Jim is a life-long public interest and capital defense attorney who has spent the last twenty-five years as an assistant federal defender with the Philadelphia Capital Habeas Unit. Thirty of his thirty-five years of practice have been devoted solely to capital defense.

Jessica Auletta

DIRECTOR OF INTAKE AND INVESTIGATIONS

James Moreno Esq.

INTERIM EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR

Jessica serves as the Director of Case Intake and Investigations at Innocence Project Delaware. In her role, she both evaluates complex innocence claims for potential representation by Innocence Project Delaware and manages case investigation.

  • Prior to joining our team, Jessica worked at The Pew Charitable Trusts in Washington, DC as part of the advocacy team with the Public Safety Performance Project where she focused on national criminal and juvenile justice policy reform, including reforming jails, prisons, and community supervision systems. While in DC, Jessica volunteered with the Mid-Atlantic Innocence Project as part of their case screening committee. Jessica received her J.D. with Pro Bono Honors from Suffolk University Law School in 2017, where she was an innocence clinic student and legal extern with the New England Innocence Project. Jessica holds her B.S. in Criminology & Criminal Justice, Law & Policy, and Psychology from Northeastern University.

  • Jim has represented death-sentenced individuals in eleven states in both state and federal court. In this capacity, Jim has represented several wrongly convicted individuals, and working in tandem with his colleagues, has helped free four such people.

    Jim has been on the Board of the Innocence Project Delaware since its inception. Jim and his family live in the Lehigh Valley of Pennsylvania.

  • He represented clients facing a wide range of charges, from drug possession to rape and attempted murder, in all aspects of litigation, including pretrial motions, trial, sentencing, and violations of probation. Before joining the Defender, Dan spent one year as an assistant defender at the State Appellate Defender Office in Detroit.

    Dan is a graduate of the University of Michigan Law School, where he investigated and litigated claims of actual innocence as a student in the Michigan Innocence Clinic. He has an undergraduate degree from the University of Pittsburgh.

Sophia Block is excited to return to her home state to work with Innocence Project Delaware as the Community Engagement Manager. She looks forward to bringing her enthusiasm for working in the exoneration space to this new position.


  • Sophia is a graduate of Brown University who concentrated in Sociology and International and Public Affairs. She conducted original research on the criminalization of disability and the intersection of racism and ableism in policing. She also worked as a research assistant with Dr. Nicole Gonzalez Van Cleve, studying false confessions and wrongful convictions of Black juveniles. Prior to joining Innocence Project Delaware in this role, she was an intern with the Project, where she assisted in case review and evaluation.

Daniel Signs

STAFF ATTORNEY

Dan joins Innocence Project Delaware as our first staff attorney. Prior to joining the Project, he was a public defender for 10 years at the Defender Association of Philadelphia. At the Defender Association, Dan served in several units, including the Major Trials Unit and the Juvenile Special Defense Unit.

Sophia Block

COMMUNITY ENGAGEMENT MANAGER

Board of Directors

  • Judy Ritter has been a professor at Delaware Law School since 1994. She was the founding director of the school’s Criminal Defense Clinic. She is the Director of the Taishoff Advocacy, Technology and Public Service Institute. She teaches Criminal Law, Criminal Procedure Evidence and Federal Habeas Corpus.

    Professor Ritter began her legal career as a public defender in New York where she tried felony and misdemeanor cases. Professor Ritter speaks and writes on a number of criminal procedure issues including: the confrontation clause; federal habeas corpus; and jury instructions. She earned a B.A. from the State University of New York at Buffalo and her J.D. from the Georgetown University Law Center.

  • Herbert W. Mondros is Special Counsel at the Wilmington, Delaware firm of Rigrodsky Law, P.A.. Herb is a graduate of Fairleigh Dickinson University and graduated magna cum laude from Tulane University School of Law, where he served as a member of the Tulane Law Review, the Tulane Environmental Law Clinic, and was awarded the Order of the Coif. After graduating law school, Herb entered the U.S. Department of Justice through the Honors Program where he served as a Trial Attorney in the Environmental Crimes Section and Assistant U.S. Attorney and then as Chief Appellate Counsel for the U.S. Attorney for the Eastern District of Louisiana. Presently, Herb represents plaintiffs and defendants in corporate and commercial civil litigation.

    Herb also has an active pro bono practice, representing defendants in innocence cases and plaintiffs in prisoner civil rights cases, and is most proud of working with defense teams that exonerated and freed two innocent men who had been wrongfully convicted sentenced to death, and collectively served more than thirty years on Delaware’s death row, and two other innocent men who collectively served more than 45 years in Delaware prisons for crimes they did not commit. After Delaware's death penalty was struck down in 2016, Herb and others founded the Delaware Innocence Project.

