(Nashville, TN – October 16, 2023) The Tennessee Innocence Project (TIP) will host their biggest event of the year, the 2023 Fighting for Freedom fundraiser. The event will take place on Wednesday, October 25, 2023 at 6:00 p.m. at Music City Center, located at 201 Rep. John Lewis Way S, Nashville, TN 37203.
“Now, in our fifth year, this year’s event will focus on the stories that keep us fighting for justice every day,” said Jessica Van Dyke, Tennessee Innocence Project executive director and lead counsel. “Guests will have the opportunity to hear first-hand stories about the emotional impact of a wrongful conviction from exonerees, their family members, and Tennessee Innocence Project staff.”
Since opening in 2019, The Tennessee Innocence Project has successfully exonerated five individuals who collectively lost 119 years incarcerated. TIP represents each client at no charge and remains the only in-state innocence organization in Tennessee.
“Donations to TIP allow us to continue to investigate and litigate claims of actual innocence from our hundreds of applicants,” said Jason Gichner, Tennessee Innocence Project deputy director and senior legal counsel. “We spare no expense when someone’s life is on the line.”
This year’s event is made possible by generous sponsors across the state, including:
Innocence Sponsors:
- Amy and Frank Garrison
- Garza Law Firm
Exoneration Sponsors:
- Bass, Berry & Sims PLC
- Burr & Forman LLP
- Ginny & Garry Ferraris
- May & McKinney PLLC
- Pinnacle Financial Partners
- Polsinelli PC
- Sanford Heisler Sharp LLP
- Swafford Law Firm
- Bonney and Jim Todd
- Amy and Clay Richards
- Lief, Cabraser, Heimann & Bernstein
- Schooner Foundation
Bradley Arant Boult Cummings LLP
To learn more about the 2023 Fighting for Freedom fundraiser, visit www.tninnocence.org/freedom.
About the Tennessee Innocence Project:
Launched in February 2019 as the first full-time innocence organization in the state, the Tennessee Innocence Project (TIP) is a non-profit law firm working to free wrongfully convicted Tennesseans. To date, more than 3,200 people have lost more than 25,000 years due to wrongful convictions across the United States. TIP has three primary focus areas: 1) investigating and litigating wrongful conviction cases for those in Tennessee prisons to obtain exonerations, 2) training law students and attorneys about how to litigate these cases and how to prevent future wrongful convictions, and 3) bringing about changes that lead to the discovery of wrongful convictions and remedies to the wrongfully convicted. To learn more, visit www.tninnocence.org.
For more information or if you would like to interview someone from the Tennessee Innocence Project, contact Jennifer Sharp, The Carter Malone Group, LLC, at 901.278.0881 or jsharp@cmgpr.com.