Meet Amy Richards

Tennessee Innocence Project Board member Amy Richards

Profile by Brooke Wanser

Originally from Jackson, Mississippi, Amy Payne Richards attended Vanderbilt University, then the University of Mississippi’s School of Law, before becoming a labor and employment litigator at Bass Berry & Sims.

She eventually left the legal field to raise her three children and is now a heavily involved community advocate and volunteer.

Richards is the board co-chair of EXPLORE! Community School and East End Prep, charter schools and outreach arms of the Martha O’Bryan Center in East Nashville.

She’s also on the board at Friends Life Community, a nonprofit that provides a safe space for adults with cognitive disabilities to develop their skills and talents.

A common theme runs throughout her work with nonprofit organizations: “All of them deal with communities that I think have historically been disadvantaged,” Richards said. 

As young attorneys, Richards and her husband, Clay, became aware of the innocence movement when he worked with Men of Valor, a prison ministry.

A securities attorney, Mr. Richards was able to connect an imprisoned man who was adamant he hadn’t committed the crime to the Innocence Project in New York.

“The more research we did on the subject, we learned how many people are serving time for crimes they didn’t commit,” Richards said. “We have an incredible justice system, but it isn’t perfect.”

As active members of Christ Presbyterian Church, Richards’ faith also informs her advocacy.

“God is a God of justice, and I think he want us to treat everyone fairly,” she said. “My faith informs my ethics.”

Through her friendship with Stephanie Ditenhafer, a trustee of the Schooner Foundation, and her interest in underserved communities, Richards was asked to join the board of the Tennessee Innocence Project in January of 2020.

Though the innocence movement has trended in recent years, Richards said a lot of people aren’t aware of the negative impacts of the criminal justice system until they are personally affected.

“I don’t think people generally are devoid of empathy. I think they just don’t know,” she said. “I hope it’s changing, the awareness.”

The tide seems to be shifting, as many people who don’t personally know imprisoned people are moved by reports of unfair punishments.

Through podcasts and shows like Dateline, more are becoming aware of injustices that have been occurring for decades. Richards pointed to the Central Park Five and recently renewed interest in the case as something that “woke a lot of people up.”

“I think everybody has a sense of fairness in their core,” she added. “All it takes is envisioning, ‘What if that were me, what if that were my son?’”

Through the Tennessee Innocence Project’s work, Richards said she wants to focus on fixing imperfections in the criminal system. With justice, “You want it to be fairly meted out. That’s what the Tennessee Innocence Project is working to do.”