Freedom after 30 years!

Tennessee Innocence Project legal team with client and exoneree Claude Garrett.

NASHVILLE, Tenn. - (May 10, 2022) - The Tennessee Innocence Project, a non-profit law firm, as well as the Office of the Federal Public Defender, represented Claude Garrett in his postconviction appeal in Davidson County Criminal Court. After asserting his innocence for more than 30 years, we are pleased that the Court has overturned Mr. Garrett’s conviction for murder resulting from a 1992 house fire. In 2021, the Conviction Review Unit of the Davidson County District Attorney’s Office reviewed the scientific evidence provided by Mr. Garrett’s legal team and conducted its own independent investigation. Both parties then petitioned the Court to grant relief to Mr. Garrett because his conviction was based on erroneous expert testimony. That erroneous testimony – which asserted the fire in this case was an act of arson – lacked any scientific foundation. Attorneys proved at a hearing, and the Court agreed, that under current fire science standards, a reasonable investigator could not possibly conclude the evidence showed the fire was intentionally set. Mr. Garrett is grateful for the Conviction Review Unit’s attention to his case and for the vigorous support he has received from advocates and family over the decades.