IPNW
People
Jacqueline McMurtrie
Director
Associate Professor
Jacqueline McMurtrie joined the faculty in 1989 after a career as a public defender. She is the founder and Director of the Innocence Project Northwest (IPNW), a law school clinic providing legal and investigative services to individuals seeking to prove their innocence and working to redress the causes of wrongful convictions. The IPNW’s recent successes include the exonerations of 4 clients who served a combined total of 47 years in prison for crimes they did not commit. Professor McMurtrie is a founding member of the Innocence Network and serves on its Board of Directors. She also co-chairs the Innocence Network Committee on Amicus Policies. See full profile
Anna Tolin
Deputy Director and Visiting Lecturer
Anna Tolin is the Past-President of the Washington Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers. She has 20 years of criminal defense experience in private practice in Seattle, and as a public defender in Mt. Vernon, WA and at the Federal Public Defender for the Western District of Washington. Prior to joining the IPNW as a Supervising Attorney, she was an IPNW supporter and frequent volunteer attorney. Tolin teaches and supervises IPNW students on post-conviction DNA cases, and also handles an independent caseload of active post-conviction DNA cases. Anna is a 1992 graduate of Cornell Law School and has practiced criminal defense in the public and private sector since graduation. See full profile
Lara Zarowsky
Policy Director and Visiting Lecturer
Lara Zarowsky joined the Innocence Project Northwest as its first Policy Staff Attorney in the fall of 2010. She is a part-time lecturer in the IPNW Legislative Advocacy Clinic. Lara is an alumnus of the IPNW Clinic and a 2007 graduate of the University of Washington School of Law. She began her law career in the Washington State Legislature serving as non-partisan staff to the House Judiciary and Public Safety and Emergency Preparedness Committees. Prior to joining the IPNW as a staff attorney, Lara worked as the Policy Attorney for the Integrity of Justice Project, a non-profit organization formed to identify and reform practices that contribute to the conviction of innocent people in Washington State. Lara received her undergraduate degree from the Evergreen State College and worked in the Seattle Municipal Court’s Mental Health Court prior to starting law school. See full profile
Fernanda Torres
Staff Attorney
Fernanda Torres is partially funded by a BJA Wrongful Conviction Review BJA grant. Fernanda has worked as a public defender at The Defender Association and as private counsel at Allen, Hansen & Maybrown. She has extensive post-conviction experience in state and federal court.
She is on the Board of the Washington Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers and was awarded the Volunteer of the Year for her work with the King County Bar Association’s Volunteer Legal Services. Fernanda is a 2003 graduate of New York University School of Law. See full profile
Laura Fox
Paralegal
Laura Fox has a Bachelor of Arts in Political Science from the University of Washington. She received her Paralegal Certificate from Skagit Valley College. Laura completed her internship with the IPNW for the program and has been an active volunteer since that time. Laura’s position is also funded by the NIJ Post-Conviction DNA Testing Grant. See full profile