Tracie Brown is a former Houston Police officer. I observed a white female police officer choke and beat a black female in the head with a flashlight. I was the only officer willing to testify against the police department. Because I wouldn’t change my story I was retaliated against by some in the police department. I was threatened by the district attorney's office and the city attorney. I was falsely accused of theft and attempted theft. I was wrongly convicted and was given 15 years for theft and 16 years for attempted theft. I was also given a 460 thousand bond, served with a no-knock warrant, and experienced prosecutorial misconduct. I served 4 years before being paroled in 2014. I am a former organizer for Pure Justice. My current purpose is founder of the nonprofit organization From Badge To Bars To Purpose.

In 1997, Christopher Scott was wrongfully convicted of capital murder as a result of faulty eyewitness identification. Scott was exonerated in 2009, based on another man’s detailed confession – the first non-DNA case. After his release, Scott founded the House of Renewed Hope, a non-profit organization whose goal is to investigate individuals claiming actual innocence.

In 1991, Maria Shepherd was 21 years of age when she was charged in connection with her stepdaughter’s death. On the strength of the evidence of former and disgraced pathologist,

Charles Smith, Maria, in desperation to save her family, entered a false guilty plea in 1992 and was wrongly convicted of manslaughter.

It would take 25 years for Maria to clear her name. On February 29, 2016, the late Honorable Justice Marc Rosenberg would overturn her conviction. Later that year, Maria would successfully be licensed by the Law Society of Ontario as a Paralegal. Maria went on to open her paralegal firm, Shepherd Advocacy & Litigation.

In 2018, Maria became a Co-Director on the Board of Innocence Canada, formerly the Association In Defense of the Wrongly Convicted (the same organization that provided support to Maria, with James Lockyer as her lead Appellate Counsel).

Today, Maria continues to be a staunch advocate against wrongful convictions and sheds light on its devastating domino effects. As part of Maria’s work, she advocates for a more in-depth plea inquiry process and for a much more careful approach to qualifying “experts” and acceptance of their evidence.

Maria has spoken at events in both Canada and the United States.