The Mid-Atlantic Innocence Project provides pro bono investigative and legal assistance to prisoners convicted in the District of Columbia, Maryland, and Virginia who are actually innocent and whose innocence can be proven by DNA testing or by other newly discovered evidence.
Main Office: 202-994-4586 (Messages will be promptly returned; please speak slowly and leave a number at which to reach you.)
Our criteria for selecting cases include the following:
Case Location – We take cases only from prisoners who were convicted in state and federal courts in Virginia, Maryland, and the District of Columbia.
New Evidence – The prisoner must believe that substantial new evidence may exist that has not been considered previously by a court. The new evidence does not have to involve DNA.
No Other Counsel – The prisoner must not be currently represented by another attorney in his or her criminal case, or have the right to appointed counsel in the case.
For more information on cases we do and do not take, visit our Frequently Asked Questions page. If your case fits our criteria, please complete our screening questionnaire.
Except where there are issues of literacy or English language ability, we ask that the questionnaire be filled out by the prisoner, not by a friend or family member.
The Mid-Atlantic Innocence Project is not at this point agreeing to enter into an attorney-client relationship with you. We will screen the materials that you have sent to us to determine whether we would like to enter into an attorney-client relationship with you. Making that determination will take time and may involve additional document requests, as well as some fact investigation. We will only agree to enter into an attorney-client relationship with you if we decide that there is sufficient compelling evidence that could be used to prove your innocence.
Finally, if you have an upcoming filing deadline in court, such as an appeal, a post-conviction petition, or a habeas corpus deadline, please do not wait to hear from us before you make your filing. Even if we eventually decide that your case meets our criteria and that we would like to represent you, we cannot guarantee that we will conclude that process in time to assist you with upcoming filing deadlines.
Please mail your completed questionnaire to:
Mid-Atlantic Innocence Project
at the George Washington University Law School
2000 H Street, NW
Washington, DC 20052