David R. Dow – Founder
David R. Dow founded the Texas Innocence Network at the University of Houston Law Center in 2000. He currently teaches at both the University of Houston and Rice University. At the UHLC, where he is the Cullen Professor, Dow also runs a death penalty clinic, in which students assist in representing inmates facing execution during their state and federal appeals. Over the past twenty years, Dow, his colleagues, and his students, have represented well over one hundred inmates facing death. His most recent book is The Autobiography of an Execution.
Cassandra Jeu – Director
Cassandra Jeu received her B.A. from Vassar College and her J.D. from the University of Houston Law Center, where she graduated Magna Cum Laude and was Head Articles Editor of the Houston Journal of International Law, as well as a member of UHLC’s Interscholastic Moot Court Team. After practicing probate and white collar criminal defense law, she joined the Texas Innocence Network in 2005. In addition to directing the organization’s Non-Capital Division, she was a Staff Attorney at Texas Defender Service before returning to UHLC in 2011 as a Clinical Supervisor. In her work at UHLC, Cassandra supervises all non-death penalty case work, reviewing and investigating post-conviction innocence claims made by Texas inmates. She also is an Adjunct Professor at UHLC, co-teaching Innocence Investigations and Death Penalty Clinic with Professor David R. Dow and co-teaching Applied Advocacy with Professor Jim Lawrence. Cassandra is the author of ““A Successful, Permanent International Criminal Court … ‘Isn’t It Pretty to Think So?’” and co-author of “Judicial Activism on the Rehnquist Court: An Empirical Analysis” with David R. Dow(Distinguished Professor of Law at UHLC) and Anthony Coveny. Cassandra has been a Moot Court Coach for UHLC’s Blakely Advocacy Institute since 2005. When she is not working, Cassandra enjoys traveling and spending time with her Labrador Retriever-mix, Lacy.
Jeff Newberry – Supervising Attorney
Jeff Newberry graduated from West Texas A&M in 2002, majoring in Political Science. Jeff began his public interest work teaching Social Studies to middle and high school students in the Latexo and Princeton school districts. He eventually enrolled at the University of Houston Law Center to pursue a career in criminal law. As a student, Jeff joined UHLC’s Interscholastic Mock Trial Team and enrolled in Innocence Investigations to further this goal. As part of his work with Professor David R. Dow, Jeff took on an important role in investigating a claim in a death row case where a client was scheduled to be executed and in helping draft the client’s clemency petition. This life-changing experience led Jeff to specialize in death penalty appellate law. Jeff received a UHLC Public Interest Fellowship after graduating in 2010, and worked for the Texas Innocence Network. Jeff eventually accepted a full-time position with the Texas Defender Service, but decided to return to UHLC in November 2011 as a Clinical Supervisor. As such, Jeff came full-circle and melded his teaching and legal careers. Jeff actively represents Texas Death Row inmates, specializing in Federal Habeas defense. Jeff also supervises law students in Death Penalty Clinic, where he teaches them to research and investigate death penalty claims. Jeff is licensed in the Southern, Northern and Eastern Districts of Texas. In his spare time, Jeff enjoys surprising his wife Rachel with fun date night outings.
Rindy Fox – Associate Director
Rindy Fox began her work toward social justice in Bryan-College Station, TX where she advocated for people living with mental retardation, both on a local and state level. When the HIV/AIDS crisis hit, she provided support and case management to people battling this disease at AIDS Services of Brazos Valley. She also worked as a case manager at AIDS Services of Austin and for the Austin-Travis County MHMR C.A.R.E. Program. There she provided case management and specialized in housing support for people living with the challenges of HIV, substance abuse, mental illness, mental retardation and homelessness. Throughout her jobs in the social work field, she acquired a substantial knowledge about mental retardation, mental illness, physical abuse, substance abuse, and incarceration. She used this knowledge to assist Texas Defender Service clients as a paralegal for 8 years and joined the staff of Texas Innocence Network in February of 2012. In her off time, she is active in dog and parrot rescue and creates art from upcycled materials.