Vice President in Charge of Programs Jeff Wells introduced Rotarian of the Day Bill Moore. Bill Moore has been a Rotarian for 22 years in 3 different clubs heading up a variety of service projects. Bill who joined our club in October 2018, has made a significant contribution to service leading a variety of projects at the William A. Hunton YMCA. 

 

Bill had the honor of introducing our speaker, Juliet Hatchett, Professor of Law at the University of Virginia.

 

Juliet Hatchett is the associate director of the Innocence Project Clinic, which she teaches. From 2019-21, she served as the staff attorney managing the Virginia Innocence Project Pro Bono Clinic, the student pro bono volunteer effort for the school’s Innocence Project. Hatchett previously worked for two law firms in New York City after graduating, Brune Law and Baker McKenzie, focusing on white-collar criminal defense issues. A former member of the Innocence Project Clinic when she was a student at the Law School, she also served as a fellow in the Program in Law and Public Service, a participant in the Human Rights Study Project, and notes editor for the Virginia Journal of International Law.

 

The Innocence Project at UVA Law seeks exoneration for wrongfully convicted people in Virginia. Students in this year-long clinic investigate and litigate wrongful convictions of inmates throughout the Commonwealth of Virginia.

 

The project receives hundreds of applications from people who believe they are wrongly convicted. Preliminary cases are assigned to individual clinic students for factual development and evaluation to determine whether or not the project clinic should accept the case. The decision to accept or decline representation will be made by the full clinic with the final decision being made by the instructors. Students work in teams of 3-4 to investigate and litigate the cases that are accepted. In every case, students are directed and assisted by the clinic professors, but as students demonstrate competence and confidence, they may earn the opportunity for greater independence.

 

Although the clinic will have a mandatory classroom component, most time will be devoted to casework — interviewing potential clients and witnesses, general investigation, reviewing case files, collecting records, searching court files, and drafting pleadings. Students will likely visit inmates at correctional centers and conduct investigations in a wide variety of socioeconomic settings accompanied by a clinic professor, private investigator, or, in some instances, another student.

 

Juliet was accompanied at our meeting by a client of the Innocence Project, Messiah Johnson. Juliet presented Messiah’s case to illustrate the work and impact of the project. Messiah followed up by carefully and professionally sharing the events and conditions of his case.

 

Messiah Johnson was wrongfully convicted of the 1997-armed robbery of a Norfolk, Virginia beauty salon and sentenced to 132 years in prison.  No physical evidence connected Mr. Johnson to the crime, and he had an alibi. Instead, he was convicted solely on the basis of eyewitness identifications. The Innocence Project at UVA School of Law’s investigation revealed that those identifications were the product of poor police practices, prosecutorial misconduct, ineffective assistance of counsel, and mistaken identifications.

 

In 2013, the Innocence Project at UVA School of Law identified an alternate suspect based on information obtained via Freedom of Information Act requests. That man had committed a string of similar robberies around the same time and in the same area. The suspect confessed to the robbery and provided corroborating details, confirming that Mr. Johnson had nothing to do with the robbery.

 

Mr. Johnson has always maintained his innocence. He even turned down a three-year plea deal — only to ultimately be sentenced to 132 years.

 

After having served more than 20 years in prison, Mr. Johnson was freed in April 2018 on a conditional pardon granted by Virginia Governor Terry McAuliffe. Governor McAuliffe noted that there was “credible evidence that [Mr. Johnson] was not guilty at all.”

 

The Innocence Project at UVA School of Law continues to litigate Mr. Johnson’s case and is working toward his total exoneration.

 

During a question period, Club Rotarians empathetically asked Messiah about his ability to persevere and deal with the lengthy incarceration, about his subsequent life since release, and the legal counsel he received both during his trial and with the Innocence Project. Messiah shared that he has no regrets and appreciates his new home, his new girlfriend, and his new life outside the jail. He has his own business and wants to give back to his community. He ended by offering to arrange to help Rotarians to spread mulch in the playground at the William A. Hunton YMCA.

 

Chip Vogan lead us in season song selections to set the fellowship tone of the meeting. Julie Keesling selected an invocation to inspire our spirit as Thanksgiving approaches. Our only guest was Margaret Moore the wife of Rotarian of the Day Bill Moore. Our School of the week was Blair Middle School.

 

Sigur Whitaker reminded members about the Day of Giving on November 30^th, 2021 when donations of $100.00 plus are matched and move members to other levels of the Paul Harris Fellowship. Sigur presented Julie Keesling with her Charles Woodard Fellowship certificate and reminded members of the value of the club endowment and all that it enables our club to provide for our community. Please consider becoming a Charles Woodard Fellow. Even in COVID restrictions and no fundraisers, our club was still able to donate $50,000.00 to local non-profits due to this endowment.

 

Kelly Stefanko, of the social committee, reminded the membership of the December 9^th Million Bulb Walk at the Norfolk Botanical Garden. Buy your tickets now, arrive at 5 PM to meet prior to the walk.

 

Bill McInnis brought in the raffle and ----- the scribe of the day, Lorna Cochrane had the winning ticket for the small pot of $12.00 but sadly she did not win the Big Pot.