Forensic Justice Project executive director and attorney Janis C. Puracal describes the fight to free her brother, Jason Puracal, as “two years of pure hell” after he almost died in Nicaragua’s notorious La Modelo prison. In 2011, Jason was sentenced to 22 years on drug trafficking and money laundering charges. But Puracal says there was no evidence to support his conviction. Finally, in September 2012, an appeals court overturned Jason’s conviction, and he flew back to his family in the United States. It was then that Puracal realized her work had just begun. After a stint at the Oregon Innocence Project, Puracal started the Portland, Oregon-based Forensic Justice Project in 2018. Like the Innocence Project, Puracal helps people who are trying to prove their innocence after a conviction. But she also works with clients pretrial to reveal any flawed or misleading forensic evidence to prevent a conviction in the first place. Click here to read this Legal Rebel’s full bio.