The U-M Innocence Clinic

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Innocence projects aren’t new—in recent years, they’ve helped overturn the convictions of hundreds of people, primarily through DNA tests. Most of these were rape cases. In most other felonies, there is usually no biological evidence—but Moran, who spent eight years at the State Appellate Defender Office, believes there are just as many wrongful convictions. The U‑M clinic is the first in the nation to take only non-DNA cases.

Deshawn Reed is one of more than 3,000 inmates who’ve written the clinic. So far, Moran and ­McCormack, aided by students and some volunteer attorneys, have read about 300 of these requests. Of those, they have taken on seven so far. They’ve grabbed the low-hanging fruit—the most flabbergasting legal nightmares.

One clinic client, Dwayne Provience, was convicted of murder on the testimony of a man who claimed he had seen Provience shoot the victim from a yellow Buick Regal. Not only did that contradict all seven people police interviewed at the scene, but Provience bought the Regal a month after the shooting. Provience’s attorney, since disbarred for trying to bring marijuana into a courthouse, failed to call any of the seven witnesses. Provience’s accuser, now dying of cancer, has sworn in an affidavit that he made up the story as part of a deal to get out of jail.