Getting Started

I have two goals, at least for now.

First, I plan to write about published and unpublished Minnesota appellate court opinions. This endeavor is not intended to be an exhaustive review of every opinion; there's no enough time for that. Instead, I will look at opinions that strike my fancy in some way. There will be an effort to include any published opinion that reviews post conviction proceedings in the district court. These opinions can have a direct bearing on the work of the Innocence Project of Minnesota, and the Innocence Clinics that the Project operates. I happen to teach one of those clinics, the initial clinic that has been operating at Hamline University School of Law since 2002.

Second, I want to bring in my Innocence Clinic students both to assist in the review and analysis of these post conviction opinions. This will, I hope, give them the opportunity to connect wrongful convictions to post conviction remedies. After all, in the absence of an agreement with the prosecutor that an inmate has been wrongfully convicted, the vehicle to present that claim in court with be the post conviction petition.

So, let's get started.