Khalil Rushdan was despatched to jail for all times when he was 22.

“I used to be wrongfully convicted of a criminal offense of first-degree homicide,” he stated, “which I didn’t commit.”

Rushdan is now a free man because of the Arizona Justice Mission,
which works to exonerate individuals who have been wrongfully convicted.

He has change into an advocate for prison justice reform and serves as
social justice packages supervisor for Arizona Religion Community, the place he
helps others who’ve been wrongfully accused by way of a number of social and
prison packages.

“After my launch, I made a decision to not simply sit round and look forward to
change, I made a decision to be on the entrance line of change. So I went from the
injustice-impacted to justice-impacting,” Rushdan stated.

Rushdan grew up in a tough house state of affairs. He ran away at age 13 and
began promoting medication. In November 1993, Rushdan, then 19, launched a
drug purchaser to a vendor after which left. The client robbed and killed the
vendor and took the medication, in keeping with Rushdan and the Arizona Justice
Mission.

Rushdan cooperated with the police investigation however didn’t testify
in the course of the trial and was later prosecuted for the homicide. He stated the
cause the prosecutor “charged me with the homicide was as a result of he felt I
let the actual killer go.”

When Rushdan went to trial, he was discovered responsible and sentenced to life
in jail with the potential of parole after 25 years. He served over
15 years in jail and was exonerated and launched in 2012.

A yr previous to his launch, he was contacted by the Arizona Justice
Mission, which helped him deliver his case again to courtroom. A federal
district courtroom granted aid to Rushdan on the declare of vindictive
prosecution.

Rushdan might be talking on the Innocence Community convention, which is Friday and Saturday in Phoenix.

The Innocence Community, which is affiliated with the nationwide
Innocence Mission group, consists of 71 organizations worldwide –
together with the Arizona Justice Mission – which are working to free
harmless folks, stop wrongful convictions and reform the prison
justice system.

The Phoenix convention will permit social employees, legal professionals, coverage
reformers, advocates and exonerated members to come back collectively to interact
and discover new methods to cease wrongful convictions. Of the 843 individuals who
attended final yr’s convention, 203 have been exonerees.

This yr the convention is anticipating over 1,100 attendees.

“Not solely is that this yr the twentieth anniversary of the Innocence Community
convention, however will probably be, by far, the most important we’ve ever had,” stated
Meredith Kennedy, director of the Innocence Community Help Unit.

Greater than a decade after he left jail, Rushdan shouldn’t be solely talking
at conferences however can be serving on the Maricopa County Fee on
Trial Court docket Appointments, which critiques functions for county trial
judges and makes suggestions to the governor. He was appointed to a
public member seat on the fee by Gov. Katie Hobbs, who stated he
would deliver a priceless perspective “as somebody who skilled
challenges with the judicial course of,” in keeping with The Arizona
Republic.