From left, Megan Christner, Jim Mayer, Robert Kaiser, and Alex Olson celebrate Robert’s release in April 2022.
At this year’s Benefit for Innocence, the Great North Innocence Project is debuting a new award, the Pro Bono Champion(s) of the Year Award, to recognize an individual pro bono volunteer or a pro bono team that have contributed significant time, expertise, resources, and passion towards investigating and litigating innocence cases in partnership with our organization.
This year, we’re honored to recognize the pro bono team representing GN-IP client Robert Kaiser with this award. Megan Christner, Alex Olson, and Sam Lockner of Carlson Caspers, and Mark Bradford of Bassford Remele PA, have and continue to demonstrate their commitment to ensuring Robert Kaiser’s freedom after nearly 8 years of wrongful incarceration with passionate zeal.
Recently, we sat down with two of the awardees, Megan and Alex, to hear about their experiences as pro bono attorneys on a case whose outcome remains to be seen, but whose progress has been energizing and inspiring for all involved.
The Case
The pro bono team, led by GN-IP attorney Jim Mayer, recently had their excellent work rewarded when on April 28, 2022, Stearns County District Court Judge Laura Moeherle vacated Robert's 2016 murder conviction following a two-week evidentiary hearing.
After the decision, Jim and his team requested a bail hearing and presented arguments that Robert should be released pending the prosecutor's decision as to whether to retry him. After Judge Moeherle deliberated for an additional three days, she set Robert's bail at $150,000. Through incredible advocacy by both Jim and former GN-IP Legal Director Julie Jonas, Robert was able to post bail.
On Monday, May 16, Robert stepped out of the Stearns County Jail at 8:30 p.m., to a crowd of celebratory supporters including family, friends, his pro-bono legal team, and Great North Innocence Project staff—his first time outside as a free man in nearly eight years.
Subsequently, the Stearns County Prosecutor's Office filed notice of its intent to appeal the court's decision to vacate Robert's conviction. In mid-August, the prosecutor's office filed that appeal.
Although the final outcome is uncertain, Robert’s vacated conviction and ability to walk free was a huge win for Robert and his team.
“When I learned that his conviction had been vacated…well, frankly, I felt shocked…Unfortunately, the outcome is often not positive in these types of cases. The bar is set so high in innocence cases. So, I was shocked. But when that faded, I was so happy for Robert and just wanted him to know that…I felt a renewed sense of energy going forward. When we made this step successfully, suddenly it made the next ones not feel quite so onerous,” Megan Christner said.
Alex Olson remembered the moment she learned that Robert’s conviction had been vacated. “I remember seeing the decision come through on my computer. My assistant heard me say, “Oh my God,” and came in because she thought something was wrong. When I saw the word “vacated” I just immediately started crying and couldn’t stop…It was the best day, maybe of my entire professional life.”
The Investigation
Megan and Alex are both attorneys at Carlson Caspers specializing in intellectual property litigation. While on the surface it may not seem that intellectual property law would intersect with criminal law, both Alex and Megan have found that their particular area of expertise has been beneficial in working on Robert’s case.
Alex, who has been with Carlson Caspers for 13 years, and Megan, who is starting her fifth year with the firm, both studied engineering in their undergraduate programs. However, both discovered later that law was where they would ultimately prefer to end up. Combining their legal expertise, scientific knowledge, and experience working with medical experts has proven to be a benefit in Robert’s case which is laden with medical intricacies and expert medical witness testimony.
Megan remembered getting the case files and realizing just how complex a case this would be. “One of the biggest challenges was just the sheer volume of material and complexity of medical issues in this case…it felt like a big thing to bite into.” She added that once she dove in and harnessed her unique combination of technical expertise and legal knowledge, it became clear this partnership was a great fit. “We’re [the pro bono team] lucky that we have a skillset where we’re comfortable working with technical experts.”
Alex felt similarly upon initially reviewing the case evidence. “I remember working with three of our medical experts. They were saying the same thing, but saying it in different ways…in their own area of expertise’s language.” She realized how important it would be for her and the team to fully grasp the minutiae of the medical testimony. “I knew that we wouldn’t convince a judge of anything if we didn’t understand the medical case ourselves.”
