NCIP Staff

Kathleen M. Ridolfi, Director, Professor of Law

Kathleen "Cookie" Ridolfi is a tenured member of the Santa Clara Law faculty.

 

Professor Ridolfi founded the Northern California Innocence Project in 2001 and in 2004 co-founded the Innocence Network, a collaboration of 49 innocence projects in the United States and in four other countries. From 2004-2008, she served as Commissioner of the California Senate Commission on the Fair Administration of Justice.

 

Professor Ridolfi was a trial lawyer with the Defender Association of Philadelphia where she served in the Special Defense Unit. She was a pioneer and innovator in the early development and application of social science to jury selection and a leader in the development of expert testimony for use in cases of battered women raising claims of self-defense.

 

She had received numerous accolades for her classroom work including the prestigious Russell Galloway Professor of the Year. She teaches criminal law and a seminar on Righting Wrongful Conviction: Policy and Legislative Reform.

Linda Starr, Legal Director

Linda Starr received her J.D. from the University of Southern California Law Center and clerked for the California Court of Appeal upon graduation. She was an assistant district attorney in Brooklyn, New York, where she wrote and argued post-conviction matters before state and federal courts and was a supervisor in the Sex Crimes and Special Victims Unit. Ms. Starr worked as a staff attorney at the Sixth District Appellate Program in California and then privately represented indigent criminal defendants on appeal. In 2001, she co-founded NCIP.

Lee Raney, Associate Director

Lee joined the NCIP staff in 2008, after serving on the Advisory Board for three years.

 

Before joining NCIP, Ms. Raney was the founder and CEO of Pivot Point Strategies, a consulting firm focused on revenue acceleration for companies and non-profits. She has held senior management positions in a diverse array of technology and non-technology companies in Silicon Valley and the East Coast. In addition, she is a founding board member of EGGS for Foster Children, a non-profit that supplies educational gifts and grants to foster children in Massachusetts.

 

Lee is a graduate of Davidson College and holds an MBA from Stanford Graduate School of Business.

Charlie Press, Senior Supervising Attorney

Charlie Press, Senior Supervising Attorney: Prior to joining NCIP Charlie spent 17 years representing death sentenced prisoners in state and federal habeas corpus proceedings, both in California and Mississippi, where he formed a non-profit to represent Mississippi's death row prisoners. He is a former Death Penalty Law Clerk for the US Court of Appeals for the 9th Circuit, a State Public Defender and attorney at the Habeas Corpus Resource Center in San Francisco.

Maitreya Badami, Supervising Attorney

Maitreya Badami has spent 16 years in criminal defense, both as a deputy public defender and in private practice. She has litigated both trial and appellate cases, in California state and federal courts. She has been a panel attorney for the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals, litigating direct appeals and habeas corpus petitions.

Rhonda Donato, Supervising Attorney

Rhonda Donato supervises students through the Innocence Project clinic at Santa Clara University and litigates post-conviction cases in Central and Northern California. Ms. Donato was previously a staff attorney for Justice Paul Haerle on the First District Court of Appeal. She also worked as a litigation associate at McCutchen, Doyle, Brown and Enersen in San Francisco. Ms. Donato served as an extern for the Honorable Melvin Brunetti on the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeal in Reno, Nevada. She graduated, cum laude, from Santa Clara University Law School in 1989 where she was a recipient of the Emery Law Scholarship and a member of the Law Review.

Seth Flagsberg, Supervising Attorney

Seth is a former public defender who represented defendants in many serious criminal cases including numerous homicide prosecutions. He also has extensive law and motion experience and has argued cases before the California Supreme Court and the 6th District Court of Appeal.

Paige Kaneb, Supervising Attorney

Paige Kaneb is a recent cum laude graduate of the University Of San Francisco School of Law and graduated from Hamilton College in 2000. Prior to working at the Innocence Project, Ms. Kaneb interned at the Contra Costa Public Defender’s Office as a law clerk and worked for the Institute for Global Justice researching ways to sue and prosecute oil companies and banks for corrupt practices linked to extreme poverty and human rights abuses in Equatorial Guinea.

Rhonda Dyer, Database Administrator

Rhonda Dyer only works at NCIP a few hours a week, but her contribution to the organization is felt full-time by the staff. Her experience in computer software has been an incredible help to the project. Although "retired" after a career at Hewlett Packard, she rose to the challenge of assisting an office with few high-tech skills. Ms. Dyer customizes, manages and troubleshoots all the database programs NCIP uses. Her expertise with Microsoft programs such as Excel and Access and her ability to customize other programs to suit NCIP’s needs have been invaluable. Much of her time is spent managing NCIP’s largest program, Amicus Attorney, which houses information on the 7000+ people and 3000+ files related to the project. In her spare time, Ms. Dyer and search and rescue dog Deja seek lost people in remote locations for local law enforcement organizations.

Amy Kennedy, Case Manager

Upon completing her Bachelor of Science from Santa Clara University in 2006, Amy Kennedy became a Jesuit Volunteer with the Innocence Project-New Orleans for a year-long placement. After completing her year in New Orleans, she returned to Santa Clara as an Administrative Assistant for NCIP. She is a spring 2012 Juris Doctorate Candidate at Santa Clara Law.

 

Audrey Redmond, Marketing Communications Manager

Audrey Redmond joined the Northern California Innocence Project in 2008 heading the Marketing Department. She handles marketing and communications for NCIP, including external and internal communications, events, printed materials such as newsletters and brochures, online content development, and mail and email campaigns. Audrey earned her bachelor’s degree in Business Administration with a Marketing concentration from Cal Poly, San Luis Obispo.

Haley Kaprielian, Marketing Associate

Haley Kaprielian graduated from Santa Clara University in 2009, receiving her bachelor’s degree in Communications. While completing her studies, Haley worked with the SCU Alumni Association. Haley brings her prior experience of planning and coordinating various events to the Northern California Innocence Project, doing so with creativity and passion for her work.

 Todd Fries, Research Attorney

Todd Fries graduated cum laude from Santa Clara Law School in 2009 with a   certificate in Public Interest and Social Justice after completing his Bachelor of Arts at the University of California, Los Angeles. Mr. Fries began working for the Northern California Innocence Project in 2007 as a clinical student and returned to NCIP as a research fellow as part of the law school’s post-graduate fellowship program. He is currently a full-time research attorney for the Veritas Initiative, NCIP’s research and policy entity.

Jessica Seargeant, Research Attorney

Jessica Seargeant graduated from Santa Clara Law in 2009 after having completed her Bachelor of Arts at the University of California, San Diego. Ms. Seargeant started working with NCIP in 2008, first by taking the course during law school and then working as a research assistant. After being admitted to the California State Bar, she came back to NCIP as a part of the law school’s post-graduate fellowship program, transitioning into a full-time research attorney at NCIP, focusing on prosecutorial misconduct at the Veritas Initiative.

Ariana Alejandre, Administrative Assistant

Ariana Alejandre graduated from Santa Clara University, receiving her bachelor of science in Psychology in June 2010. While a student, she worked for 3 years as a student administrative assistant in Human Resources. She brings her administrative expertise to NCIP and serves as the Administrative Assistant to Kathleen Ridolfi, the Executive Director of the Northern California Innocence Project.
 

Sandy Lichau, Office Manager

Sandy Lichau has worked at the law clinic since 1971. Prior to joining Santa Clara University she studied at San Jose State University and worked at the law firm of Tunney, Carlyle & Bennett. Ms. Lichau provides direct administrative support to the director, legal director, development director, attorneys, and case manager, and guidance and support to the law students.