In this blog series, real GSU law students tell you about their legal research experiences over the summer.

by Carlos Becerra-Gomez , 2L

During my junior year of undergrad, I took a course called, “Eyewitness Testimony” taught by the famous psychologist, Dr. Elizabeth Loftus.  Throughout the course, we learned about how unreliable eyewitness testimonies can be, but how the general public, including juries, put a lot of weight on eyewitnesses during a criminal trial.  Dr. Loftus introduced us to the Innocence Project, a non-profit organization whose sole mission is to liberate those who have been innocently incarcerated.  After such introduction, I was intrigued by the project, and I decided to attend law school to be somehow a part of this organization.  As soon as my first semester of law school ended, I started to send out my resume and a cover letter to multiple Innocence Projects around the country.  Fortunately, the project from my hometown emailed me back and offered me an internship position.  It was impossible to say no, so I gladly took the position. 

“I decided to attend law school to be somehow a part of this organization.  As soon as my first semester of law school ended, I started to send out my resume and a cover letter to multiple Innocence Projects around the country. “

On my first day, I hit the ground running and I was immediately assigned to a case: a 1980’s homicide.  This particular case was deemed a cold case for almost twenty years until our client was tried and convicted in the early 2000s.  Sadly, our client has been imprisoned for almost twenty years for a crime that he consistently claims he did not commit.  The managing attorney provided me with at least 1,000 pages worth of records for me to thoroughly review.  The attorney asked me to read each record to find anything that could be valuable to our client and his innocence.  At first, I felt absolutely overwhelmed; a human being’s life was placed in my hands.  Each day I was reading these records was one more day he was spending in prison.  That overwhelming feeling turned into motivation to give my best effort to help our client prove his innocence.

“Each day I was reading these records was one more day he was spending in prison.“

My primary duties were to investigate and read all police reports, identify witnesses and potential suspects, analyze the murder scene photographs and videos, analyze the incriminating DNA data, locate and interview these witnesses and suspects.  Each day consisted of something different, we even spent hours driving throughout the state just to locate witnesses and suspects.  I quickly realized that this type of research was completely different to the traditional research work a legal intern does, but I absolutely loved it.  Every day I came into the office was a new day to challenge myself to find something helpful for our client.  There were some days that were harder than others, such as watching the brutal crime scene video that showed the lifeless body in a pool of blood.  Days like those made me truly realize that this was not just another day in law school, but this was real life.

One of my proudest moments during the summer was when I found a huge piece of evidence that had not been previously discovered that affected the state’s argument.  In fact, the managing attorney admitted that she never had seen that piece of evidence before.  I was happy to be able to contribute to the case in such a drastic way, but I was also motivated to continue to find other useful evidence.  At the end of the summer, the managing attorney asked me to write an investigative legal memorandum that included my own theory of who committed the murder and why.  In conclusion, I absolutely loved this experience and it only reassured my desire to work for the project or indigent defense to help those in need of justice and representation.