Sept. 20, 2004, 1:05AM

TEXAS INNOCENCE NETWORK

A commitment to truth, justice

Journalism and law students delve into cases where inmates may have been wrongly convicted

By HARVEY RICE
Copyright 2004 Houston Chronicle

Gia Gustilo sat in her white Volvo outside a mobile home in Clay, a rural hamlet in Burleson County, waiting for the brother of a convicted killer.

On that Saturday in January 2003, Gustilo and her journalism professor at the University of St. Thomas in Houston, Nicole Casarez, were hunting for new information about a 1992 murder case.

Robert Earl Carter was executed May 31, 2000, for the slayings of a woman and five children. Gustilo and Casarez said they believed that Carter's brother, Hezekiah, had information that could help prove the innocence of Anthony Graves, who was sentenced to death as an accomplice.

HOW THE PROJECT IS ORGANIZED

• The teacher: Led by law professor David Dow at the University of Houston Law Center
• The students: Includes students from the University of St. Thomas, Lamar University in Beaumont and the University of Texas at Austin
• The results: Since March 2000, students' investigations have contributed to pardons for Josiah Sutton of Houston, who served 4 1/2 years on a rape conviction, and James Byrd of Fort Worth, who spent five years in prison on a robbery conviction

Their efforts are part of the Texas Innocence Network at the University of Houston Law Center, where law and journalism students volunteer to investigate cases in which people may have been wrongly convicted.

The class, taught by law professor David Dow at the law center, is the hub for journalism students at St. Thomas, criminal justice students at Lamar University in Beaumont and law students at the University of Texas at Austin.

Cases investigated by those students are assigned and monitored by Dow and his assistants.

The Innocence Network came about after a conference in late 1999, Dow recalled. About 20 representatives from several law schools decided that Texas needed an organization that would examine cases in which people may have been wrongly convicted.

The idea was to form a network of innocence projects at universities throughout Texas.

Dow, who also works as an attorney on death penalty appeals, posted a notice to find out how many students would be interested in such a course, expecting five or six. To his surprise, about 60 responded.

The implementation of the plan moved slowly through the university bureaucracies, however, Dow said.

"Finally, I said, 'You know what? I'll put some students on my death penalty cases.' "

So the project was founded — without a formal course and with student volunteers.

"They weren't getting any money or anything except the satisfaction of a job worth doing," Dow said. "They were just incredible. It changed my view of student commitment to social services in a radical way."

The University of Houston finally adopted the project and word reached Casarez at the University of St. Thomas. She asked Dow if her students could participate.

A serious commitment

Unlike other law or journalism classes, the Innocence Network class carries a responsibility that doesn't end when the course is completed. Typically, students continue working on cases, often after graduation.

Gustilo, 23, has graduated and is employed by a Houston law firm, but still works on the Graves case.

Dow said he lost four of the 12 students who enrolled in the class this semester after he gave his standard warning:

"If you take this class and don't complete an assignment, you could cause someone to stay in prison years longer than they should," he said. "Unless you can be committed to the class, you shouldn't take it."

Reflecting a need

The Texas Innocence Network is one of a few dozen similar projects that have sprung up nationwide in recent years.

Catherine Green Burnett, associate dean of clinical studies at Houston's South Texas College of Law, said the network reflects a failure of the justice system to provide a means to exonerate the wrongly convicted.

"It illustrates the need that we have for some established non-ad hoc procedure, something that doesn't depend on the efforts of 20- to 25-year-old volunteers," Burnett said. "Instead, it needs to be part of the fabric of our justice system."

She said South Texas is ready to begin an innocence project once it finds a professor able to commit to something so time-consuming.

"It's been a life-changing experience," Casarez said. "I didn't realize how it would take over our lives."

Long prison sentences

Many innocence projects take only capital cases or those in which guilt or innocence can be determined by DNA testing. The Innocence Network accepts any case involving a long prison sentence, Dow said.

The network typically relies on letters from inmates for leads. In death penalty cases, the attorneys are asked if they want help.

The students are "a tremendous help because we didn't have investigators," said Jay Burnett, one of the attorneys trying to save Anthony Graves from execution. "They have been instrumental in finding sufficient evidence that a jury would find him innocent if we get a new trial."

Gathering information

In non-capital cases, prisoners fill out a questionnaire that is screened by students based on how likely it is that a prisoner's claim, if proven, would allow a legal challenge or clemency request, Dow said.

If the case is accepted, the inmate is asked to sign a waiver acknowledging that the network is not acting as an attorney and that any evidence of wrongdoing that may be uncovered could be turned over to prosecutors, he said.

If the investigation turns up evidence of innocence, the project finds an attorney to pursue the case, Dow said.

Going the extra mile

The work often takes them to remote places such as Clay, the Burleson County town to which Gustilo and Casarez traveled. Dow requires that students travel in pairs for safety.

Having two people present for interviews also makes it less likely that witnesses will try to disavow their statements later, he said.

Gustilo and Casarez got their interview with Hezekiah Carter. His affidavit and evidence gathered by five other students helped convince the U.S. 5th Circuit Court of Appeals to order a Sept. 28 hearing that will decide whether Anthony Graves gets a new trial.

A federal magistrate in Galveston will hear arguments about whether prosecutors suppressed evidence that could have convinced a jury to acquit Graves.