The pursuit of justice is rarely a straight line.
Our clients’ cases often move through years of investigations, hearings, appeals, and complex legal proceedings before a final decision. While these milestones can be difficult to follow, they represent the work of holding our justice system accountable and refusing to give up when the evidence demands a second look.
Today, we wanted to share updates on two of those cases.
Katie Garding: Wrongfully Convicted 15 Years & Counting
Katie Garding was wrongfully convicted of a fatal hit-and-run based largely on the testimony of her former boyfriend, who implicated Katie while facing significant prison time himself in exchange for leniency in his sentencing. At trial, no accident reconstruction expert was called to examine whether Katie’s vehicle could have caused the collision.
When the Montana Innocence Project took on Katie’s case, we hired independent accident reconstruction experts. After extensive testing—including both physical and computerized reconstructions—they concluded that Katie’s vehicle could not have caused the fatal crash. There was simply no damage to her vehicle consistent with the State’s theory of the case.
In 2023, after years of litigation, the United States District Court found that Katie had received ineffective assistance of counsel at trial and overturned her conviction.
The State appealed that decision to the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals. Ultimately, the Ninth Circuit reinstated Katie’s conviction.
We then brought Katie’s case before the Montana Supreme Court, arguing that the conviction should not have been reinstated and presenting significant new evidence: the State’s own expert has since abandoned key portions of the testimony presented to the jury. That reversal fundamentally changes the State’s theory of how the crash occurred in light of the accident reconstruction evidence developed by our team.
Two weeks ago, the Court issued its decision.
While the Court did not grant Katie immediate relief, several opinions recognized the extraordinary significance of the evidence supporting her innocence.
Justice Ingrid Gustafson wrote in dissent that Katie is “substantively innocent” and called the reinstatement of her conviction “a grave miscarriage of justice.”
Chief Justice Cory Swanson likewise acknowledged that newly discovered evidence points to “the likelihood of a procedurally and/or factually innocent defendant” and noted that if Katie is innocent, the person actually responsible for the fatal hit-and-run remains unidentified.
The Attorney General has since requested a rehearing, and we continue to evaluate the next steps. We remain hopeful that Katie will ultimately receive either a new trial or the opportunity to present this new evidence through a new post-conviction proceeding.
Hear More About Katie’s Recent Supreme Court Decision From MTIP Legal Director
Bernard Pease Jr.: Wrongfully convicted 42 years & counting
Bernard Pease Jr. was convicted of deliberate homicide and spent 39 years in prison before being paroled.
Two years ago, we presented evidence at an evidentiary hearing demonstrating that critical forensic evidence used to convict Bernie was fundamentally flawed: a hair that jurors were told belonged to the victim—and was used to support the State’s case—was proven through modern DNA testing not to be human at all. It was a cat hair.
Earlier this year, the district court issued its decision following that evidentiary hearing and denied Bernard’s petition for post-conviction relief.
We are now preparing to appeal that decision to the Montana Supreme Court.
Bernie’s case raises important questions about convictions based on outdated and unreliable forensic science, and we remain committed to pursuing every available legal avenue to seek justice.