UC alumna reflects on fellowship

She admits it’s a big goal, but it’s one she has pursued ever since her donor-funded fellowship at the Ohio Innocence Project (OIP) at the University of Cincinnati.

To date, the OIP has helped free 33 wrongfully convicted Ohioans, who collectively served over 650 years behind bars.

“I’m not sure I would be where I am now but not for the OIP and my fellowship there,” the UC College of Law grad says. “I learned tips and tricks that benefit me today — like getting public records from a police department.”

One of her first cases as a fellow was that of Evin King, who was convicted in 1995 of murdering his girlfriend despite no direct eyewitness or forensic evidence of guilt. After 23 years of incarceration, the court finally agreed to a hearing on DNA evidence that ultimately pointed to another unidentified male. King was released two weeks shy of his 60th birthday.

When Thomas passed the bar in 2017, she joined the OIP as a Rosenthal Fellow, a two-year post-graduate fellowship, and quickly took on one of the most meaningful cases of her career.

Thomas and another OIP lawyer, Donald Caster, began representing Charles Jackson, who had gone to prison before Thomas was even born. In November 2018, after serving 27 years for crimes he didn't commit, Jackson walked free.

“To this day I feel a special connection with Charles,” Thomas says. “In fact, we spoke just the other day.”

Today, Thomas is a post-conviction litigator with Patituce & Associates, a Cleveland-based criminal defense firm and one of only a few firms in the state specializing in wrongful conviction cases.

“It’s where I’m meant to be,” Thomas says.