April is National Financial Literacy Month, a time dedicated to highlighting the importance of financial education and empowerment. Yet for many clients who have been released after wrongful conviction, financial literacy is not just a tool for success; it is a matter of survival.

After spending 5, 10, 15, or even 20+ years behind bars for crimes they did not commit, clients often re-enter society with little to no financial resources, limited access to employment opportunities, and without the basic financial knowledge many of us take for granted. The logistical challenges they face are staggering.

1. No Credit History or Severely Damaged Credit
Time in prison often means a complete lack of financial activity, resulting in no credit history. Without a credit score, clients who have been released from prison find it nearly impossible to secure housing, obtain loans, or even open basic bank accounts.

2. Lack of Identification and Banking Access
Many individuals are released without current government-issued IDs, complicating efforts to access essential services, apply for jobs, or establish financial accounts.

3. Employment Barriers
Even after being declared innocent, exonerees face gaps in their work history that make securing employment difficult. Employers may be hesitant, and many exonerees have never used modern workplace technology (smartphones, computers) due to years lost behind bars. For clients who have been released but not yet legally exonerated, these challenges are compounded. A pending legal status can create confusion or mistrust for employers and limit access to professional licensing or background checks, even though the individual is no longer incarcerated. This legal limbo can trap innocent people in long-term unemployment or underemployment.

4. Housing Instability
Affordable housing often requires a background check, a steady income, and a credit history — all significant barriers for someone recently released after wrongful incarceration.

5. No Access to Social Safety Nets
In many states, exonerees are not automatically eligible for reentry programs or social services intended for the formerly incarcerated. Compensation laws vary widely, and the process to seek restitution can be long and retraumatizing.

At Rocky Mountain Innocence Center, we believe that freedom must be more than just release from a prison cell. It must include the opportunity to rebuild a life with dignity, security, and support. Financial literacy programs specifically tailored to exonerees are a critical part of that journey.

This Financial Literacy Month, we invite you to stand with us in advocating for systemic change — from fair compensation laws to expanded financial education services — and to recognize the full scope of what it means to free the innocent.

Dear Friends of RMIC:

Since 2000, the Rocky Mountain Innocence Center has been working hard in pursuit of our mission to prevent and correct wrongful convictions in the states of Utah, Nevada, and Wyoming. This mission has guided our work through this last year, and we have remained steadfast through 2022 with that in mind.

I am happy to share with you some of the changes and accomplishments from this year!

Organization Updates:

I was selected by RMIC’s Executive Committee as the new Executive Director in June, and shortly thereafter, we moved our offices from the University of Utah to downtown Salt Lake City. We have made many new friends and met amazing neighbors down here!

We also added to our Board, including our new Board President, Kurt London, of Swapp & Associates, who previously served as a clinic student and Legal Fellow at RMIC; Allison Blais of Adobe Inc.; private practitioners Jonny Jemming and James Lee, and ClydeSnow Associate Attorney Katey Pepin.

Case Successes:

Most COVID restrictions have been lifted, allowing our Managing Attorney, Jennifer Springer, and Legal Fellow, Amanda Darcy, to return to client visits, witness interviews, and travel for our cases.

This year, RMIC received two favorable Nevada Supreme Court decisions, including a remand for DNA testing and a remand in another case for an evidentiary hearing based on the court’s interpretation of the recently-enacted Factual Innocence statute that we helped pass with the assistance of our exoneree DeMarlo Berry.  We look forward to substantial, continued litigation in each of these cases.

Client Successes:

Our clients have also experienced great successes this year, including Michael Thompson,  RMIC’s 8th exoneration as of August 30, 2022, when Utah Judge Su Chon found him factually innocent and ordered compensation of nearly $300,000 for the nearly seven years he spent wrongfully incarcerated.

Mr. Thompson was convicted of two felony offenses in Utah, which he was unable to commit because he was not physically present in the state at the time the offenses occurred.

This year we also have three clients that have been or are about to be paroled, all of which were incarcerated for more than twenty years, two of which RMIC, specifically our Managing Attorney Jennifer Springer, worked tirelessly and successfully to advocate for their release.

Legislative Successes:

In the prevention component of our mission, we were a part of the successful passing of an evidence-preservation bill that took effect this Summer that will require all physical evidence be preserved for the duration of an individual’s incarceration so that possible exculpatory evidence that could be obtained through DNA will be available for testing.

Historically, there was no obligation by state agencies or actors in criminal cases – post-conviction – to keep that evidence. In fact, it was usually destroyed, thereby preventing wrongfully convicted individuals from obtaining DNA testing to establish their innocence.  This is a huge success!

Wrongful Conviction Day Fundraiser

RMIC celebrated Wrongful Conviction Day on September 29th in a hugely successful event at The Leonardo.  We were joined by many friends and supporters, old and new, and we welcomed exoneree Dean Gillispie to speak to our guests, along with Emmy-award winning journalist Sammy Linebaugh.

