Peter Neufeld, co-author of Actual Innocence: Five Days to Execution and Other Dispatches from the Wrongly Convicted(Doubleday, 2000) and an outspoken advocate for the rights of the wrongly accused, will speak at Cornell University Law School Wednesday, Sept. 27.

Neufeld's talk, "Executing the Innocent: Why So Many Wrongful Convictions?" is from 5 to 6:30 p.m. in Myron Taylor Hall's MacDonald Moot Court Room and is free and open to the public.

Neufeld is co-founder and director (with Barry Scheck) of the Innocence Project at Benjamin Cardozo School of Law, Yeshiva University. Like Cornell Law School's Death Penalty Project, a sponsor of Neufeld's visit, the Cardozo Innocence Project relies on volunteer law students and attorneys to review hundreds of cases of people who have been poorly defended or falsely convicted of crimes. Over the last few years the Innocence Project has helped exonerate 40 imprisoned clients by obtaining new DNA tests and other evidence showing their innocence.

Neufeld also has a private practice specializing in criminal defense. He frequently represents clients whose civil rights have been violated and victims of police brutality and domestic violence. Along with co-counsel, he represents Abner Louima, the Haitian American who was shown to have been tortured by police in a New York City precinct bathroom. He represents as well two of the four black and Latino athletes who were wounded by New Jersey state troopers.

Neufeld is co-chair of the National Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers DNA Task Force. In 1995 he was appointed by New York state's governor's office to the Commission on Forensic Science, which regulates all state crime laboratories. Neufeld earned his law degree at New York University School of Law. Along with Scheck, he was named runner up for the National Law Journal 's 1999 Lawyer of the Year for his work leading to the exoneration of innocent people and for helping establish a network of clinical programs to assist indigent inmates.