Get Help

If you would like to request an application, please use our request form.

If you have questions about getting help email us at: info@exonerate.org.

If you are inquiring about the status of a case that is currently under review, please send an email to Screening@exonerate.org.

Upon receipt of a completed questionnaire, our Intake and Screening Department carefully reviews the information provided by the applicant to determine whether the case will be accepted for further investigation.

If the case is accepted, our investigation team works to secure a complete documentary record of the case, including the defense, prosecution and police files. This completed record is then reviewed by a team of attorneys to determine what, if any, remedies may be available to the applicant. If there is a viable path to relief, the case is passed to our litigation department where it is assigned to a staff attorney for field investigation and litigation. Our staff attorneys work with our investigation team to interview all relevant witnesses, follow up on available forensic testing, draft the appropriate court filings, and ultimately litigate the case in court.

Our criteria for selecting cases include the following:

Case Location

We take cases only from incarcerated people who were convicted in state and federal courts in Virginia, Maryland, and the District of Columbia.

New Evidence

The incarcerated person 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 incarcerated person must not be currently represented by another attorney in his or her criminal case, or have the right to appointed counsel in the case.

Cases for which we cannot provide assistance

Please note we CANNOT provide assistance with the following types of cases:

  • Because of the difficulty of proving innocence in certain types of cases, we usually cannot help in the following situations:
    • (1) where a defendant admits to killing (or assaulting) someone, but claims that it was done in self-defense;
    • (2) where a defendant admits to sexual contact with a person, but claims that the person consented to the contact;
    • (3) where a defendant was convicted as an accessory (or as a party-to-the-crime) and seeks to show that he or she did not play a major role in the crime.
  • We cannot help people who are not claiming actual innocence but believe they should have been convicted of a less serious crime or a different crime.
  • We cannot assist people who are guilty but whose rights were violated during
    their arrest, investigation, trial or conviction. In other words, we cannot assist people who are alleging only legal error, but not factual innocence.
  • We cannot help people who are awaiting trial or who are still pursuing their direct appeals.
    • We do not accept cases in which a person has not yet been convicted or sentenced.
    • We do not accept cases that are still in the appeals process; direct appeals must have ended, or the time for filing a direct appeal must have passed.
    • We cannot assist people who are currently represented in their criminal case by another attorney or still have access to an appointed attorney.
  • We cannot assist with cases that do not involve criminal convictions (e.g., civil matters, professional licensing boards, etc.).
  • We cannot assist with filing civil lawsuits, doing legal research or providing legal advice, seeking sentence reductions, finding the names of other attorneys, or assist with any other issues unrelated to claims of actual innocence in a criminal case.
  • We cannot help people who are guilty but deserved a shorter sentence than the one they got.
  • We cannot provide legal representation for any post-conviction challenges that are not related to innocence claims (for example, sentencing modifications).
  • We cannot provide assistance related to complaints about conditions of confinement in any institution.
  • We cannot provide assistance for parole board hearings.
  • We cannot provide legal assistance or advice related to any civil litigation or lawsuits arising from claims of mistreatment or wrongdoing by government officials (for example, police, prosecutors, prison administrators, correctional officers, etc.).
Frequently Asked Questions Request a Questionnaire

Except where there are issues of literacy or English language ability, the questionnaire should be filled out by the person in need of assistance, not by a friend or family member.

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
1413 K Street NW, Suite 1100
Washington, DC 20005

Request A Questionnaire

Our Process

Prescreening

Our intake team reviews requests for assistance to determine if applicants meet our minimum requirements: applicants must have been convicted of a federal or state crime in Washington, DC, Maryland, or Virginia, and must be expressing a claim of factual innocence. If these criteria are met, our team will send the applicant our questionnaire.

Screening

Our case review process is referred to as “screening.” Screening may include obtaining additional documents, and generally involves review of the entire case file by a panel of attorneys who each write a memo about the case. Once we have received all memos, our Screening Manager, Legal Director and Executive Director review them and make a decision about whether to accept or reject the case for further investigation. Please note that the entire screening process can take anywhere from several months to a year or more.

We strive to complete the screening process as quickly as possible but we also want to ensure that each case gets the careful consideration it deserves before deciding whether we can accept it for further investigation or not.

