The defense team behind Ken Marsh counts many people. Among them are:
Lead Counsel:
- Law Offices of Thor Emblem and Tracy Emblem. The Emblem law firm specializes in civil litigation and criminal and civil appellate law since 1989.
Tracy Emblem has represented Ken from January 1996 when his first petition for writ of habeas corpus filed by another attorney was denied. When Emblem first began reviewing Ken's case, she knew the case needed a substantial pro bono time and investment commitment that her law firm could not then fund. Tracy suggested that Ken and Brenda find other pro bono legal assistance in July 1996.
After Ken and Brenda turned to the Public Defenders Office and the California Innocence Project, and other attorneys who could not assist in the extensive investigation required to overcome the hurdles of a successive writ filing, Brenda returned to Tracy in July 2001, pleading to investigate Ken's case. Tracy began her investigation into Phillip's autopsy and the public records. With the pro bono assistance of private investigator Michael Newman of Tactical Investigations, Emblem obtained critical witnessed interviews to overcome the successive petition procedural bar.
By February 2002, Tracy uncovered substantial evidence of Ken's factual innocence. She invited the Innocence Project to assist in whatever they could offer. Tracy, with the help of Brenda, began contacting experts all over the country asking them to evaluate the medical evidence pro bono. The experts they sought had to give more than a perfunctory review of the medical records. They had to examine each and every minute detail of the case and leave no stone unturned.
By November 2002, when the habeas petition was filed in San Diego Superior Court, Tracy Emblem had performed more than 2,000 pro bono hours in investigating Ken's innocence and drafting the legal pleadings. Between March 2003 and March 2004, the habeas discovery was exhaustive. In April 2004, Tracy's husband and law partner, Thor Emblem, began assisting on the case in preparation for an evidentiary hearing. The Traverse was filed on June 7, 2004. On August 4, 2004, the District Attorney agreed that there were grounds to reverse Ken's conviction. On August 10, 2004, Ken came home.
Tracy and Thor Emblem can be contacted at: Emblemlaw.com
California Western School of Law - California Innocence Project:
The California Innocence Project (CIP) is a law school program that operates out of the Institute for Criminal Defense Advocacy of California Western School of Law. Students work alongside practicing criminal defense lawyers to seek the release of wrongfully convicted inmates, in the state of California, who maintain their factual innocence.
The California Innocence Project provides pro bono legal assistance to inmates in cases where DNA testing of evidence or discovery of new evidence can yield conclusive proof of innocence.
