Clinic Clients

Photo of Larry Mayes
Larry Mayes
Client, Criminal Defense Clinic

Larry Mayes spent 21 years in the Indiana State Prison in Michigan City for a crime he didn’t commit.

Today, thanks to the efforts of Professor Frances Watson Hardy and students in the Criminal Defense Clinic, Mayes is a free man. He was released December 21, 2001, as a result of the granting of a post-conviction petition students filed requesting DNA testing in the case.

Without the DNA testing that exonerated him, Mayes’ 110-year sentence for rape and other crimes would have kept him locked up until he was at least 70 years old. Speaking of Hardy and the students, he says, “I call them my dream team.”

On October 5, 1980, Mayes was accused of robbery and the rape of a woman working at a Hammond, Indiana service station. Hardy and the four students met with Mayes in the spring of 2001, and on October 12 of that year, the evidence was sent for DNA testing. After state police compared the test results with Mayes’ DNA profile, he was excluded as the source. Hardy called him to let him know that he would be out of prison before the holidays.

“When I heard her hollering on the phone, I knew I was going home,” says Mayes. Of his Criminal Defense Clinic dream team, he says, “They all believed in me—they said they would help me, and they saved my life.”

Photo of Dawn Farmer and her child
Dawn Farmer
Client, Civil Practice Clinic
Represented by Jennifer Kutruff, Class of 2002		 “I was apprehensive about having a student represent me. But from day one, Jennifer was just wonderful—she was efficient and knowledgeable, and I was really impressed with her ‘bedside manner.’ Even if there was nothing going on with my case, she’d call to check on me and ask how I was, how my kids were doing. Now that my divorce is final, my kids don’t have to tiptoe around anymore. And it feels so good to have myself back.”
“Quite a few times during my case, I felt close to losing hope. One voice I remember, though, is [supervising professor] Joanne Orr’s—we would get another letter saying ‘your application is denied, you are not disabled,’ and she would say ‘no, you hang in there.’ She gave me confidence when I was so down—I couldn’t have done it without her. Since the clinic students and Joanne helped me win my case, just knowing I have income enough to pay my rent, electric, and other bills—it does help. I believe in miracles . . . and I have a lot more compassion for people who are down and out or needing disability pay.”
Denise Walker
Client, Disability and Civil Practice Clinic