Unpacking Injustice
Unpacking Injustice is a Montana Innocence Project podcast that tells the real stories behind wrongful and unjust convictions and illuminates the complex issues responsible for making our criminal justice system unjust.
Episodes
Katie Garding’s Backpacking Adventure: Finding Presence in Nature
In this episode of Unpacking Injustice, Montana Innocence Project client Katie Garding shares her experience on a three-day women’s backpacking retreat at Doris Lake near Whitefish, Montana. While this was her first backpacking adventure, h…
Podcast: Hear from MTIP Legal Director on How to Apply for our Legal Services
Our mission is to free the innocent and unjustly incarcerated, and advocate for systems of Justice that are accurate, accountable, and fair for all. One of the main ways we achieve this is through providing free legal representation. On thi…
Podcast: Exploring the History, Controversies, and Misconceptions Surrounding the Diagnosis of Shaken Baby Syndrome with Katherine Judson (Part 2)
In Part 2 of this series, we continue our conversation with Katherine Judson, the Executive Director of the Center for Integrity in Forensic Sciences. In this episode we will explore how similar symptoms to SBS/AHT can sometimes be overlook…
Podcast: Exploring the History, Controversies, and Misconceptions Surrounding the Diagnosis of Shaken Baby Syndrome with Katherine Judson (Part 1)
In today’s episode you will hear from Katherine Judson, the Executive Director of the Center for Integrity in Forensic Sciences. Katherine previously served as the SBS/AHT Litigation Coordinator for the Wisconsin Innocence Project, where sh…
Podcast: MTIP Board Member Paul Leisher Explains the Highly Controversial Diagnosis of Shaken Baby Syndrome and MTIP Client Aaron Oliphant’s Case (Part 2)
In Part 2 of this series, we continue our conversation with MTIP Board Member and criminal defense attorney Paul Leisher to delve deeper into the details of Aaron Oliphant’s case, examining how his ineffective assistance of counsel and the …
MTIP Board Member Paul Leisher Explains the Highly Controversial Diagnosis of Shaken Baby Syndrome and MTIP Client Aaron Oliphant’s Case (Part 1)
MTIP Board Member and criminal defense attorney Paul Leisher sat down with MTIP Communications Associate Ashley Miller to explain the highly controversial diagnosis of Shaken Baby Syndrome, the role it played in MTIP client Aaron Oliphant’s…
Podcast: MTIP Executive Director Unpacks 2025 Legislative Session
During the 2025 Legislative Session the Montana Innocence Project fought for legislation to restore and improve a compensation program for exonerees, establish state coordinated reentry services, institute work time credit for individuals u…
Dr. John Morgan explains how forensic science errors perpetuate wrongful convictions
MTIP Communications Associate Ashley Miller spoke with Dr. John Morgan, an author, researcher, and professor, internationally recognized for his work in forensic science. Dr. Morgan discussed his extensive research on forensic science error…
Dr. Craig Haney discusses the psychological trauma and health effects that prison has on incarcerated individuals
MTIP Communications Associate Ashley Miller spoke with Dr. Craig Haney, a social psychologist and a professor at the UC Santa Cruz, to discuss the psychological trauma and health effects that incarceration, and more specifically wrongful in…
Montana Innocence Project staff, and freed client share biggest takeaways from the 2024 Innocence Network Conference in New Orleans
Last week, four Montana Innocence Project staff members and freed client Joseph Jefferson-Dust attended the 2024 Innocence Network Conference in New Orleans.Over 1,200 people were united in community at the event, including 400 freed and ex…
MTIP client Katie Garding discusses updates on where her wrongful conviction case stands today, her newfound career, and her hopes for the future
MTIP Communications Associate Ashley Miller spoke with client Katie Garding to discuss her reentry journey over the last year, after her wrongful conviction was overturned in March of 2023. She discussed updates on where her wrongful convic…
MTIP client Bernard Pease Jr. reflects on his first month home after spending nearly 40 years wrongfully incarcerated
MTIP Communications Manager Ashley Miller spoke with client Bernard Pease Jr. and his sister Linda Thomas over the phone to discuss his re-entry journey after spending nearly 40 years wrongfully incarcerated for a crime he did not commit. O…
Hear from the formerly incarcerated Indigenous women transforming Lake County Drug Court
Dana Comes At Night, Lisa Brueggeman, and Stacy Markus play instrumental roles in the Adult Drug Court program located in Polson, Montana, which serves Lake County defendants receiving treatment for crimes relating to substance use disorder…
MTIP to begin examining ‘Second Chances’ for unjustly incarcerated Montanans
The Montana Innocence Project is beginning the exciting work of digging into how we can meaningfully address not only wrongful convictions but also unjust convictions. In today’s episode, MTIP Executive Director Amy Sings In The Timber brea…
How cash bail impacts the innocent, how Missoula County is engaging with reform
Missoula Municipal Court Judge Jake Coolidge and Criminal Defense Attorney and MTIP Board Member Carrie Gibadlo share their reflections on the injustices baked into the cash bail system, why innocence advocates should care, and some recent …
MTIP Executive Director Amy Sings In The Timber breaks down the intersection of Indigenous Justice and innocence work, announces programmatic expansion
