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Join Ellen Eggers (moderator), Obie Anthony (exoneree) and Arturo Jimenez (exoneree) on November 7th via Zoom for a discussion on how troubled youth become targets for wrongful conviction.

Ellen Eggers:

Ellen began her career working as staff attorney, then chief of civil litigation, for Cesar Chavez and the United Farm Workers, handling state and federal trials, and all forms of civil litigation. She then spent 23 years working as a California state public defender handling post-conviction capital cases, both on direct appeal to the California Supreme Court, and investigating and preparing cases for the filing of habeas corpus petitions in state court. Since her retirement in 2014, Ellen has worked exclusively pro bono, primarily focused on those wrongfully convicted of serious crimes, but also representing inmates before the parole board, including those who are innocent. Since 2009, she has volunteered as the Certified Lead Facilitator with the Alternatives to Violence Project, running conflict resolution workshops in California prisons. To date, she has helped to exonerate three men who were wrongfully convicted in California (Franky Carrillo, Arturo Jimenez, Joaquin Ciria), and has another three cases in the works.

Obie Anthony:

Obie Anthony was sentenced to life without parole for a murder he did not commit when he was 19 years old. California incarcerated him for 17 years. When he was exonerated and released in 2011, Obie didn't even have identification. After seventeen years in prison, he didn't know what to write on his resume, how to land a job, or even how to use a cell phone. He had to learn on his own how to establish his life again. That's when he dedicated himself to supporting other exonerees to meet their basic needs after release. Obie was instrumental in the passage of California Assembly Bill No. 672 (nicknamed and cited as "Obie's Law"). The bill requires the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation to assist exonerees with transitional services, including housing assistance, job training and mental health services. In 2016, Obie founded Exonerated Nation, and is committed to transforming the experiences of exonerees after release, and building a community that can provide safety, stability, and healing to wrongfully convicted Californians. Obie is a proud recipient of the 2017 Rockwood Leadership Institute Returning Citizens Fellowship and a regular speaker at community dialogues about exoneration and incarceration.

Arturo Jimenez:

Arturo was wrongfully convicted of a gang-on-gang murder he did not commit when he was only 18 years old. His conviction was based on a single eyewitness identification by a young woman who only had a fleeting view of the shooter. Through the pro bono investigative work of Ellen Eggers, the witness revealed her identification was the product of police pressure. Arturo spent nearly 26 years in prison, including 8 in solitary confinement. He was released on parole in April 2020, during Covid lockdown. His conviction was overturned in August of 2020, and in February of 2021, he was declared factually innocent by the Superior Court of California. Arturo now works for Prisons of Peace as a trainer, teaching those in prison how to mediate conflicts without the use of violence, and as a facilitator for mindfulness-based substance abuse programs in Los Angeles high schools.