Tiffin University’s undergraduate chapter of the Ohio Innocence Project (OIP-u) will host speaker Nancy Smith on March 12 at 2 p.m. in the Osceola Theater at the Gillmor Student Center. Smith was wrongfully convicted in 1994 of sexual abuse arising out of her job as a Head Start School bus driver and given a 30-94-year prison sentence. Smith will be joined by Pierce Reed, Program Director for Policy and Engagement for the Ohio Innocence Project. This event is free and open to the public.
Nancy Smith’s case was a product of the national hysteria at the time that existed surrounding sexual abuse allegations in day care settings. The epitome of this hysteria was the McMartin Preschool case, which would become the longest and most expensive series of criminal trials in American history. Smith was released after spending almost 15 years in prison by a judge who ruled there was no credible evidence supporting her conviction. About 18 months later, the Ohio Supreme Court ruled that this judge did not have the proper authority to do that and ordered a new trial.
The prosecution coerced Smith to accept a plea deal whereby she would plead guilty to a lesser charge and not have to risk going back to prison. She was severely traumatized by being away from her children and her parents while she was in prison. Smith could not bear the thought of going back to prison and being separated from her family again and accepted the plea. She was finally exonerated in 2022. Her case is representative of the bigger problem of prosecutors coercing people to plead guilty to crimes they did not commit.
“Nancy’s story highlights the unique issues with wrongful conviction that women face,” said Dr. Steven Hurwitz, Professor Emeritus of Psychology and Criminal Justice at Tiffin University and the faculty advisor for TU’s undergraduate chapter of the Ohio Innocence Project. “Tiffin University’s undergraduate chapter of the Ohio Innocence Project (OIP-u) started in the fall of 2019, and Nancy Smith was our very first speaker. We are very excited to welcome Nancy back to campus and this time as an exoneree.”
Since its inception in 2003, the Ohio Innocence Project has worked to release 42 wrongfully convicted Ohioans, who as a whole, spent over 800 years in prison for crimes they did not commit. This makes it one of the top performing members among the international Innocence Network. OIP continues to devote itself to freeing people who are imprisoned for crimes they did not commit. A team of six lawyers and twenty law students investigate hundreds of claims each year. It is the only Ohio-based nonprofit organization dedicated to freeing innocent persons, as well as educating the public on the flaws of our legal system and the societal issues that lead to such injustices.
In addition, OIP advocates for legislation that reforms the criminal justice system to prevent wrongful convictions. OIP has been involved in major reform efforts, including SB 77, which in 2010 mandated police departments use best practices in witness interrogations, photo arrays, live line ups and in collecting and preserving DNA evidence. More recently, OIP was instrumental in bipartisan efforts to reform the compensation system for people who have been wrongfully convicted and to require Ohio’s law enforcement agents to record custodial interrogations. OIP is now working on bills that would abolish the death penalty, allow courts to consider more DNA evidence, and helping the original crime victims in wrongful conviction cases obtain restitution from the state.
OIP-u:TU is an undergraduate-run extracurricular group, which belongs and reports to the greater OIP umbrella organization. Their mission is to further the goals of the collective, as well as provide educational and awareness-based programming about wrongful convictions and the legal system, both on campus and locally. They are also affiliated with the Tiffin University School of Criminal Justice and Social Sciences. For more information, visit facebook.com/OhioInnocenceProject.
Please contact Dr. Steven Hurwitz, program faculty advisor with any questions at