West Virginia Innocence Project receives $100,000

The law firm Wilson, Frame & Metheney, PLLC has made a $100,000 gift to the Innocence Project at the West Virginia University College of Law.

The funds, paid over five years, will provide operational support for the West Virginia Innocence Project, a law clinic that serves the wrongfully convicted free of charge while providing work experience for student attorneys.

“We are happy to be able to support the Innocence Project’s work in West Virginia,” said attorney Wes Metheney. “For our justice system to function smoothly, the wrongfully convicted need a champion. In the Mountain State, that champion is the West Virginia Innocence Project.”

Third-year law students and law faculty operate the West Virginia Innocence Project. Directed by Professor Valena Beety, the law clinic is dedicated to serving incarcerated persons in state or federal prison in West Virginia by providing free legal representation to individuals with meritorious claims of innocence. The clinic also advocates for reforms designed to avoid wrongful convictions, including improved eyewitness identification and forensic analysis.

“We are deeply grateful for this exceptional gift from Bill and Wes,” said Gregory Bowman, dean of the College of Law. “In today’s state budget climate, private funding is vital to support the college’s ongoing commitment to serving the legal needs of West Virginians.”

Founded in 1922, Wilson, Frame & Metheney, PLLC is a personal injury law firm serving clients in Monongalia, Marion, Harrison, Taylor and Preston Counties in West Virginia, Fayette and Greene Counties in Pennsylvania, and Garrett County in Maryland.

Frame and Metheney are 1982 and 1983 graduates of the WVU College of Law.

Their gift to the West Virginia Innocence Project is part of the WVU A State of Minds: The Campaign for West Virginia’s University, which ends December 31. To date, the campaign has raised more than $1.15 billion for the University.

-WVU-

jj/11/28/17 

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