  • Rebecca is an Adjunct Professor of Law at the University of Dayton School of Law, where she created and teaches the Appellate Practice & Procedure course in the Hybrid JD Program. She is also an Adjunct Professor at Delaware Law School – Widener University in Wilmington, Delaware, where she teaches (or has taught): Legal Methods I, Legal Methods II, Legal Methods III – Advanced Appellate Advocacy; Professional Responsibility; Bar Success (grader & co-teacher); and Sales & Leases. Additionally, Rebecca serves as the Co-Advisor of the Moot Court Honor Society, and she coaches or co-coaches one or two interscholastic teams each year. Rebecca began her teaching career at Temple University James E. Beasley School of Law, first as an Adjunct Professor and then as an Honorable Abraham L. Freedman Fellow & Lecturer in Law.

    Prior to embarking on her teaching career, Rebecca was in private practice in Wilmington, Delaware where she worked for the law firms of Richards, Layton & Finger, P.A. and Potter Anderson & Corroon L.L.P. While with Richards, Rebecca was a member of the bankruptcy group where she represented debtors and creditors in chapter 11 bankruptcy proceedings. While with Potter, Rebecca was a member of the corporate litigation group where she represented various corporations and shareholders in both litigation and transactional matters.

    Rebecca earned her bachelor’s degree in Psychology from the University of Delaware, graduating magna cum laude. She earned her law degree from Temple University James E. Beasley School of Law, where she served first as a Staff Member and then as an Executive Editor of the Temple Political & Civil Rights Law Review. During her third year of law school, Rebecca was selected for the Federal Judicial Clerkship Clinic, and she worked in the chambers of The Honorable Stephen M. Orlofsky (now retired) of the United States District Court for the District of New Jersey.

    Rebecca resides in Delaware County, Pennsylvania. She is a board member of Innocence Delaware, which works to release innocent incarcerated individuals from Delaware prisons, provide post-exoneration support, and helps to educate the public about criminal justice reform. In her free time, Rebecca enjoys traveling, hiking, kick boxing, and reading.

  • Alice is an Associate Professor and Associate Dean of Students at Delaware Law. Professor Eakin received a B.A. in Political Science/Honors from Temple University in 1984 and a J.D. from Temple University School of Law in 1987. Following graduation from law school, Professor Eakin was an Assistant Public Defender in Kansas City, Missouri, and in 1989 became a Trial Team Leader in that office. After returning east in 1990, she worked at the Delaware Criminal Justice Council and clerked for Judge Carl Goldstein of the Delaware Superior Court. Professor Eakin was a full-time Legal Methods instructor at Widener from 1993 to 1996, teaching Legal Methods I, II, and a seminar course entitled Selected Topics in Criminal Defense. In 1996 she joined the law school’s administration, serving as Assistant Dean for Career Development from 1997- 2000. Professor Eakin taught as an adjunct professor from 2002 - 2007 and then returned to the fulltime faculty in 2007 as an Assistant Legal Methods Professor and Co-Director of the Academic Success Program. Professor Eakin also serves as an Academic Advisor in the Office of Student Affairs. Professor Eakin served on the Board of Directors for the American Civil Liberties Union of Delaware from 2000 – 2017, and served as the Affiliate Affirmative Action Officer for that organization from 2007 - 2014. She currently serves on the Board of Directors for Common Cause Delaware and Innocence Delaware.

  • Widener University, Department of Psychology Co-Chair

  • Young Conaway

  • Alan Stone is a partner in the New York office of Milbank LLP and a member of the firm’s Litigation & Arbitration Group.

    Mr. Stone’s practice focuses on corporate and business litigation, and more specifically on cases involving complex business valuation disputes. He also works on non-litigation matters that involve a variety of corporate governance and Delaware law issues, including advising corporate boards of directors and special committees with respect to transactional and litigation issues. Mr. Stone also frequently represents boards and committees in conducting internal and independent investigations.

    A prominent figure in the Delaware legal community for more than 35 years, Mr. Stone has represented directors, officers and corporate entities in actions challenging their exercise of fiduciary duties in the context of mergers, going private transactions and other transactions involving controlling or majority stockholders, as well as in derivative litigation. Representing clients across a broad range of industries, Mr. Stone has tried many cases in a variety of tribunals across the country.

    Mr. Stone is also active in pro bono matters, and in particular matters involving persons who are wrongfully convicted or subject to illegal or inappropriate sentences.

  • Executive Director, Delaware Center for Justice

  • Stacie has lived and worked in Sussex County Delaware her entire life, with nearly 20 years of public service and has previously served as the Community Liaison for Governor John Carney.

    Her passion for making positive changes in the community is evident through her on going service and commitment to various boards which include, The Bryan Allen Stevenson School of Excellence, Innocence Delaware, Delaware’s Foster Grandparents Advisory Committee, and the National Coalition of 100 Black Women. Stacie’s passion and involvement with the community is an intricate part of her life. She believes strongly in the importance of community engagement and philanthropy. Stacie also serves as the President of the Sussex County Women’s Democratic Club and has previously mentored school- aged children at Big Brothers Big Sisters.

    Stacie recently launched her very own consulting business, Burton Consulting. She remains highly motived and continues to increase her expertise, education, and community involvement. Stacie graduated from Wilmington University in 2015, with a Master of Science degree in Public Administration and completed her second master’s degree in Organizational Leadership in May 2017.

