Kentucky

Mar 06, 2008 - Joe Mills (3L) argued a case before the Ohio Court of Appeals on Thursday March 6th, 2008. The case Joe argued was ?State of Ohio vs. Anthony McClain? (C070304). Joe, who is supervised by OJPC Attorney Stephen Johnson Grove, represents Anthony McClain. McClain was wrongly convicted of murder in 1995. Years later, after McClain had been in prison for 11 years and consistently maintained his innocence, an eye-witness emerged who said that she had seen a tall, blonde, Caucasian male fleeing the scene, yelling that he shot someone. The police had met with the witness in the initial investigation in 1995, but did not disclose their notes of her comments with the prosecutor or defense counsel. There is no dispute that McClain, who is an African-American, shared any of the characteristics of the man who the witness described. Mr. McClain obtained a retrial and was acquitted. Having been wrongly convicted and unanimously acquitted in the second trial, McClain requested that his record be sealed so that he can move on with his life. The State has argued that Mr. McClain "got lucky," and objected to McClain's expungement. McClain lost at the trial level, now Joe and Stephen seek a reversal in the Court of Appeals.

OJPC's Constitutional Litigation Clinic is the result of a partnership with The Greater Cincinnati Foundation and the Salmon P. Chase College of Law at Northern Kentucky University, offering eight students a hands-on clinical experience handling civil rights cases on behalf of prisoners and former offenders in Ohio state and federal courts.