Ep. 40 - Wrongly Convicted: Justin Brooks & California Innocence Project

Justin Brooks talks to On the Edge with Andrew Gold podcast. He is a lawyer who works to get innocent people off of death row and long sentences.

Justin Brooks is the co-founder of the California Innocence Project, which is a non-profit that is part of the California Western School of Law in San Diego.

Catch me (plus maybe Justin) on Discord on Thursday 11th Feb at 8pm GMT (Noon in California). Here's the link: https://discord.gg/ztymPF4S5G

Justin Links:

http://twitter.com/justinobrooks

http://instagram.com/justinobrooks

https://www.facebook.com/pages/category/Public-Figure/Justin-Brooks-160642841283018/

http://californiainnocenceproject.org

Andrew Links:

http://twitter.com/andrewgold_ok

http://instagram.com/andrewgold_ok

http://andrewgoldpodcast.com

http://facebook.com/ontheedgewithandrewgold

http://youtube.com/andrewgold1

http://patreon.com/andrewgold - for bonus content!

They do the most remarkable work, which is to provide pro-bono legal services to exonerate wrongly convicted inmates. I can’t think of much worse than being put in prison for decades, no hope of parole, when you didn’t even commit the crime for which you’re there. It’s a horrible thought that in all probability, there are thousands of people in this situation. So, Justin is one of those people I’m so happy exist.

Justin was recently played by actor Greg Kinnear in the movie Brian Banks about its namesake former American footballer who was wrongfully convicted of rape. We talk about the movie and what it was like being shadowed by a famous movie star, as well as some of the heartbreaking cases and the problems with our legal system. We talk as well about the racial inequality in the US, which is an important topic, especially given that this coming Saturday the 20th February is World Day of Social Justice.

I’ve added a little over ten minutes of bonus content for my Patrons. In it, we talk about silly things like accents, and Justin’s family in Derby and Liverpool, as well as some serious stuff relating to race, impartial news channels and some differences between the UK and the US. Find that on Patreon.com/andrewgold. There’s even a teaser for the bonus material in the outro.