A T-Shirt for a Good Cause

Eric Volz, an American who spent a year in a Nicaraguan prison for a murder he didn't commit before he was freed in 2007, is back in the U.S. but still fighting his wrongful conviction. And he's enlisting our help in a very worthy project.

Volz was convicted of the 2006 murder of an ex-girlfriend despite convincing evidence that he was two hours away at the time of the crime.  He was freed after a year when his conviction was overturned, but the Nicaraguan government has continued to appeal the decision and seek his return to prison.

Now Volz is stepping up efforts to clear his name. He and supporters recently began selling T-shirts (one of the two designs by Adam Paredes is above left) to support efforts to build a new website where Volz can post original documents from the case and mount his defense in the public eye. They're beautiful shirts for a good cause. Need a holiday gift? Buy one here.

I asked Volz today why he's launching this effort and what his goals are.

"This experience of being falsely accused and imprisoned has started to talk back to me," he said. "The truth about Doris Jimenez’s murder has been the subject of heated debate in many circles since the moment the crime was made public. The challenge has always been how to shape the story as engrossing narrative that people will take time to familiarize themselves with, while also intending that it will serve as a piece of evidence; an insider’s investigative report of an unsolved murder and the ongoing legal case surrounding it. This website is my attempt at a solution. "

Clearly, I'm an advocate of the power of the web to shed light on injustices like the one suffered by Eric Volz. That's one of my goals with this blog.

I'm a believer that websites built by activists can provide the documentation needed for media, lawyers and concerned members of the public to take action on a case. As a blogger, I'm often hindered in throwing my support behind a case because the primary documents and the facts aren't readily accessible and I don't have time to begin the work of obtaining them. It's a sad truth of a quick-moving medium, I often don't have time to do the digging I'd like to do. Cases that provide clear documentation make coverage in a forum like this one possible.

Sites seeking justice in the cases of Efren Paredes Jr., Julio Maldonado and many, many others do a great job of making documents available for activists to access. The facts in these cases are key. I often advise families of people seeking to fight injustice to post everything they can on the web -- the more open and clear you are about your story, the better the chance advocates will join in your fight.

Volz is also working on a book about his case, and will continue his fight to get the facts out. But he hopes to put his injustice behind him and begin working on the cases of others. Opportunities for people who have suffered injustices -- and their families -- to post critical information online are limited, and efforts like this one by Volz deserve our support. They're the best hope on the path to the development of a central hub where the wrongfully convicted and victims of injustice can connect with advocates and get their stories out.