From Exonerated to Attorney and Advocate feat. Jeffrey Deskovic
Jeffrey Deskovic was wrongfully convicted as a teenager and spent 16 years in prison before DNA evidence led to his exoneration. Today, he is an attorney, advocate, and founder of the Jeffrey Deskovic Foundation for Justice. In this episode, Jeffrey shares how he maintained hope, why he went to law school, and how he's using his legal career to help free others and fight for criminal justice reform.
About This Episode
Background
Jeffrey Deskovic was 16 when he was falsely accused of murder and rape and 17 when he entered a maximum-security prison. Despite a pretrial DNA test that did not match him, Jeffrey says a coerced false confession, prosecutorial misconduct, misconduct by the medical examiner, and ineffective representation contributed to his wrongful conviction. He received a sentence of 15 years to life and ultimately spent 16 years incarcerated before further DNA testing identified the actual perpetrator.
“I just thought I have to hold on for a year or two till the next appeal was gonna be decided, which I was confident I was gonna win and go home because I knew I was innocent," shares Jeffrey Deskovic on You Are A Lawyer.
During those years, Jeffrey continued educating himself, studying law, following other exoneration cases, and pursuing every avenue he could find to prove his innocence. After his exoneration, he channelled his experience into advocacy instead of allowing anger to consume the rest of his life. That work eventually led him to establish the Jeffrey Deskovic Foundation for Justice, which works to free wrongfully convicted people and advocate for policy reforms designed to prevent future wrongful convictions.
Why Law School
Becoming an attorney was actually a dream Jeffrey had before his wrongful conviction, although he originally imagined a very different kind of legal career. After his exoneration, he spent years advocating, writing, speaking, earning his bachelor's and master's degrees, and building his foundation. Eventually, however, sitting in the front row of the courtroom while other attorneys argued innocence cases wasn't enough. He wanted to participate directly.
“At some point I got frustrated with sitting in the front row of the courtroom. I wanted to be able to sit at the defense table, represent some of the clients, make some of the arguments," explains Jeffrey Deskovic on Episode 263 of You Are a Lawyer.
Getting there required persistence. Jeffrey initially struggled with the LSAT and wasn't admitted to law school. He earned a master's degree from John Jay College of Criminal Justice, reapplied, and was eventually admitted to both Roger Williams University School of Law and Pace Law School. He chose Pace, attended full time, and brought a perspective into the classroom that few law students could ever have, combining academic study with firsthand experience of the criminal justice system.
What Can You Do with a Law Degree
Jeffrey now uses his law degree almost exclusively in connection with innocence work. Through his nonprofit, he works to exonerate wrongfully convicted people, while his law firm handles civil litigation to pursue compensation after exoneration. His advocacy also extends into legislative reform, public education, writing, speaking, and collaborations with organizations working on parole reform, interrogation practices, prosecutorial accountability, and exoneree compensation.
“I guess in a way I did get to still live the dream just through a more circuit route than what I would have imagined," shares Jeffrey Deskovic on Episode 263 of You Are a Lawyer.
Jeffrey's path demonstrates just how differently a legal career can unfold from the one someone originally imagined. The teenager who wanted to become an attorney ultimately did become one, but only after experiencing the legal system from a perspective he never could have anticipated. Today, he uses both his lived experience and legal education to challenge the same kinds of failures that contributed to his own wrongful conviction.
Lawyer Side Hustles
Jeffrey's work extends far beyond representing clients in court. He has written more than 200 articles, speaks nationally and internationally, participates in policy advocacy, works with criminal justice organizations, operates a nonprofit foundation, and uses media appearances to educate the public about wrongful convictions. For Jeffrey, public education is directly connected to changing the systems that allow wrongful convictions to happen.
“The public education as the first step towards legislative changes is what the philosophy is, which is the same reason why I speak, the same reason why I do the interviews,” Jeffrey Deskovic expresses in Episode 263 of You Are a Lawyer.
Writing has also become a creative outlet for Jeffrey. He describes building an article almost like creating a piece of art, deciding what arguments to make, how to transition between them, and how to combine statistics, case examples, and his own experiences. That work allows his advocacy to reach people he may never meet, including incarcerated people who have later told him that simply knowing his story helped them continue fighting.
About Jeffrey Deskovic
Learn more about Jeffrey.
Jeffrey is licensed in the state of New York.
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