Sharra Gardner

Loyola Project for the Innocent

Sharra Gardner, Loyola Project for the Innocent

Sharra is passionate about helping to free the innocent – and she’s matched that passion with outstanding work at LPI over the past two years. She came to Loyola Law School to work on innocence cases and joined the Project for the Innocent in the summer of her 1L year. As the senior student at LPI, Sharra has worked on many of our most complex and difficult cases. During her first year at LPI, her work resulted in the release of one of our longest-standing clients, Bobby Williams, who served over 20 years for a murder he did not commit. This year, Sharra took on the case of a man who has been in prison for over 40 years for a multi-victim murder in the early 1980s. Just organizing and understanding the trial record, at over 18,000 pages, has been a monumental task that Sharra has accomplished with aplomb. After determining that the client is in fact innocent of the crime, Sharra has organized a full investigation of the case. Meanwhile, as an example of Sharra’s commitment to do whatever she can to restore our clients’ freedom, she has also worked tirelessly to draft a clemency petition for the Governor’s office, in case we are unable to develop the evidence we need in court to prove the client’s innocence. Sharra consistently shows her commitment to LPI’s mission: to restore each of our clients to freedom and give them a meaningful chance to reclaim what is left of their lives.