VIDEO: Ohio's Longest-Serving Exoneree Visits the Ohio Innocence Project for the First Time

On June 2, 28 days after his release from serving 29 years in Ohio prisons for a crime he did not commit, Raymond Towler was able for the first time to visit in person the people that helped earn his freedom, the Ohio Innocence Project (OIP) at the University of Cincinnati College of Law.

Towler came to address a group of 20 students who are going through an orientation period prior to working on internships with the OIP this summer. Also in attendance was another exoneree, Robert McClendon, who had spoken to the group the previous day, and members of the OIP staff, including director Mark Godsey.

Earlier story: OIP Helps Ohio's Longest-Serving Wrongfully Convicted Inmate to Freedom

An accomplished artist, Towler brought some of his paintings to the session and talked about his love of art and many other subjects related to how he made it through all that time in prison, how he felt when the OIP became involved in his case and his hopes for the future.

He is the 10th individual that OIP has helped prove innocent and get released from prison since the project began in 2003.

The students will work in two-person teams throughout this summer until the start again of the College of Law's academic year in August. They will be responsible for examining requests from dozens of inmates who are seeking the help of the OIP and will seek to uncover those with the strongest claims of innocence and those for whom the best chances of proving that innocence is still available in evidence associated with their cases.

Among numerous topics covered during orientation are the science behind DNA, eyewitness identification, advanced legal research, habeas petitions and many others.