Volunteer Profiles

Elizabeth Margaronis

From November 2010 through to February 2011, I completed a Reprieve internship at the Gulf Region Advocacy Centre (GRACE) in Houston, Texas.  GRACE is an independent, client-centered legal organisation that provides capital defence and humanitarian assistance to indigent defendants facing the death penalty.
 
Throughout my time at GRACE, I was exposed to law as it occurs in the real world. I soon learnt that the law is not merely about legal strategy and prowess.  I began to recognise the human face of the law; at its core, a legal system ultimately has real effects, felt by real people, in their often not-so-perfect lives.
 
I was fortunate enough to arrive in Houston a few weeks before a hearing challenging the constitutionality of the death penalty in Texas. I even had the opportunity to assist with parts of the preparation of an amicus curiae brief submitted to the Court of Criminal Appeals in relation to the challenge. Unfortunately, yet unsurprisingly, the challenge was unsuccessful, but the three months I spent working on demanding defence work taught me that although the outlook for capital punishment abolition may be bleak (especially in Texas), only with perseverance can change begin.

My internship experience was underscored by GRACE's astounding, resilient commitment to justice and human life in the arduous struggle to reclaim integrity in a legal system which clutches capital punishment at its pinnacle. On my penultimate day at GRACE I drove to Huntsville, Texas, and visited my client on death row, an opportunity not many can say that they have had.  It is impossible to adequately capture and explain the effect that such a meeting had on me in so few words. What I can say is that the five hours I spent in the confines of a visitation room, behind thick glass, conversing through a black telephone with a man who has been awaiting execution for longer than I have been alive, will serve as an extraordinary moment in my life. Whilst confronting, it was incredibly humbling and affecting, and will forever remain a constant reminder of the worth of each and every human life.

Throughout my time in Houston I developed great respect and appreciation for all those involved with GRACE, and indeed all those who are unreservedly continuing the fight against capital punishment. Being a part of that movement was extraordinarily rewarding, and exceptionally humbling. Thank you, GRACE, for being the utmost inspiration.

Anna Renou

I worked for an investigator at A Fighting Chance in New Orleans. I arrived in November 2005, only two months after Hurricane Katrina had devastated the city. I arrived to a ghost town. The road, telephone, gas, electricity and postal services were patchy across the city and the office and justice system had yet to adapt to life after Katrina.  We worked on projects uncovering the botched attempts by the authorities to evacuate prisoners from the local prisons before the storm. I traced evacuated prisoners and helped prepare habeas corpus claims for their release. Later, the office settled into a sense of normality and I worked on capital cases.

I was inspired by the Justice Centre's client-centered approach to capital defence and am keen to return to be immersed in capital defence work again. I have aspirations to work in criminal defence in Australia and I am excited to work with inspirational investigators and attorneys at the LCAC. I am keen to visit some of the clients I met during my first stay and see how the office, the city and the justice system has rebuilt itself since Katrina.

[Editor's note: In September 2010, Anna returned to New Orleans to complete a second internship.  She received funding through a Hamer Fellowship.]

Olivia Henderson

I was one of the very first Reprieve Australia volunteers.  As a student, with little practical legal experience but an unshakeable opposition to the death penalty, I flew out in November 2001 to spend three months volunteering at the Louisiana Capital Assistance Centre in New Orleans.

I was responsible for a major review of grand jury proceedings to prove systematic discrimination in the selection of juries. I also travelled to visit and provide humanitarian support to clients on death row. I was inspired by my colleagues, who worked tirelessly for people who society had given up on.

I later worked in intellectual property and commercial law while volunteering at a community legal service. In 2006, I undertook a Masters degree in International Human Rights Law at Utrecht University.  I was later an Australian Youth Ambassador for Development and worked at the Beijing Children's Legal Aid and Research Centre.

After this, I took up a role at an Aboriginal Family Violence Prevention Legal Service in Central Australia, where I travelled to remote indigenous communities to assist survivors of domestic violence and sexual assault.