The Colgate University Innocence Club hosted criminal defense and civil rights attorney Laurie Jubelirer and paralegal for the Pennsylvania Innocence Project Yahya Moore on Wednesday, March 26. Moore was wrongfully convicted and served 27 years in prison for a crime he did not commit.
Jubelirer began with a brief autobiography and segued into a discussion of Philadelphia’s current criminal justice system. She has been practicing at her own firm for 12 years and is an active member of multiple bar associations. She publishes her clients’ experiences, like those of Moore, to raise awareness.
“I represent clients who find wrongful convictions — when police don’t turn over all of the evidence and have something that would have helped the client — and we discover [the evidence] years and sometimes decades later,” Jubelirer said. “They don’t treat them like humans. It’s not a system of treating and correcting. It makes them worse off.”
Senior Naomi Kraemer, president of the Colgate Innocence Club, connected with Jubelirer during her sophomore year.
“She quickly became a mentor for me in my passion for criminal law and justice,” Kraemer said.
Kraemer reached out to Jubelirer, asking her if she would be willing to speak to the club about her experience with the system as well as her clients’ experiences.
“[Jubelirer] is so passionate about writing and speaking about our system’s deep flaws and ongoing injustices. [Jubelirer] soon connected me with [Moore] as well, who offered a deeply personal and moving reflection about wrongful convictions. I felt hosting both of them would be a great collaboration for our club,” Kraemer said.
Moore followed Jubelirer by describing his own life story. After being wrongfully arrested, Moore was handcuffed to a steel chair for three days with no food, water or bathroom access in the police’s attempt to get him to sign a confession.
“[Moore]’s story was especially pertinent and impactful. Specifically, the way he described his treatment through his conviction process, how the police — who are meant to enforce the law — violated his rights, something [Moore] did not know how to fight at the time,” Kraemer said.
Moore’s appointed defense attorney, whom he met on the day of his first court appearance, convinced him to refuse his right to a jury trial and his right to testify.
“People from Philadelphia were getting locked up, arrested and convicted [at the highest rate] as it’s ever been, so much so that they were building new prisons almost every other year. The people who were in these prisons, most of them were from Philadelphia — people who look like me, people who were poor and people who were from underprivileged communities,” Moore said.
After spending 27 years incarcerated — 22 of those studying law as he litigated his own case — Moore was released in 2023. Moore now aims to help his peers through his non-profit and his work as a paralegal for the Pennsylvania Innocence Project.
“Law is a social construct, which means that it is made by the people, that it is enforced by the people and that it is practiced by the people,” Moore said. “The law is only [going to] be as good as we are.”
Following Jubelirer and Moore’s presentation, Kraemer facilitated a brief Q&A session.
“Most important and resonant was [Moore]’s plea for our future lawyers — some of whom may very well be our students listening — to keep their humanity. Keep their humanity by recognizing that those who go through the system are real people who may have made bad choices. To understand that a person who is presumed innocent until proven guilty and may even be innocent deserves respect, deserves a fair trial and deserves their rights to be upheld,” Kraemer said.
When asked about what she hopes the attendees take away from this discussion, Jubelirer concluded on an inspirational note.
“You are our future, and your voice matters. Fight for what you believe in, fight for justice against the powerful other voices that have authority and power. But use your voice for good, for change, and make a difference in people’s lives and our criminal justice system, for those of you interested,” Jubelirer said. “Just remember that the people inside every single one of them are human beings.”
The Colgate Innocence Club will be unpacking Jim McCloskey and John Grisham’s new novel, “Framed: Astonishing True Stories of Wrongful Convictions,” in collaboration with students from Dart Colegrove Commons on April 16.