I hope to see you all again at our celebration next year!  Every time you attend one of our events, donate to RMIC, or share one of our stories with friends or on social media, you push our fight forward and bring us that much closer to getting our clients home.

Donate to RMIC this Holiday Season

Beginning this Giving Tuesday, November 29, 2022, and through the rest of the year, consider making a tax-deductible donation to RMIC.  Your donation helps us pay for things, such as expert fees, DNA testing, prison visits, and the many other costs of investigating and litigating on behalf of wrongfully convicted individuals in Utah, Nevada, and Wyoming, and it also allows us to continue to address the systemic problems in the criminal legal system.

We currently have 50 cases that are in active litigation or investigation, and we receive 15-25 requests for assistance each month.  With your donation, we can help free those innocent clients waiting to prove their innocence.  With your help, we can continue the fight and bring our clients home to their family and loved ones.  You can help make a difference in the lives of the innocent. Simply click the “Donate” button below or send a check to: Rocky Mountain Innocence Center, 358 South 700 East, B235, Salt Lake City, Utah, 84102.

Donate Now

Have a wonderful holiday season with your family and friends and stay tuned for more great things to come from your friends here at the Rocky Mountain Innocence Center.

Kristy Columbia
EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Contact: Kristy Columbia, Executive Director, Rocky Mountain Innocence
Center Phone: (801) 355-1888
Email: kcolumbia@rminnocence.org

Rocky Mountain Innocence Center, Professor Jensie L. Anderson, and Parr Brown Gee & Loveless Attorneys Obtain Exoneration and Compensation

SEPTEMBER 06, 2022, SALT LAKE CITY – On May 16, 2008, Michael W. Thompson was sentenced to two concurrent terms of not less than five years to life in prison after being convicted by a Salt Lake County Jury of two counts of Forcible Sodomy. His convictions were reversed in January 2014, and the State did not pursue a new trial against him and dismissed his charges in April 2014, after Mr. Thompson served nearly seven years in prison.

The Rocky Mountain Innocence Center (RMIC), along with Professor Jensie L. Anderson, who also co-founded RMIC, began investigating Mr. Thompson’s claim of innocence in 2015. Parr Brown Gee & Loveless joined RMIC and Professor Anderson in litigating the case, and a Petition for Determination of Factual Innocence was filed in March 2017. The petition pointed to newly discovered evidence that, when viewed with all the other evidence, would ultimately prove Mr. Thompson’s innocence, including findings that the testimony of a State’s expert witness was based on faulty and inaccurate software reports and calculations that would have made Mr. Thompson’s presence in the state to commit the alleged acts impossible.

On August 30, 2022, the Honorable Judge Su J. Chon signed a memorandum decision granting Mr. Thompson’s Petition for Factual Innocence and awarding him nearly $300,000 for the seven years he was incarcerated, in accordance with Utah statutory law. Judge Chon also denied the State’s motion alleging that Mr. Thompson, along with his wife, destroyed evidence in the case.

The Rocky Mountain Innocence Center works to correct and prevent the wrongful conviction of innocent people in Utah, Nevada, and Wyoming. RMIC advocates for systemic reform to improve the justice system and to create meaningful opportunities for the wrongfully convicted to prove their innocence and to receive compensation for unjust incarceration. For more information go to www.rminnocence.org, call (801)355-1888, or email RMIC Executive Director, Kristy Columbia, at kcolumbia@rminnocence.org.

Professor Jensie L. Anderson teaches legal methods, innocence investigation and post-conviction process, criminal process, lawyering skills, and introduction to law at the S.J. Quinney College of Law, University of Utah, which she joined in 1999. She also served as President of the Rocky Mountain Innocence Center from 2001 until 2011 and as its co-founder and Pro Bono Legal Director from 1999 until 2022. She was awarded Woman Lawyer of the Year in 2014.

The award-winning Salt Lake City office of Parr Brown Gee & Loveless employs numerous talented litigators and business attorneys. The firm provides broad and comprehensive legal services to corporate and individual clients in areas such as commercial litigation, bankruptcy, employment law, and real estate law, and they have been recognized statewide and nationally for their services. For more information, visit www.parrbrown.com.

“This is an amazing feeling. After 20 years, our family is finally free from this nightmare. They say the wheels of justice are slow, and that is the truth, but thank the Lord above. We had some amazing people in our corner to help us fight this injustice to the end. We can’t say ‘Thank You’ enough to all of our family and friends that fought alongside of us. Thank you to: the Rocky Mountain Innocence Center – they are truly there to help right the wrongs of those that have been wrongfully convicted; the amazing dedication from everyone at Parr Brown Gee & Loveless attorneys for all the hours of selfless dedication to our family to make sure Michael’s name was cleared is beyond amazing; Jensie Anderson, you have been through it all with us. You are a gift sent from the heavens to us!

All we can say is … anyone that has been wrongfully convicted of a crime: Never give up. Yes, it may take a lot longer than it should, but it is the most amazing feeling when it is done. Never give up on yourself or each other.” – From The Thompson Family – Mike, Darci, and Star