Larry Moses served nearly 30 years in prison for a crime he didn’t commit, while Barney Holt was sentenced in life in prison for simple possession.

Tuesday night, they told their story at the Innocence Project New Orleans Stand for Justice Acadiana event.

The event was aimed to inform the greater Acadiana community about the work IPNO conducts in freeing wrongly-convicted or harshly-punished individuals from prison. It had 30 tables with 280 guests. While they only have one client in Lafayette currently, that number will likely change as the organization gains more traction in the region. According to Gee Park, nearly every table in the room was a sponsorship table and included a variety of sponsors from banks to religious organizations.

“The business community and the legal community really came out in support of our organization and the work we do,” Park said.

It also served to show what justice can do for incarcerated individuals and to honor Senator Gerald Boudreaux for his work towards providing justice across the state. Throughout his time as a senator, Boudreaux served as an advocate for the underprivileged and incarcerated peoples of Louisiana. According to Gee Park, nearly every person IPNO has represented could not afford their own legal counsel and was represented by a state-appointed attorney.

“As the public defender system here in Louisiana is overwhelmed and underfunded, it is almost not surprising there are wrongful convictions happening in our state,” Park said.

Frank Neuner, the board member who started the Justice For Acadiana celebration four years ago presented the 2024 IPNO Justice Award to Senator Boudreaux. Boudreaux said his success is because of family. Boudreaux’s wife, Carlos Boudreaux, sang Sam Cooke’s “A Change is Gonna Come” to start the evening as a surprise for the senator. He thanked IPNO for following in his footsteps in fighting for those without a voice of their own. He also thanked God for helping him keep the IPNO alive.

“The Lord has chosen me to be the vessel to make sure the Innocence Project stays around so that we don’t have more people incarcerated or locked up away from their families. I’m here today in the name of justice,” Boudreaux said.

During the Special Crime Session, Boudreaux served as a champion against House Bill 6, which expands the execution options for Louisiana Death Row inmates. Alongside him, District 45 freshman Republican Representative Brach Myers voted against the bill. The night of the vote, Neuner sent a heartfelt text to Myers for his vote.

“An eye for an eye will leave the world blind,” Myers responded, quoting Gandhi.

Through the last 23 years IPNO has operated, they’ve managed to free 68 people, and is one of the most successful innocence projects in the country. They conduct work in over 20 different parishes across the state and started a wrongful conviction clinic at LSU Law School in 2021 for second- and third-year law students.

Two previous clients shared their story about their time in prison, how they were put there, and what their lives have been like since release. Barney Holt wasn’t necessarily innocent, but was freed through the Unjust Punishment Project (UPP), which addresses individuals sentenced to incredibly harsh punishments for non-violent crimes. Louisiana initially sentenced Holt to life in prison for possession of methamphetamines as a repeat offender. According to Park, a majority of their clients in the UPP are victims of poverty, addiction and inadequate mental health care.

Holt served 12 years and 5 months before being freed through litigation and advocacy. During Holt’s time in prison, he became a Class B trustee, with a single write-up the entire time for not rolling his sleeves back down after working in the fields. Holt received his GED, became a master carpenter and earned construction certifications for HVAC levels one and two in prison. He also completed his first substance abuse program at that time. Greatest of all, however, Holt gave money every year to the Baton Rouge Food Bank and Still Water Ministries.

Shortly after Holt was released, he visited New York with Park, where he insisted on visiting the Brooklyn Tabernacle and thanking the ministry who came to Angola State Prison and ministered to him, giving him hope. Now, under changes from the recent Crime Session, Barney would have never had the chance to be free.

“This is the person that the state of Louisiana was going to throw away for the rest of his life,” Park said.

According to Holt, he pleaded guilty to things many times, just to go back to using drugs, not realizing it would cost him the rest of his life. He encourages students involved in law to continue studying so they can change what is happening now in the Louisiana legislature. When IPNO came into the picture, they filed a petition to give him credit for time served and immediate release. In 2023, Holt’s 32-year-old daughter passed away from a fentanyl overdose.

“If it wouldn’t have been for IPNO getting me out 18 months ago, I wouldn’t have had the last six months of my daughter’s life with her and a chance to make a few good memories with her. There’s just so much that people are missing because they can’t get home to their families with the laws in place,” Holt said.

Larry Moses served 29 years in prison for a murder he did not commit, and was exonerated July 17, 2023. He was charged based on the testimony of a single eyewitness, who came forward just a few days after a fight with Moses. The reliability of this eyewitness was questionable due to a variety of issues, including a bias against Moses, severe mental health issues and issues with drug addiction, yet none of this information was shared with the defense. For nearly three decades, Moses sat in prison without this information until IPNO got involved.

Being from New Orleans, Moses spent much of his early time after release riding around the city bus seeing the city he’d missed for nearly 30 years. Moses said his biggest wish after getting out was to connect with the one woman he let slip away years ago. Her name was Gloria. One day, while waiting at a bus stop in New Orleans East, Gloria sat besides Moses. They’ve been together ever since.

“She came and sat down next to me, and said, ‘Is that you, Larry,’ and I responded, ‘Larry Moses,’ so I went on to tell her the story of being exonerated. Well I thought, this is the person I want to be with for the rest of my life; and if it weren’t for ya’ll and the innocence project, I’d still be in jail, and I’d probably be dead,” Moses said.

Following the proceedings, Conrad Comeaux opened the floor up to donations. Finally, IPNO presented Holt and Moses with busts of themselves sculpted by artist Becky Gottsegen.

To learn more about IPNO or to donate, visit their website at ip-no.org.