Week 9

I finished my report on exonerations and it was well received.  So that's nice.  It took more reading and investigation than most of my college papers!

Native Healthcare picked up this week as we've got a client to represent in the case against IHS...which is awesome because that relates back to the trip to Billings in June.  That means we can get things moving, help poor people, and make some dang money! all the while putting a check on the government and its practices. 

Right now im profiling some lawyers that work for Arnold & Porter...more folk representing Peltier.  Apparently these guys are meeting with leonard next week in person and are going to pitch our work to him to get him on board with us.

Week 8

There's been so much research lately.  I'm almost finished with a report on exonerees and mostly quit the media coverage aspect and focused more on official misconduct.  Police and state officials lie and pressure others to lie.  A lot.  THis leads to perjury, false accusations, and false confessions.  It's really awful.  It makes you wonder how many closed cases need to be reopened. Police State Rhetoric

I had a conference call with one of Leonard Peltier's lawyers and it seems that Mr. Peltier is going to help our cause with religious freedoms for incarcerated individuals, even though he is working for clemency.  If all goes well for our cause it will help move him out of max security in Florida to a medium level security prison much closer to his family, friends, and home.  That's really good news.  It's cool because his lawyers responded pretty quickly to my letter.  I hope that this case will be in our favor as Holt vs. Hobbs, the case of an incarcerated individual not allowed to grow a beard for religious practice inside an Arkansas prison, was ruled in favor of the prisoner 9-0 in the supreme court. 

The move on Native healthcare is slooooooooow.  We've been working hard on getting names from people who have used the services of IHS but their filing system is largely unregulated and unrecorded.  The information is out there, but it is an on going investigation to find the right person to fit our needs for a plaintiff.  And legally we can't ask someone to be our plaintiff so being careful with our words is necessary.

Week 7

I'm pretty bogged down and upset with the work I'm doing on these exoneration stories.  Original press coverage is very difficult to find even when using online newspaper archives.  I've found some information, but largely I am at a loss.  One thing I've been noticing is many cases are exonerated because of official misconduct, which is scary and awful.  Perhaps this is a new lead, and my employers seem interested.

I'm getting in touch with the becketfund.org to learn more about them and how they could aide System Disrupt Ventures in the battle for religious freedoms of incarcerated individuals.  I'm also getting in touch with Erik Chosa.  I'm going to interview him for the Native American healthcare advocacy.  Mr. Chosa is the head pharmacist for Indian Health Services in Billings/surrounding area.  Hopefully he can get us some information on the research we are conducting...and help move that sucker to court.