Melanie Carr

2002

Melanie Carr

A Fighting Chance

http://www.a-fighting-chance.org

New Orleans, Louisiana, United States

Civil and Human Rights, Legal Advocacy

The Bold Idea:

Poor people facing the death penalty typically receive woefully inadequate representation at the trial level due to a lack of effective investigation and mitigation development. A recent study of Louisiana public defenders showed that only one witness was interviewed by the defense per 200 felony clients! Facts change outcomes, both in terms of guilt or innocence, and in terms of a life or death sentence. In an experiment that provided thorough investigation from the point of arrest in 119 New Orleans death penalty cases, the conviction rate decreased dramatically, from 68% to 16%. One hundred defendants were released and charges were dropped. When judges and juries are not fully informed, the adversarial system fails, and devastating mistakes become inevitable. Death rows are populated by young men condemned because of what the jury did not hear because of the paucity of their defense rather than the severity of their crime.

Using a proven effective methodology, A Fighting Chance supplies facts to lawyers who hitherto assumed that facts came from police reports and should generally be avoided. We are provoking systemic change in the criminal justice system through the following steps:

1. Achieving favorable results in specific cases, which introduces the actors in the system to the value of investigation
2. Litigating aggressively for adequate funding for investigation, which increases resources and shapes expectations for investigation
3. Expanding the ranks of qualified investigators through recruiting, training, and supervision.

We are working to level the playing field for the most vulnerable people in the justice system: indigent defendants facing the death penalty. Our clients urgently need qualified representation so their rights are protected.

Biography:

Melanie Carr is founder of A Fighting Chance, a nonprofit organization that gives poor people facing the death penalty the facts for their defense.  The organization was founded in 2002 with the help of an Echoing Green fellowship.  A Fighting Chance’s mission is to provide prompt and thorough investigation and mitigation development services to indigents facing the death penalty, to expand access to qualified investigators and mitigation specialists through aggressive funding litigation, and to improve standards for investigation through recruiting, training and supervising investigators and mitigation specialists.  A Fighting Chance investigators work alongside the attorneys as members of the defense team, interviewing witnesses, procuring relevant documents, reviewing and analyzing evidence, and developing working relationships with clients and their families.  Hurricanes Katrina and Rita forced A Fighting Chance to relocate to Houston for three months, then relocate back to New Orleans.  In the meantime, A Fighting Chance lost a third of its staff and even more of its financial resources.  Still in the process of rebuilding and recovery, A Fighting Chance is now back on its feet, with a staff of seven investigators / mitigation specialists and an office manager. Melanie came to New Orleans to work as a capital defense investigator after graduating from Harvard University in 1997.  She worked at the Louisiana Crisis Assistance Center for 5 years as head of the investigative staff.