After numerous phone calls and emails, I finally secured my first interview; perhaps the most ideal interview I could have possibly secured. Anna Vasquez went through a nightmare. At age 19 her and her three friends were accused and convicted of a heinous crime that they did not commit and would serve 13 (Anna Vasquez) and 15 (the three other women) years in prison before finally being exonerated in 2016. The documentary entitled “Southwest of Salem” tells this story. Ms. Vasquez now works as the Director of Outreach and Education for the Innocence Project of Texas where she raises awareness for the cause and works to bring a real first-hand perspective to address the importance of the issue of wrongful convictions. Being able to speak to Ms. Vasquez and hearing about her journey as well as hearing about what can be done to help make progress in the criminal justice system to make change was hugely pertinent and exceptionally important to my research. Additionally, I completed the Original Work Proposal and have settled on a website to house data, stories of exonerations and the wrongfully convicted, factors that lead to wrongful convictions, possible reformative measures, organizations that help with this, and possible additional sections. This will be a way for me to contribute to the awareness and education of as many people as possible that was emphasized by Ms. Vasquez during our interview.
Goals for the coming week
This week I have a second interview scheduled with Mr. Chase Baumgartner in Austin. After speaking with Ms. Vasquez I learned so much from the perspective of someone who went through the tragedy of being convicted and serving while innocent and now Mr. Baumgartner will serve as an opportunity to learn about what can be done from a lawyer's perspective to help push this change forward. Additionally, I plan to work on my research speech which will be on November 1st. This will be a compilation of my research and the work I am currently doing.
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