Wrongful Convictions: Real Stories from Real People
Special Guests: Nancy Vollertsen and Julie Baumer
Lawrence K. Hellman is dean emeritus and professor at Oklahoma City University School of Law. A native Oklahoman, his bachelor’s degree was earned at Washington & Lee University, and he holds M.B.A. and J.D. degrees from Northwestern University. After law school, he worked four years with the Antitrust Division of the U.S. Department of Justice before entering academia on the law faculty of Washington and Lee University. He joined the law faculty of Oklahoma City University in 1977 and served as dean from 1998 to 2011. Since stepping down as dean, he remains on OCU’s law faculty, teaching legal ethics and civil procedure, directing the Center for International Programs , and serving as executive director of the Oklahoma Innocence Project, which he founded while dean.
The Oklahoma Innocence Project pursues the exoneration of innocent people who wrongfully have been sent to prison in Oklahoma. Today’s program, “The Reality of Wrongful Convictions: Real Stories from Real People,” will feature comments from two women who have experienced wrongful convictions. Nancy Vollertson’s brother, Greg Wilhoit, spent 6 years on Oklahoma’s death row for a crime he did not commit. Julie Baumer spent 5 years in a Michigan Prison for a crime she did not commit.