{{Short description|American lawyer for wrongful convictions}} right|thumb|Swarns in 2021 '''Christina Allison Swarns''' is an American lawyer and the executive director of the Innocence Project since September 8, 2020.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Christina Swarns to Become the New Executive Director of the Innocence Project |url=https://innocenceproject.org/christina-swarns-to-become-the-new-executive-director-of-the-innocence-project/ |access-date=2023-12-02 |website=Innocence Project}}</ref> As of 2012, Swarns had seven convicted murderers taken off of death row, one of whom was exonerated, three had their convictions overturned, and three had their sentences vacated.<ref name=":0">Parker, Lonnae O’Neal. “Defense Lawyer Fights Racism in Death Row Cases.” The Washington Post, WP Company, 31 Jan. 2012, www.washingtonpost.com/lifestyle/style/2012/01/31/gIQAlKEPgQ_story.html.</ref> She received national media attention after her U.S. Supreme Court victory in Buck v. Davis, a case that overturned a death sentence on the grounds of unfair racial bias.<ref>Bozorgi, Susan. “Christina Swarns Argues Racial Bias before U.S. Supreme Court.” Women Criminal Defense Attorneys Blog, 27 Nov. 2020, www.womencriminaldefenseattorneys.com/blog/christina-swarns-argues-racial-bias-u-s-supreme-court.</ref>
== Early life and education == Christina grew up in Staten Island with her two sisters Jessica and Rachel.<ref name=":0" /> Her mother, a Caribbean immigrant from the Bahamas, is a retired superintendent for the New York Department of Education.<ref>“Christina Swarns.” ''The Appellate Project'', theappellateproject.org/christina-swarns. Accessed 15 Nov. 2023.</ref> Her father was a real estate broker.<ref name=":0" /> Her parents met while her father was at Howard University and when her mother was a student at what then was the District of Columbia Teachers College.<ref name=":1">{{Cite web |last=Journal |first=A. B. A. |title=Lady of the Last Chance: Lawyer Makes Her Mark Getting Convicts off Death Row |url=https://www.abajournal.com/magazine/article/lady_of_the_last_chance |access-date=2023-12-02 |website=ABA Journal |language=en}}</ref>
Christina attended Howard for her undergraduate education and received a B.A. in Political Science in 1990.<ref name=":1" /> Swarns then went on to receive her J.D. from the University of Pennsylvania Carey Law School in 1993.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Leading the Innocence Project |url=https://www.law.upenn.edu/live/news/15144-leading-the-innocence-project |access-date=2023-12-02 |website=www.law.upenn.edu |language=en}}</ref>
== Early career == Six months after graduating from law school, Swarns began volunteering at the Legal Defense Fund.<ref name=":0" /> Recalling this experience, Swarns said, it was “the first time I felt I saw criminal law in its full capacity and power”.<ref name=":0" /> Swarns also worked with the Legal Aid Society and then the capital unit of the Philadelphia Federal Community Defender’s Office in the mid-1990s.<ref name=":0" /> In 2003, she accepted a position with the Legal Defense Fund.<ref name=":0" /> Before joining the Innocence Project, Swarns held positions as the Director of LDF’s Criminal Justice Project, Litigation Director of the NAACP Legal Defense & Educational Fund, Inc., and the Attorney-in-Charge of the Office of the Appellate Defender.<ref>“Swarns PDF.” White House. [https://web.archive.org/web/20210629164119/https://www.whitehouse.gov/wp-content/uploads/2021/06/Swarns.pdf] </ref>
== Supreme Court trial == In 1997, Duane Buck, an African American man, was convicted of killing his ex-girlfriend, Debra Gardner, and one of her friends, Kenneth Butler, after arriving at her home armed with a rifle and shotgun on July 30, 1995.<ref name=":2">{{Cite web |last=hlr |date=2017-11-10 |title=Buck v. Davis |url=https://harvardlawreview.org/print/vol-131/buck-v-davis/ |access-date=2023-12-03 |website=Harvard Law Review |language=en-US}}</ref><ref>{{Cite news |last=Liptak |first=Adam |date=2017-02-22 |title=Citing Racist Testimony, Justices Call for New Sentencing in Texas Death Penalty Case |language=en-US |work=The New York Times |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2017/02/22/us/politics/duane-buck-texas-death-penalty-case-supreme-court.html |access-date=2023-12-03 |issn=0362-4331}}</ref> Additionally, Buck shot and wounded his stepsister, who was also at Gardener’s home at the time of the incident.<ref name=":2" /> In an ill-attempt to prove that Buck wouldn’t commit acts like these again, his court-appointed attorney, Jerry Guerinot, called two psychologists as expert witnesses.<ref name=":3">Buck may Not Stop here After all. Twenty Years After Duane Buck was Put on Death Row, Partly due to Racist Testimony from a so-Called "Expert Witness," a Texas Court Vacates His Death Sentence. Canadian Broadcasting Corporation, Toronto, 2017. Canadian Newsstream</ref> One of the psychologists, Dr. Walter Quijano, used Buck’s race as a factor in determining the likelihood that he would commit similar actions again.<ref name=":2" /> For these actions, a Texas trial court jury opted to give Buck the death sentence as opposed to a life sentence.<ref name=":3" />
After undergoing many death penalty appeals on the basis of the violation of Buck’s 6th Amendment right to effective assistance of counsel, the case landed in the U.S. Supreme Court and was argued on October 5, 2016, with Christina Swarns as lead counsel.<ref name=":4">{{Cite web |title=15-8049 Buck v. Davis |url=https://www.supremecourt.gov/opinions/16pdf/15-8049_f2ah.pdf}}</ref> On February 22, 2017, the judgment was reversed and remanded in a 6-2 vote with Associate Justices Clarence Thomas and Samuel Alito dissenting.<ref name=":4" /> In reflection of the trial, Swarns said: <blockquote>“I think it's a reminder given the history of race in the United States how that continues to play a powerful role and how it continues to influence decisions. And so that court's going forward have to be vigilant about making sure that kind of evidence is not admitted that it is not going to be tolerated by the United States Supreme Court”.<ref name=":3" /></blockquote>
== Other notable cases ==
=== Nicholas James Yarris case === As an Assistant Federal Defender in the Capital Habeas Unit, Swarns was instrumental in using DNA evidence to exonerate Nick Yarris in 2003 from his convictions for the 1981 abduction, rape and murder of Linda May Craig that had put him on death row in Pennsylvania for over 20 years.<ref>Fuoco, Michael A. "Death Row Release? Dna Test Said to Clear Man Jailed 21 Years: [Region Edition]." Pittsburgh Post - Gazette, 2003, pp. A.1. U.S. Newsstream</ref>
=== Abu-Jamal case === While working with the Legal Defense Fund, Swarns overturned Abu-Jamal's death sentence after the U.S. 3rd Circuit Court of Appeals ruled Abu-Jamal’s jury received flawed instructions and his death sentence was unconstitutional.<ref name=":0" />
== Personal life == Christina has a daughter named Amina, who she adopted from Ethiopia as an infant.<ref name=":0" />
== References == {{reflist}}
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Swarns, Christina}} Category:American lawyers Category:Innocence Project Category:Year of birth missing (living people) Category:Living people Category:African-American Catholics