Korey Wise Innocence Project

06/25/2026

October 2, 2026 — KWIP’s Voices of Innocence Gala!

Tickets and sponsorship packages are now available. Secure yours at the link below and join us for an evening supporting innocence work in Colorado and celebrating a banner year for KWIP.

Save $25 on individual tickets with code EARLYBIRD through August 21.

https://givebutter.com/c/KWIP

06/24/2026

“She doctored testing results to avoid testing.” Jud Lohnes of the Korey Wise Innocence Project lays out just how deeply this misconduct cut across Colorado’s legal system.

He adds, “Defendants may have been deprived of DNA testing that could have proved their innocence, and victims’ cases may have withered on the vine.”

The article details the scope of the harm, the cases now under review, and the long road ahead for accountability.

A former DNA analyst with the Colorado Bureau of Investigation changed her plea to guilty in court on Tuesday to four charges, as part of an agreement in which prosecutors dropped 100 other counts she was facing.

06/23/2026

This week, seven local law firms came together for a collaborative pro bono project for all of our summer associates. The morning started with a presentation on pro bono opportunities for law students from Colorado Lawyers Committee, Korey Wise Innocence Project, Rocky Mountain Immigrant Advocacy Network - RMIAN and Colorado Access to Justice Commission. The summer associates then worked in teams to prepare research guides that will be used to help thousands of Coloradans on the Law Help Colorado website launching later this summer.

This project showcased the power of collaboration across the legal community and the commitment of the next generation of attorneys to expanding access to justice. We are grateful to the participating firms, panelists and summer associates whose contributions will have a lasting impact on individuals and families seeking reliable legal information and resources.

06/12/2026

We came together in Denver to celebrate a year of work at KWIP, but the heart of the evening was Stephen Martinez. Getting to recognize his exoneration in a room filled with the people who helped make it happen meant a lot to all of us.

We also shared important progress in two active cases and celebrated the passage of the test kit bill. Thank you to for hosting and to everyone who continues to support this work.

06/12/2026

We came together in Denver to celebrate a year of work at KWIP, but the heart of the evening was Stephen Martinez. Getting to recognize his exoneration in a room filled with the people who helped make it happen meant a lot to all of us.

We also shared important progress in two active cases and celebrated the passage of the test kit bill. Thank you to Stinson LLP for hosting and to everyone who continues to support this work.

06/05/2026

James Genrich spent 34 years in prison wrongfully convicted of multiple homicides that occurred in Grand Junction, Colorado, as a result of a series of pipe bombings. Decades later, he was granted a retrial because those convictions had been based on since-discredited junk science. In April 2026, th...

06/04/2026

We welcomed our summer interns this week, a group of highly skilled and passionate students joining KWIP for the months ahead.

Orientation included a first look at wrongful convictions work and time together getting to know the team over lunch. We are so excited to have them here and look forward to the work ahead this summer

06/04/2026

We welcomed our summer interns this week, a group of highly skilled and passionate students joining KWIP for the months ahead.

Orientation included a first look at wrongful convictions work and time together getting to know the team over lunch. We are so excited to have them here and look forward to the work ahead this summer.

05/26/2026

When Jeanne Segil joined KWIP in 2022, she started where so much of this work begins, the backlog. One of the first files she pulled was a letter Stephen Martinez had sent years earlier, asking for help, a case that had sat for nearly a decade. Jeanne wrote back, met with him, and kept digging until the record told a different story than the one that sent him to prison. This week’s Denver Gazette piece follows that path and the years of work it took to bring him home after 27 years.

From the first time she looked at Stephen Martinez’s case, Boulder attorney Jeanne Segil knew she had a shot at getting him released from prison. Martinez, 58, spent 27 years behind bars for a crime he now says never happened. Four-month-old Heather Lynn Mares, the daughter of Martinez’s roommat...

05/14/2026

A judge has ruled that prosecutors withheld exculpatory evidence in the case of Deborah Nicholls. Supported by the Korey Wise Innocence Project alongside McCabe Law, Ms. Nicholls is pursuing post‑conviction relief, with a hearing set for May 27.
Read more from The Denver Post:

The judge did not take action on Deborah Nicholls’ convictions in the April order but set the case for a hearing on May 27.