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In April, the District Court vacated the conviction of Korey Wise Innocence Project client James “Cass” Garner and ordered his immediate release. Remarkably, the same judge who presided over Garner’s original trial issued the order.

After 15 long years, Garner is now free—released from Sterling Correctional Facility. He is no longer imprisoned for a crime he did not commit. Garner was wrongfully convicted in connection with a 2009 nonfatal shooting at a local bar—the same night he was there celebrating his birthday.

He has always maintained his innocence. This life-changing outcome was made possible through the work of KWIP attorneys Kathleen Lord and Jeanne Segil with the assistance of Colorado Law students and alumni, including Ileana Jiménez '21, Chrysten Pacheco '27, and Jefferson Caldwell '27. Their case focused on discrediting the unreliable eyewitness identifications that had played a central role in Garner’s conviction.

In the initial months after the shooting, none of the three victims (all brothers) identified Garner in photo lineups. But nearly three years later at trial, all three pointed to him in court—a setting that was highly suggestive, especially with Garner being the only man seated at the defense table alongside two female attorneys. To strengthen their case, Lord and Segil brought in nationally recognized experts on human memory and eyewitness identification, both of whom concluded that the trial identifications were unreliable.