Impact
India Spellman
In February 2023, India Spellman became the first woman to be exonerated in Philadelphia in more than a generation. We led the advocacy effort to bring her home. Before her release, India spent over a decade in prison for crimes she did not commit and had no knowledge of. Her wrongful conviction was the result of police misconduct, prosecutorial misconduct, fabricated testimony, and ineffective assistance of counsel. We collaborated with India, her family, and her attorney to ensure that she had the resources, expertise, and support she needed to successfully challenge her wrongful conviction.
India is not the only incarcerated woman in Pennsylvania who is factually innocent. We know that incarcerated women lack even basic resources–including adequate law libraries and access to advocacy groups and legal clinics—to successfully challenge unjust convictions and sentences. As the result of India’s case, the Philadelphia District Attorney’s Office is collecting and publishing data on gender and wrongful convictions. India was Philadelphia’s first woman exoneree, but we’re committed to ensuring that she is not last.
Time Served for a Criminalized Survivor
In April 2025, we led the advocacy campaign on behalf of a survivor who defended herself from her abuser’s lethal violence. She was initially charged with 1st degree murder and faced the possibility of life in prison. Her mother contacted us shortly after our client was charged and from there, we created an advocacy campaign that included collaboration with defense counsel on strategy as well as bringing in a national expert on intimate partner violence. For safety reasons, we are not sharing our client’s name but our efforts directly contributed to a favorable plea to voluntary manslaughter and a sentence of time served.