The Midwest Innocence Project elects R. Pete Smith as President and announces relocation to Plaza’s historic Skelly Building

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

KANSAS CITY, Missouri (October 21, 2013) – The Midwest Innocence Project (MIP) announced that R. Pete Smith was elected President of the not-for-profit corporation. Mr. Smith is the Chairman and Senior Partner of McDowell, Rice, Smith & Buchanan, P.C., where he has worked for 49 years. He graduated from the University of Missouri-Kansas City School of Law, where he was first in his class and Editor-in-Chief of the Law Review. He has been listed in The Best Lawyers in America for over 20 years and in 2010 was honored as Dean of the Trial Bar by the Kansas City Metropolitan Bar Association. Mr. Smith has devoted substantial time to the Midwest Innocence Project serving on its Board of Directors, and was most recently the Honorary Co-Chair of its 2013 “Faces of Innocence” annual fund raising event.

The Midwest Innocence Project is dedicated to the investigation, litigation and exoneration of wrongfully convicted men and women in a six-state region including Missouri, Kansas, Iowa, Nebraska, Oklahoma and Arkansas. MIP provides pro bono investigative and legal assistance to prisoners with persuasive actual innocence claims, whether or not DNA evidence is available. MIP provides training for law students who assist with investigation and litigation of wrongful conviction claims.

The Midwest Innocence Project was founded a decade ago through the University of Missouri-Kansas City School of Law and is part of the National Innocence Network. On December 1, 2013, MIP will relocate to its own offices on the second floor of the Plaza’s historic Skelly Building, 605 W. 47th Street, Kansas City, Mo. 64112.

Contact:
Sherry Newsom 
snewsom@mcdowellrice.com 
(816) 753-5400