John,

I want to make sure you saw Barry and Peter’s email from yesterday about World DNA Day. It’s on this day that we celebrate the enormous contributions of the scientists who first published papers in the journal Nature on the structure of DNA.

Here at the Innocence Project, DNA testing is at the core of our work. As Barry and Peter said yesterday, this organization started 30 years ago with the realization that DNA could prove wrongfully convicted people innocent — and we haven’t looked back.

So, in honor of World DNA Day, we’re asking you to please make a donation to our DNA Fund, which we use to secure DNA testing and help exonerate innocent people.

This kind of testing can be expensive, but we know with your support, we can continue to help free innocent people for years to come.

Thanks for your contribution,

Henry Decker
Director of Digital Fundraising
Innocence Project

---------- Forwarded message ---------
From: Barry Scheck and Peter Neufeld
Date: Tuesday, April 25, 2023
Subject: World DNA Day

John,

DNA testing has been used in criminal cases in the U.S. since the late 1980s to help convict someone of a crime. But it was in 1992 that we both realized that if DNA technology could prove people guilty of crimes, it could also prove that people who had been wrongfully convicted were innocent.

This was the idea that launched the Innocence Project as a legal clinic at the Benjamin N. Cardozo School of Law more than 30 years ago. Since then, DNA evidence has played a crucial role in proving innocence and solving crimes. In fact, 196 Innocence Project clients have been exonerated by DNA.

That’s why today, on World DNA Day, we remain as committed as ever to securing DNA testing that could prove our clients’ innocence — but we can’t do it without your help.

Please donate today in support of the Innocence Project’s DNA Fund and 100% of your donation will go toward paying for DNA tests that could help exonerate another innocent person.

The decades of work we’ve done around wrongful convictions and both DNA-related and non-DNA exonerations have helped to expose the injustices in our criminal legal system. Here at the Innocence Project, we fight every single day to find solutions to these systemic issues through strategic litigation, policy reform, and education.

But the truth is, as much as we wish it were the case, DNA testing for our clients isn’t as affordable as you might think. With decades-old evidence, multiple rounds of advanced DNA testing can run more than $50,000 — and that’s for just one case.

We are deeply committed to paying for all testing in the cases we work on, no matter what the cost. And that’s why we’re asking for your support to fund this work.

So in honor of World DNA Day, will you make a donation right now to help pay for the cost of life-saving DNA testing that could help free our wrongfully convicted clients?

Thank you for your continued support,

Barry Scheck
Co-Founder and Special Counsel
Innocence Project

Peter Neufeld
Co-Founder and Special Counsel
Innocence Project