    Stacie believes in working hard and has a great passion and determination for making communities better by serving the public, mentoring youth, and remaining active on various boards and committees. Stacie strongly believes that greatness is contagious and is willing to learn more and help lead others to becoming greater and more civically involved.

  • Julie P. Devlin, Esquire is currently the Chief of Staff with the Delaware Division of Services for Aging and Adults with Physical Disabilities (DSAAPD). There, she works to develop policies and practices to support Delaware’s aging and disability communities. Prior to joining DSAAPD, Ms. Devlin served as the Program Coordinator of the Delaware Youth Opportunities Initiative (DYOI) at the Delaware Center for Justice. Ms. Devlin helped to advance better services and supports for youth aging out of the foster care system in Delaware, working on several key pieces of legislation and honored at a White House Foster Care Symposium for her efforts. She has experience working on capital punishment issues, having spent her law school internships at the American Bar Association and the Innocence Project of Florida. In 2010, she was honored to receive the Delaware Governor’s Award in National Service for her work with the Project for Older Prisoners (POPs). Ms. Devlin is a graduate of the Pennsylvania State University and the Widener University Delaware Law School, where she served as an editor of the Widener Law Review.

  • Nitika Gupta Fiorella focuses her practice on complex patent litigation, spanning a wide range of technologies. Nitika has managed cases involving medical devices, pharmaceuticals (including Hatch-Waxman litigation), oil and gas technology, software, automotive design and innovation, and polymer chemistry.

    Nitika has extensive courtroom experience, including experience examining witnesses and arguing jury instructions at trial, arguing claim construction, summary judgment, and post-trial motions. In addition to her District Court experience, Nitika has considerable experience representing clients in post-grant proceedings, and has appeared in matters before the U.S. International Trade Commission.

    Nitika also has a robust appellate practice – she has led or worked on over three dozen appeals and has argued multiple times before the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit. She has secured appellate wins for a number of clients in various fields, most recently securing a rare reversal of a Patent & Trademark Appeal Board unpatentability decision.

    Nitika is consistently recognized for her work. Her recent accolades include being recognized as one of the top 40 Delaware professionals under 40 years old by the Delaware Business Times (2021) and one of the top “40 Under 40” professionals for the entire Philadelphia region by the Philadelphia Business Journal (2021). She was also recognized as one of the “Women Worth Watching in STEM,” by the Profiles in Diversity Journal (2021) and as one of the “Ones to Watch” by the Best Lawyers in America (2022). According to clients, Nitika is a “superstar” and her “technical ability, her writing and her critical thinking is just superb.”

    Nitika rejoined the firm in 2016 after serving as a law clerk for the Honorable Kent A. Jordan of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit (2014 – 2015) and for the Honorable Chief Judge Sharon Prost of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit (2015 – 2016). Prior to attending law school at New York University, Nitika attended the University of Delaware as a Eugene DuPont Scholar, where she obtained dual degrees in chemical engineering and political science. She is also fluent in Hindi.

  • Lauren O’Neill Shermer, Ph.D. is a Professor of Criminal Justice at Widener University. She received her B.S. in Law and Justice from The College of New Jersey, and her M.A. and Ph.D. degrees in Criminology and Criminal Justice at University of Maryland, College Park. She teaches a wide variety of courses at the undergraduate and graduate levels including Introduction to Criminal Justice, Criminology, Understanding Divergent Lives, Nature of Crime, Research Methods, Crime as a Public Health Crisis, and Advocacy for Justice Issues. Her research interests include prisoner reentry, wrongful convictions, and crime over the life course. Prior to her academic career she was a criminal defense investigator and conducted background investigations for the federal government. Lauren joined the Innocence Project Delaware Board of Directors in June 2021.

  • Richard Morse is Senior Counsel at Community Legal Aid Society, Inc., where he is responsible for impact litigation and mentoring younger lawyers. He was legal director of the ACLU of Delaware from 2010 to 2017, and a trial lawyer at Young Conaway Stargatt & Taylor from 1975 to 2010.

    He has been president of Delaware Volunteer Legal Services and the Delaware Trial Lawyers Association, General Chair of the Combined Campaign for Justice, and Coordinator of the Federal Civil Panel. He twice received the U.S. District Court’s Caleb R. Layton III Service Award and is a recipient of the DSBA Christopher W. White Distinguished Access to Justice Award for Service to Children.

    He is a graduate of Harvard Law School and Cornell University.

  • Marlow Wright brings a powerful perspective to the work of Innocence Project Delaware. Having served decades in prison for a crime he did not commit on a conviction that was ultimately reversed, Marlow knows just how many innocent people are incarcerated and in need of a lawyer to fight for them. Marlow has also successfully navigated the difficult reentry process that those who are fortunate enough to prevail on their legal claims must undertake. He currently works in construction and acts as a community activist to help others who have been wrongfully convicted.

  • University of Delaware Director, Institute of Energy Conversion

    Department of Materials Science and Engineering

How to Help?

Delaware is a small state with a big wrongful conviction problem. Innocence Project Delaware is looking to change that.

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