A man who spent 20 years in prison for a crime he did not commit was a guest speaker at YSU as he advocated for The Ohio Innocence Project, and its growth of student groups at Universities across the state.
 
Work by OIP led the legal fight for the exoneration and freedom of Laurese Glover and his friends.
 
Laurese Glover who spent decades in prison for a crime he did not commit in East Cleveland, spoke at YSU Kilcawley Center. 
 
He shared his story of his and two friends' wrongful convictions, legal battles over ten years, and exoneration at YSU's first chapter of the Ohio Innocence Project.
 
They were at the wrong place at the wrong time, and evidence that was legally required to be turned over to their trial attorney was not.
 
"I was wrongfully incarcerated for 20 years. I went in when I was 17. It was extremely difficult, not only for me but for my family and friends and their families as well," Glover said. 
 
Attorneys and law students from the University of Cincinnati Law's Ohio Innocence Project uncovered crucial undisclosed police records which ultimately led to their exonerations in August 2016.
 
"We eventually got police reports that showed all kinds of exculpatory evidence that the constitution requires to be turned over to the defendant and his or her counsel, and that broke the case open. It allowed for a motion for a new trial to be granted," Attorney Pierce Reed, Director of Policy and Engagement for OIP, said.''
 
"Laurence was wrongfully convicted with two of his friends. They were all teenagers 16, 17, and 18 years old, and all of them and their families worked really hard for their freedom for years," Attorney Reed emphasized.
 
Reed said, "One of the tragic things about this case is that a 14-year-old girl was a witness to a horrible murder, and she was the person who identified the car Derek, Eugene, and Laurece were in. There was no misconduct there. The car sped away from the scene because they knew what a shooting was."
 
"There were witnesses who said it was not Laurence, Derek, and Eugene, but gave some indication of who the actual shooter was, so the victim's family did not get justice, our three clients did not get justice, and society didn't get justice. It was a combination of factors that led to this bad outcome," Attorney Reed said.
 
"Despite the repeated requests over years and years for those records, they were eventually turned over. It didn't seem like the police or law enforcement agents were holding the information back. There was a cover letter from a prosecutor threatening the law enforcement department if they turned over those records. So some of these things are like a Grisham novel. You can't believe they are true, but in fact they are true," Reed said.
 
"It took us ten years. OIP took our case but we came back to court three times. We got three appeals here, even getting denied. There was progress getting made so that gave you all the hope in the world," Glover added.
 
Since his freedom, Glover has been sharing his powerful story of forgiveness while he and attorneys from the OIP work to reduce the odds that others will spend their life in prison wrongly convicted. 
 
"When I was going through the struggle I did have anger, but once I walked out of there it was just like a huge relief. To hold onto the anger to the people who made this happen it would be hard to find your sense of peace, or be happy now that it's over," Glover emphasized.  
 
"Our job is to help innocent people and we can debate all kinds of things about the criminal legal system and what justice is, but we should all agree innocent people are not the people who should be behind bars," Attorney Reed emphasized.
 
"I don't want to see this happen to anyone else. I did 20 years, but one day in prison for something you didn't do is not good.  I try to turn a negative into a positive, going out there to do this is bringing awareness to the situation, and there are so many guys that can't be a voice for themselves. I do this for them. I know we can't stop all wrongful convictions but maybe we can get the numbers down from where they are now," Glover said.
 
"Derek lost both his mom and dad while he was in prison for something he didn't do. He never got to see his mom and dad. It still bothers him today," Glover emphasized.
 
Glover warns wrongful convictions happen and they could happen to someone you love.
 
The Ohio Innocence Project at Cincinnati Law is a nonprofit organization that operates on donations.
 
"If there is anybody there who has a loved one who is in prison for a crime they didn't do, we want them to know about the Ohio Innocence Project. We want them to know about the wrongful conviction project at the Ohio Public Defender's Office. One of the best in the world runs that department. We want the people to have hope, and we want everyone to understand what wrongful convictions are and the price everyone pays for it," Attorney Reed with the Ohio Innocence Project said.