Cases

We focus on Texans with credible innocence claims or severely disproportionate sentences. Our docket includes capital and non-capital cases involving discredited forensics, withheld evidence, coerced statements, juvenile offenders tried as adults, and sentences that vastly exceed a person’s actual role or intent. We pair legal strategy with parole and reentry support so relief, when won, is sustainable.

Join our team

Stand with us for justice.
Your talent can change a life.

Clinton Young

In 2003, Clinton Young was convicted of two 2001 murders in West Texas and sentenced to death. He has consistently maintained his innocence. In September 2021, the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals overturned his conviction and death sentence after it was revealed that a Midland County prosecutor, Ralph Petty, had secretly worked as a paid law clerk for the judges handling Young’s case—an egregious conflict that tainted the proceedings. Young was released on bond in January 2022 pending retrial.

Following new prosecutions, a Midland County jury reconvicted Young in October 2024 for the killing of Samuel Petrey under Texas’ infamous Law of Parties, and he received a life sentence. Young is now pursuing appeals of that judgment. The Clinton Young Foundation continues to support his post-conviction efforts; the current focus is preparing his appellate filings challenging the 2024 wrongful conviction.

Roman Flores

In 2000, Roman Flores was convicted in Harris County for a 1998 Houston robbery-murder and received a life sentence. He has steadfastly maintained his innocence. Flores was prosecuted alongside a 14-year-old co-defendant, who also received a life sentence.

In the summer of 2024, a Texas court reopened Roman’s case on five grounds, including actual innocence, false testimony, and ineffective assistance of counsel. The case is currently with the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals to decide whether to overturn Flores’s conviction and grant him a new trial.

Miguel Martinez

In 1992, Miguel Angel Martinez – then 17 – was convicted in Webb County (Laredo) of capital murder under the infamous Law of Parties for three 1991 murders and sentenced to death, becoming the youngest person on Texas’s death row at the time. In 2002, after a federal judge found the evidence insufficient to prove he posed a “continuing threat,” Martinez’s death sentence was vacated and the State commuted his sentence to life. Notably, Miguel’s co-defendant – who was 16 at the time – received a 41-year sentence and has been described in multiple accounts as the principal actor in the killings.

We support Miguel Angel Martinez in his upcoming parole review. Miguel was sentenced to death at 17 for the 1991 Laredo case; his death sentence was later vacated and converted to life imprisonment, making him parole-eligible under Texas law. Given his youth at the time of the offense, his decades of growth and rehabilitation, and his strong re-entry plan, we believe Miguel has earned a meaningful second chance.

Deterryon Kelly

In 2016, Deterryon Kelly was convicted of capital murder in Marshall, Texas, and sentenced to life in prison. Yet he has always maintained – then and now – that he is innocent. His conviction rests heavily on false medical evidence, rather than clear, reliable proof of a homicide.

We affirm Mr. Kelly’s innocence and are assisting him in his post-conviction proceedings, seeking a full re-examination of the medical findings, independent expert review, and disclosure of all materials necessary to correct the record so he can clear his name.

Brandon Zachary

Brandon Zachary was convicted in Harris County of the 2005 shooting death of a Houston Police Officer and received a sentence of life imprisonment without parole.

Mr. Zachary has maintained his innocence of capital murder. We contend he is innocent, and his case warrants renewed scrutiny of the identification evidence and the circumstances surrounding the offense and investigation. Our goal is to support post-conviction review so that all evidence can be fully and fairly reconsidered.

Michael M.

Michael M. was indicted in 2023 in Montgomery County, Texas for an alleged robbery, and the State initially sought a sentence of 80 years. From the outset, he maintained that he had committed no crime.

After we highlighted exculpatory evidence that had not been accounted for – and demonstrated that no robbery occurred at all – the State agreed to dismiss the case. Michael is innocent, and this dismissal reflects that reality.

Michael H.

Michael H. was convicted of aggravated robbery in Harris County in 2016 and received a life sentence – even though no one was injured or killed during the incident. By stark contrast, his co-defendant received probation and did not spend a single day in jail. This extreme disparity raises serious concerns about proportionality and fairness in sentencing.

Our focus now is on post-conviction relief that highlights the punishment gap, Michael’s traumatic and troubled childhood (including the mitigating factors that were not fully credited), and the non-injury nature of the offense. We are working to secure a meaningful review and a path to a sentence that reflects accountability without abandoning fairness or hope.

Arturo Mendoza

Arturo Mendoza was convicted in 2012 in Midland County of DWI and evading arrest and received two fifty-year sentences – even though no one was injured or harmed. The punishment is shockingly disproportionate to the conduct at issue and stands out as an outlier by any measure of fairness or proportionality.

Worse, we later discovered that the prosecutor on his case was simultaneously working as a paid law clerk for the very judges presiding over the matter – a profound breach of due process and a severe form of prosecutorial and judicial misconduct. We are pursuing post-conviction relief to remedy this injustice, seeking to vacate the tainted judgment and secure a sentence that reflects justice rather than misconduct.

Troy D.

Troy D. was convicted of theft and received a 15-year prison sentence—a punishment that is strikingly disproportionate, especially given that no one was injured and the offense involved no violence. The sentence does not reflect a measured response to the conduct at issue.

We are actively supporting Troy in his upcoming parole review, highlighting his institutional record, programming, family support, and realistic reentry plan. Our goal is a fair outcome that recognizes accountability while also honoring rehabilitation and proportionality.

Troy’s parole was approved on October 8