In the last three years, the Montana Innocence Project has carefully examined how wrongful and unjust convictions impact Indian Country and how to best expand organizationally and programmatically to realize its mission in those communities…
Joseph Jefferson-Dust responds to hearing that ended probation, indicated exoneration
Montana Innocence Project client Joseph Jefferson-Dust was wrongfully convicted of Criminal Endangerment in 2017 following a false accusation. His case began when his accuser fully recanted. In an incredible turn of events, Yellowstone Coun…
How to apply for MTIP’s legal services
The Montana Innocence Project’s mission is to free the innocent and unjustly incarcerated, and advocate for systems of Justice that are accurate, accountable, and fair for all. One of the main ways we achieve this is through free legal repr…
MTIP client Kelly Worthan reflects on first semester of college from prison
Montana Innocence Project client Kelly Worthan has been wrongfully convicted for nearly two decades. Last fall, he and three other incarcerated people at MSP were accepted from a pool of about 75 applicants to get a four-year degree from Mo…
Katie’s Story Part 4
Katie’s Story is a podcast series produced by Alberton High School students Cheyanne Dinneen and Raeleen Czerp-Davis. It explores the wrongful conviction story of Montana Innocence Project client Katie Garding who was wrongfully convicted f…
Katie’s Story Part 3
Katie’s Story is a podcast series produced by Alberton High School students Cheyanne Dinneen and Raeleen Czerp-Davis. It explores the wrongful conviction story of Montana Innocence Project client Katie Garding who was wrongfully convicted f…
Katie’s Story Part 2
Katie’s Story is a podcast series produced by Alberton High School students Cheyanne Dinneen and Raeleen Czerp-Davis. It explores the wrongful conviction story of Montana Innocence Project client Katie Garding who was wrongfully convicted f…
Katie’s Story Part 1
Katie’s Story is a podcast series produced by Alberton High School students Cheyanne Dinneen and Raeleen Czerp-Davis. It explores the wrongful conviction story of Montana Innocence Project client Katie Garding who was wrongfully convicted f…
MTIP Executive Director unpacks 2023 legislative session
During the 2023 legislative session, the Montana Innocence Project worked to reauthorize and improve exoneree compensation and protect the innocent against eyewitness misidentification and the faulty science of facial recognition technology…
Montana Innocence Project staff, clients share biggest takeaways from 20th Annual Innocence Network Conference
Last weekend, the Montana Innocence Project staff, freed clients Katie Garding and Dave Wilkes, and Dave’s brother Tim attended the 20th Annual Innocence Network Conference in Phoenix, Arizona. We were moved by presentations of freed and ex…
Katie's Story Trailer
On March 23, the United States District Court for the District of Montana overturned Montana Innocence Project client Katie Garding's conviction based on ineffective assistance of counsel, which violated her Sixth Amendment right. On May 26…
The Sentencing Project, Montana Women Vote discuss upcoming event on 50 years of mass incarceration in America
On today's episode of Unpacking Injustice, we are joined by the Sentencing Project’s Senior Director of Advocacy Nicole D. Porter and Montana Women Vote’s Justice Initiative Director Nicole Gomez to discuss their upcoming virtual event 50 Y…
CSG researchers on increasing race data availability in Montana’s criminal legal system (Part 2)
Last July, the Council of State Governments Justice Center released a report titled Racial Equity in Montana’s Criminal Justice System: An Analysis of Court, Corrections, and Community Supervision Systems detailing disparities experienced b…
CSG researchers discuss racial equity in Montana’s criminal legal system (Part 1)
Last July, the Council of State Governments Justice Center released a report titled Racial Equity in Montana’s Criminal Justice System: An Analysis of Court, Corrections, and Community Supervision Systems detailing disparities experienced b…
Bernard Pease on beginning his re-entry journey after 4 decades in prison
After nearly 40 years, Montana Innocence Project client Bernard Pease Jr. left prison on January 4 and was transferred to the pre-release center in Billings. He was granted parole subject to an extended pre-release stay late last year. MTIP…
Unpacking Injustice: Dave & Gabe’s Story Episode 4
Dave & Gabe’s Story is a four-part series about Montana Innocence Project client Dave Wilkes who was freed in 2020 after spending nine years wrongfully incarcerated for the deliberate homicide of his three-month-old son Gabriele.In this epi…
Unpacking Injustice: Dave & Gabe’s Story Episode 3
Dave & Gabe’s Story is a four-part series about Montana Innocence Project client Dave Wilkes who was freed in 2020 after spending nine years wrongfully incarcerated for the deliberate homicide of his three-month-old son Gabriele.In this epi…
Unpacking Injustice: Dave & Gabe’s Story Episode 2
Dave & Gabe’s Story is a four-part series about Montana Innocence Project client Dave Wilkes who was freed in 2020 after spending nine years wrongfully incarcerated for the deliberate homicide of his three-month-old son Gabriele.In this epi…
Unpacking Injustice: Dave & Gabe’s Story Episode 1
Dave & Gabe’s Story is a four-part series about Montana Innocence Project client Dave Wilkes who was freed in 2020 after spending nine years wrongfully incarcerated for the deliberate homicide of his three-month-old son Gabriele.In this epi…