It’s been almost four years since three San Diego lawyers marched more than 700 miles north to Sacramento to bring attention to a group of prison inmates they dubbed “The California 12.”

In April 2013, Justin Brooks, director of the California Innocence Project, and staff attorneys Alissa Bjerkhoel and Michael Semanchik made the trek to the Governor’s Office to hand deliver clemency petitions for a dozen prison inmates.

So far, none of those petitions has been granted, but the attorneys have kept up their work on those cases, contending in each that there was strong evidence of innocence.

Since Brooks and the others took that long walk, three men and one woman have been exonerated and released from prisons around California.


Another man, Guy Miles, may be released soon. In January, an appeals court ruled Orange County prosecutors used improper tactics to secure a conviction in Miles’ robbery case. The court found that new evidence suggests Miles may be innocent of robbing a Fullerton financial business in 1998.

Prosecutors could still decide to retry Miles. But if they don’t, Miles, now 51, could walk free within a couple of weeks, bumping the California 12 down to seven.

That’s pretty gratifying for Brooks, who heads the Innocence Project at San Diego’s California Western School of Law. Since its founding in 1999, the organization has won the release of more than two dozen prison inmates, a few of whom might show up in San Diego for the Innocence Network Conference on Friday and Saturday.

The network is made up of 68 organizations in the United States and around the world that provide pro bono legal and investigative services to people who have been wrongfully convicted.


For two days, attorneys, exonerees and the people who support them will participate in workshops and discussion sessions on topics ranging from post-conviction DNA testing to public advocacy in high-profile cases to welcoming home the newly exonerated.

“When these guys get out, it’s incredible the challenges they face,” Brooks said.

This is the speech he gives to each person he walks out of prison. First, he reminds them that when they were behind bars, it probably seemed like nobody cared about them. Then for roughly 24 hours, around the time they get out of prison, seemingly everyone cares about them — particularly the news media.

“Then it’s all going to go away,” Brooks said he warns them. “And you’re going to have to face the rest of your life.”


Like parolees, those exonerated have to deal with resetting their lives and addressing the emotional consequences of having been locked away for years. But the state doesn’t offer them as many resources as parolees get when they leave prison, including a couple hundred dollars in “gate money” upon release, access to a halfway house and help in applying for a driver’s license.

“Our people get none of that,” Brooks said. “The system doesn’t know what to do with them anymore. We’ve taken them out of the system.”

And although California law allows for wrongfully convicted people to be compensated by the state — $100 per day spent in prison with an annual maximum of $36,500 — Brooks said he and other lawyers have battled the Attorney General’s Office for years to get the state to pay up.

He said it took 10 years of litigation for one of his clients — a man who spent more than 12 years in prison for a rape he did not commit — to come close to seeing some compensation.


At the convention’s opening ceremony, exonerees who attend are usually invited onstage to be recognized by the crowd. Last year, there were more than 150 and about as many are expected to show up this year, according to the Innocence Network’s website.

It’s possible that in the not-so-distant future even more may be able to grace the stage now that California law has changed, making it easier for those claiming to have been wrongfully convicted to bring new evidence claims to court.

Those who file the claims must prove that if the new evidence had been available at trial, they likely would not have been convicted. The old law required them to undermine every element of the prosecution’s case using evidence that points to innocence.

Gov. Jerry Brown signed the bill in September and it took effect on Jan. 1.


And although there’s no word yet on whether Brown will grant clemency to the other members of what was the “California 12,” Brooks said he’ll keep pressuring the governor — without walking another 712 miles.

“I still tweet him every morning,” Brooks said.


dana.littlefield@sduniontribune.com

Twitter: @danalittlefield