Dan Bright

Dan was convicted in 1996 of a murder and robbery that took place outside a bar in the Ninth Ward in New Orleans. Dan's trial lawyer did zero investigation of the case and was drunk during trial, and so made a poor job of his defense. It later emerged that the FBI had been in possession of the name of the real killer all along. Despite Freedom of Information Act requests that this information be released, the US government took the perspective that the killer's privacy rights were implicated and declined to reveal the name. It took a lawsuit in federal district court to resolve this impasse, with the judge finding that Dan had the right to this information. The identity of the real killer together with other evidence was presented in the state district court, and eventually Dan's conviction was reversed by the Supreme Court of Louisiana. He was released, much to the relief of not just his family, but also of Kathleen Hawk Norman, the jury foreperson who had convicted him and who later campaigned for his exoneration. Kathleen is now IPNO's Board chair. Dan's case is illustrative of the issues of government accountability that beset wrongful conviction cases and the need for policy reform when it comes to priorities and protecting the innocent.

Dan is now rebuilding his life with the help of IPNO's Exoneree Advocacy Program, which has included working as a mentor to at-risk youth in inner city New Orleans.