SALT LAKE CITY, Utah, Mar. 16, 2023 (Gephardt Daily) — In the return of its major fundraiser, the Rocky Mountain Innocence Center is aiming high.
The Hilton Salt Lake City Center on March 22 will host the RMIC’s previously annual Hope for the Innocent Breakfast. It was last held in 2019, sidelined since by the Covid pandemic.
“The Florence J. Gillmor Foundation has generously agreed to match donations at the event up to $100,000,” according to a Wednesday press release from Kristy Columbia, center director.
The keynote speaker at the event will be Ricky Kidd, who served 23 years of a life sentence without parole for a murder he did not commit before he was exonerated with the help of the Missouri Innocence Project in 2019.
Mr. Kidd now works as a national public speaker and serves on the executive board of the Innocence Network, of which the RMIC is this region’s only affiliate. Founded in 1999, the Salt Lake City-based RMIC serves Utah, Nevada, and Wyoming.
The non-profit organizations has worked to free eight wrongfully convicted individuals in its history. With a paid staff of four assisted by 50 or more pro bono lawyers, in addition to legislative lobbying, the center screens 15-25 requests for assistance a month with a typical caseload of up to 50 cases, according to its website.
“RMIC advocates for systemic reform to improve the justice system and to create meaningful opportunities for the wrongfully convicted to prove their innocence and to receive compensation for unjust incarceration.”
For more information and details on the March 22 fundraiser, visit the center’s website, https://rminnocence.org
