Mission
Good news! The Carrboro Defender will officially launch this fall! Our inaugural news feature story will center on the case of Benjamin Cole, who was released from prison in late June after being wrongfully incarcerated for 27 years thanks to the diligence and hard work of the Wrongful Convictions Clinic at Duke University School of Law.
The Carrboro Defender will distinguish itself from other online news outlets in North Carolina by the creation of a documentary short film to go along with each and every news feature story.
Preproduction has started on a documentary short film to chronicle the behind-the-scenes work by Prof. Jamie Lau, supervising attorney for the Wrongful Convictions Clinic at Duke Law School, and his talented law students to help Mr. Cole secure his liberty.
Stay tuned for future updates!
"Freedom of the press is not just important to democracy, it is democracy." — Walter Cronkite
Welcome
The Carrboro Defender, which will go live this fall, will publish the first in a series of articles about the amazing work of the students and professors working for the Wrongful Convictions Clinic at Duke University School of Law and their most recent triumph.
On June 25, Benjamin Cole was able to hug his mother and sister for the first time in 27 years. Due to the tireless efforts of Clinic Co-Founder James E. Coleman, Jr., and Supervising Attorney Jamie Lau, and their law students, Mr. Cole secured his liberty after being convicted of a crime he maintains he never committed.
The Carrboro Defender will also feature local news briefs from the towns of Chapel Hill and Carrboro. A 501(c)(3) organization, the Carrboro Defender was launched by publisher Keith T. Barber to address the news desert in Carrboro and Chapel Hill, NC, created by the shuttering of The Carrboro Citizen in 2012.
Stay tuned for future updates, and thank you for reading!