An amicus brief, or friend of the court brief, is a legal brief filed in a case by a group that has an interest in the subject matter of that case but is not a party to it. The Pennsylvania Innocence Project often files amicus briefs in Pennsylvania state and federal courts. Our amicus practice focuses on improving the fairness of pre-trial and post-conviction criminal proceedings to reduce the risk of wrongful convictions and to increase access to the courts for those who are wrongly convicted.
The Project’s Policy and Litigation Committee makes all decisions regarding amicus briefs. We consider many factors in making our decision about whether to file a brief, including in which court the case is pending, the particular issues being litigated, the timeline for filing the brief, and the potential impact of the brief.
Requests for amicus briefs can be submitted by individuals or organizations and should be e-mailed to
info@painnocence.org. The request should include the names of all parties and counsel involved, the docket number, the due date of the amicus brief, and a brief description of the issues in the case and why you believe amicus support from the Pennsylvania Innocence Project would be helpful. You should attach the decision being appealed and any relevant briefs. Your email should include “Amicus Request” in the subject line. Absent unusual circumstances, we cannot file amicus briefs in cases in which we receive the request less than 45 days before the brief is due.
Issues in which the Project takes a particular interest are:
Examples of amicus briefs that we have filed can be found below
Adam Kuren & Steven Allabaugh v. Luzerne County (Pa. Supreme Court) –
Funding for indigent defense
Educating the Court about the ineffectiveness of post-conviction proceedings to cure trial errors that occur as the result of inadequate representation due to insufficient funding for indigent criminal defense
Commonwealth v. Aaron Bradley (Pa. Supreme Court) –
Remedy for ineffective assistance of post-conviction counsel
Urging the Court to create an effective remedy for violations of the recognized right to effective assistance of a defendant’s first post-conviction counsel.
Commonwealth v. Benjamin Walker (Pa. Supreme Court) –
Admissibility of eyewitness identification experts at trial
Urging the Court to join the majority of other jurisdictions and allow experts to testify at trials regarding how various factors related to human memory can affect the reliability of eyewitness identifications
Commonwealth v. Claude Descardes (Pa. Supreme Court) –
Availability of post-conviction relief
Urging the Court to recognize that individuals who have constitutional claims that could not have been brought while they were in custody should have a legal avenue for review of those claims
Commonwealth v. Daniel J. Dougherty (Pa. Supreme Court) –
Admissibility of Constitutionally-defective first trial decisions
Urging the Court to hold that the constitutional right to present a complete defense includes the right to present expert testimony, particularly about the science of memory, where the testimony meets the requirements of the Rules of Evidence.
Commonwealth v. Dante Brown (Pa. Supreme Court) –
Admissibility of expert testimony about memory and perception
Urging the Court to hold that the constitutional right to present a complete defense includes the right to present expert testimony, particularly about the science of memory, where the testimony meets the requirements of the Rules of Evidence.
Commonwealth v. Elwood Small (Pa. Supreme Court) –
Timeliness of state Post Conviction Relief Act petitions
Urging the Court to do away with the presumption that any prisoner, whether represented or not, has access to public documents and to loosen the interpretation of statutory provisions regarding when post-conviction petitions must be filed
Commonwealth v. John Marshall Payne, III (Pa. Superior Court En Banc) –
Availability of post-conviction DNA testing
Urging the Court to adopt a liberal interpretation of the Pennsylvania statute allowing for post-conviction DNA testing
Commonwealth v. Jose Alicia (Pa. Supreme Court) –
Admissibility of false confession experts at trial
Urging the Court to allow experts to testify at trials about the phenomenon of false confessions
Commonwealth v. Lakisha Marie Ward-Green (Pa. Supreme Court) –
Timeliness of state Post Conviction Relief Act petitions
Urging the Court to hold that when a case requires expert analysis, the time period for filing a Post Conviction Relief Act petition begins when the petitioner, through the exercise of due diligence, receives the expert report that is essential to her claim
Commonwealth v. Rickey McGinnis (Pa. Supreme Court) –
The admissibility of expert testimony regarding the science related to false memories
Urging the Court to adopt a rule that the admission of relevant expert testimony regarding the creation of false memories should be at the trial court’s discretion and governed by the applicable rules of evidence and the
Frye test
Commonwealth v. Robert Lee Duvall (Pa. Supreme Court) –
False confessions
Educating the Court about the phenomenon of false confessions and urging the Court to establish a presumption that confessions obtained through the use of misrepresentations by police during interrogations are per se involuntary
Commonwealth v. Shawn Burton (Pa. Supreme Court) –
Timeliness of state Post Conviction Relief Act petitions
Urging the Court to do away with a presumption that unrepresented prisoners have access to public documents and to loosen the interpretation of statutory provisions regarding when post-conviction petitions must be filed
Donte Rollins v. Nino Tinari (Pa. Supreme Court) –
Timeliness of professional liability suits filed within two years of exoneration
Urging the court to grant review to revisit its opinion in
Bailey v. Tucker, 621 A.2d 108 (Pa. 1993), so that Pennsylvania law can appropriately take into account the extraordinary circumstances of exoneration in the professional liability context.
Han Tak Lee v. Glunt (Third Circuit) –
Actual innocence
Urging the Court to recognize a claim for relief based on actual innocence in federal habeas corpus proceedings
James A. Dennis v. John E. Wetzel (Eastern District of Pennsylvania) –
Eyewitness misidentification
Educating the Court on concerns regarding the accuracy and reliability of eyewitness identification testimony and the role such testimony has played in convicting the actually innocent
Jerry Reeves v. Fayette SCI (Third Circuit) –
Timeliness of federal habeas petitions
Urging the Court to adopt a standard favorable to habeas petitioners in considering what kinds of new evidence of actual innocence courts can consider in determining whether the petitioners have established a “gateway” claim of actual innocence that would then allow the courts to consider the merits of otherwise time-barred constitutional claims