Justin Brooks, Founder of the CA Innocence Project: Fighting for the Innocent

Aaron and Justin cover a remarkable amount of ground, from Justin’s early days as a clinical teaching fellow at Georgetown (where he and Aaron first crossed paths) to his decision to quit a stable law professorship and launch the California Innocence Project in 1999. Justin explains what compelled him to visit a young woman on death row in Illinois who claimed innocence — and how that single visit changed the trajectory of his life.

They dig into the Brian Banks case — the 17-year-old who took a plea deal for a crime he didn’t commit — and how that story became a Hollywood film with Greg Kinnear playing Justin. The conversation turns to why media (movies, podcasts, docu-series) has been essential to shifting public understanding of wrongful conviction, and how the innocence movement has grown from a handful of organizations worldwide to 66 projects in the U.S. alone.

Justin shares candidly about the emotional cost of this work — the wins that feel incredible and the losses that stack up — and the self-care practices that have kept him going: daily exercise, a lifelong vegetarian diet, HGTV, and a 270-year-old stone cottage in northern England.

Show Links:

• Justin on Instagram and TikTok: @JustinOBrooks
• Justin’s book website: https://youmightgotoprison.com
• California Innocence Project: https://californiainnocenceproject.org
• Latin America innocence resource site: https://:innocente.org
• New book (pre-order on Amazon): Collateral Damage by Justin Brooks and Zach Brooks: https://www.amazon.com/Collateral-Damage-Sacrificing-Liberty-Criminal/dp/0520413776