Field Investigation

If a case is accepted for further investigation our team of investigators performs the necessary field investigation to build a winnable case in conjunction with our staff attorneys. In conjunction with our staff attorneys, our team of investigators performs the necessary field investigation to build a winnable case. Investigators will locate and interview possible witnesses, collect affidavits, canvas crime scenes, recover surveillance tapes, test or retest forensic evidence.

Litigation

Once field investigation is complete, our staff attorneys will determine whether the appropriate evidence exists to proceed to court. Along with the client our attorneys will determine what remedies may be available, including innocence petitions, postconviction motions, habeas claims, or sentence modification. The staff attorney will draft the necessary filings, and will litigate the claims in court.

Frequently Asked Questions

MAIP is a non-profit organization that provides investigative and legal assistance to prisoners who have claims of innocence. We also help enact laws that prevent and make it easier to correct wrongful convictions. Our services are free and are reserved for prisoners who cannot afford or who are no longer entitled to an attorney. Please note that of the many cases we review, we actually agree to represent very few clients. The screening and investigation before we decide to officially accept a case can take a very long time. Learn more.

We review the cases of innocent prisoners convicted in the District of Columbia, Maryland, and Virginia. We look for cases where we can use new evidence, often from DNA, to prove the prisoner is innocent. Typically, the best type of evidence for this purpose is new physical evidence, such as blood, hair, semen, saliva, or prints, which can be subjected to scientific testing. Other types of new evidence may be evidence incriminating another person, new eyewitness accounts, or recanting witnesses. We are a very small organization and because of our limited resources, we are unable to accept or represent all claims of innocence, despite their merits. In the past, the cases that we have accepted involve a significant chance that substantial new evidence can be found to prove the person’s innocence. Ask MAIP to review your case.

We refer to the case evaluation process as “screening,” during which time we carefully review the case before making a decision about whether to accept or reject the case. Typically the Screening Manager refers a case for review by a panel of volunteer attorneys who review the application, letters and all legal documents related to the case. Each attorney then writes a memo about the facts of the case as well as any potential avenues for further investigation that might uncover evidence of innocence. Once all memos are received, our Screening Manager, Legal Director and Executive Director read the memos, discuss the case, and make a decision about whether to accept or reject the case for further investigation. Please note that the entire review process can take anywhere from several months to a year or more.

We do not accept cases in which a person has not yet been convicted or sentenced. We also do not accept cases that are still in the appeals process; direct appeals must have ended, or the time for filing a direct appeal must have passed. Simply, we cannot help people who are awaiting trial or who are still pursuing their direct appeals. MAIP also is unable to assist prisoners who are currently represented in their criminal case by another attorney or still have access to an appointed attorney. We do not take cases in which a person is only claiming that his or her rights were violated–there must be a possibility of developing evidence that can actually prove innocence. Because of the difficulty of proving innocence in certain types of cases, we usually cannot help in the following situations: (1) where a defendant admits to killing (or assaulting) someone, but claims that it was done in self-defense; (2) where a defendant admits to sexual contact with a person, but claims that the person consented to the contact; (3) where a defendant was convicted as an accessory (or as a party-to-the-crime) and seeks to show that he or she did not play a major role in the crime. We cannot help prisoners file civil suits, do legal research, seek sentence reductions, find the names of other attorneys, or assist with any other issues unrelated to their actual innocence.

Unfortunately, we are unable to assist prisoners from any other jurisdictions. There is, however, a network of similar innocence organizations across the country (the Innocence Network). Please note that not all innocence organizations have the same criteria for new cases. You should either visit their websites or contact them directly to determine whether your case would meet their qualifications. To find an innocence organization that most directly serves a particular state, please see list of Innocence Network organizations by state. Although not every state is served by a specific innocence organization (and some projects serve multiple jurisdictions), The Innocence Project at the Cardozo School of Law in New York City considers cases from all states where DNA evidence may be used to prove one’s innocence.

DNA test results can provide strong evidence of one’s innocence. However, DNA test results can also provide additional proof of guilt. If DNA tests are performed in your case and they do not exclude you as the perpetrator of the crime, that evidence may hurt your chances in other proceedings. We encourage you to honestly evaluate your case as you complete our questionnaire. Consider whether, by asking for DNA testing, you could be creating additional evidence that may hurt rather than help your chance for exoneration and release.

Eyewitness misidentification, unreliable or improper forensic science, false confessions, informant testimony, government error/misconduct, poor defense lawyers, and tunnel vision are all common causes of wrongful convictions.