has," said Armbrust. "It's rare to find someone who has the
instincts she does - who is smart and passionate and who is also the
nicest, most down-to-earth person you will meet."
The RMIC receives between 15 and 20 requests for help each week from
convicts and their families, according to Anderson.
To date, the group has succeeded in getting post-convic- tion DNA testing
done in 4 cases in Utah. One resulted in the release of Bruce Dallas
Goodman, who served 19 years in prison for the murder of Sherry Ann Fales
Williams, 21, of Salt Lake City, in November 1984.
Monroe said she hopes one day the justice system can ensure her job won't
be necessary.
"Put us out of business," she said, "please."
Katie Monroe, 41----Originally from Virginia, moved to Utah from
Washington, D.C.
Education: George Mason University School of Law; Randolph-Macon College
Career: Clerked for the U.S. Attorney's office and the Virginia Court of
Appeals; attorney advisor to the U.S. Commission on Civil Rights; founder
and director of the Beverly Monroe Committee for Justice; initiative
director at The Constitution Project
Family: Married with a son
(source: Salt Lake Tribune)
professional, personal experience to the Innocence Center
Since her days as a law school student, Katie Monroe has had a passion for
criminal cases with more questions than answers.
When she began screening cases for the Virginia Court of Appeals,
convictions with scant evidence or questionable circumstances concerned
her.
"I was able to convince some judges to take a second look at things," she
said. "In the legal field, this is where my passion lies."
In 1992, her professional interests and personal life collided when the
death of her mother's longtime companion landed Beverly Monroe in prison
for a murder she claimed she didn't commit. Katie Monroe's work led an
appellate court to overturn her mother's conviction in 2002.
This week, Monroe began a new chapter in her career as the 1st executive
director of the Utah-based Rocky Mountain Innocence Center (RMIC), a
privately funded organization that investigates claims of innocence in
Utah, Nevada, and Wyoming.
Jensie Anderson, RMIC president and a University of Utah law professor,
said Monroe's hiring marks a turning point for the group. In the past, a
part-time staff attorney handled most of the cases, with a few outside
attorneys assisting.
The group now hopes to increase its work in Nevada and Wyoming, from where
it has drawn fewer cases than Utah.
Monroe comes to Utah from The Constitution Project, a Washington, D.C.,
organization that unites bipartisan committees to find common ground on
charged issues, such as the death penalty.
Monroe recently finished working on the Project's judicial independence
initiative. She said she enjoyed the work of building consensus and wants
to contribute at the innocence center in a similar way.
"One of the most important things is to realize that law enforcement,
victims and criminal defendants all have the same goal in mind: to make
sure that we get the right person," she said.
Monroe said she hopes to work closely with others in the justice system.
"I really want to nurture relationships with police and prosecutors
because that's where the future of this lies," she said. "Our mission is
to help people in prison establish their innocence, but part and parcel of
that is education about how wrongful convictions occur and what can be
done to prevent them."
The experience of her mother going to prison has given Monroe a taste of
the harsh realities of the justice system.
"It takes very little time to rush to judgment," she said. "But to free
someone wrongfully convicted takes a lot of time."
Her siblings could not fathom that Beverly Monroe could be convicted of
murder after the death of Roger de la Burde, found on a couch with a fatal
gunshot wound to the head from his own handgun. But Monroe worried.
As an attorney, she knew there was a chance their mother could be
convicted. Regardless, "Nobody wants to believe innocent people go to
prison."
In overturning Beverly Monroe's conviction a decade later, a federal court
would call the case a "monument to prosecutorial indiscretions and
mishandling."
Shawn Armbrust, executive director of the Mid-Atlantic Innocence Project
and a former colleague, said Monroe is a rare find for the RMIC.
"She brings to it not only a lawyer's ability to analyze, but also her
personal experience, which is something I don't think any other innocence
project has," said Armbrust. "It's rare to find someone who has the
instincts she does - who is smart and passionate and who is also the
nicest, most down-to-earth person you will meet."
The RMIC receives between 15 and 20 requests for help each week from
convicts and their families, according to Anderson.
To date, the group has succeeded in getting post-convic- tion DNA testing
done in 4 cases in Utah. One resulted in the release of Bruce Dallas
Goodman, who served 19 years in prison for the murder of Sherry Ann Fales
Williams, 21, of Salt Lake City, in November 1984.
Monroe said she hopes one day the justice system can ensure her job won't
be necessary.
"Put us out of business," she said, "please."
Katie Monroe, 41----Originally from Virginia, moved to Utah from
Washington, D.C.
Education: George Mason University School of Law; Randolph-Macon College
Career: Clerked for the U.S. Attorney's office and the Virginia Court of
Appeals; attorney advisor to the U.S. Commission on Civil Rights; founder
and director of the Beverly Monroe Committee for Justice; initiative
director at The Constitution Project
Family: Married with a son
(source: Salt Lake Tribune)