In order for the legal team to be successful, the attorneys had to be in lock step with one another and support each other as they navigated the incredibly high legal burden to proving Robert’s innocence and wading through the complex medical information in the case.
“The Great North Innocence Project team and Jim were really great about making the case manageable and giving us the resources as volunteers so that we could dig in and learn those facts. Once we started diving in, Jim made it easy,” Megan remembered.
“Honestly, Jim is the best,” added Alex.
In addition to the technical complexity of Robert’s case, Alex and Megan also remembered managing the more personal challenges that can come with diving into an innocence case, and especially an innocence case where the deceased was an infant. The difficult combination of combing through evidence related to an infant’s death and knowing that a wrongfully incarcerated person is behind bars and counting on your work to help free them amounts to enormous pressure.
“From a personal perspective, it’s heavy. You get really invested, and you want a good outcome for the client because we all really believe in this case. There’s a very tangible person who needs help…I would go through all the inner turmoil again for the possibility of a positive outcome,” Megan said.
Despite the numerous obstacles to a positive outcome, neither Megan nor Alex expressed a hint of regret at accepting this pro bono case.
“I knew that in this type of case, the burdens are so high and the odds are against our success, but it’s still rewarding to know that there’s someone who is wrongfully incarcerated who now knows that they’ve got someone outside fighting for them,” said Alex.
Megan shared, “It’s been such a dream to work with the Great North Innocence Project on this case, and they’ve provided so much support throughout this process. I would 100 percent endorse this opportunity to anyone who is thinking about doing pro bono work with GN-IP.”
The Client Behind the Case File
One unique aspect of advocating for someone who is already incarcerated is that it is far more difficult to meet with or talk with that person than if they are free. This was true for Alex and Megan as they worked on Robert’s case.
“We had been working on his case for a long time, but I didn’t actually meet Robert until two weeks before his initial hearing. Then, I didn’t see him again until his bail hearing which was six months later,” Alex recalled.
However, upon getting to know Robert, both Megan and Alex were struck by his affability, optimism, and gentle nature.
“Robert is a phenomenal person and getting to know him has been a highlight of my legal career,” Megan said.
“His lack of bitterness or resentment is astounding. He has such positivity. It’s really incredible,” added Alex.
Jim and Robert go in for a hug as Robert exits the county jail on bail while Alex, Megan, staff attorney Andrew Markquart, and former GN-IP legal director Julie Jonas applaud.
After Robert’s evidentiary hearing, Alex wrote him a quick letter on her legal pad expressing her encouragement to him as the legal process continued and saying how honored she had been to represent him in his quest for freedom so far. After that, Robert and Alex began a weekly ritual of checking in every Tuesday evening.
“These weren’t legal calls, they were social, just to see how he was doing. At first we chatted about everyday things, like what food he had eaten that day, Robert hated the prison food, and how his cellmate would snore…things like that.”
After many months, Alex and Robert formed a closer bond as they got to know one another beyond Robert’s experience of incarceration.
“Later, we talked more about his life growing up, his childhood, what he was feeling. You can tell that he cares very deeply.”
Alex was quick to clarify though that her work on this case and her belief in Robert’s innocence preceded developing this close bond with her client. In fact, she found herself skeptical of his innocence when Jim and then-legal director Julie Jonas presented her with the case.
“In our initial conversation, Jim and Julie just gave a very high level overview of the case details. I looked it up online and read some of the media reports, and I have to be honest, it didn’t look good based on that.”
However, Alex agreed to review the case and to investigate the evidence. After that process, she felt confident in Robert’s actual innocence and in acting as one of his attorneys.
“People ask me sometimes if I really do believe that Robert’s innocent or why I believe in his innocence. I tell them, I don’t have to believe him. It’s not about me believing in Robert. I believe the evidence, and the evidence is very clear–he is innocent.”
What Comes Next
Now, Jim and the pro bono team are developing their appellate brief in response to the prosecution’s appeal, having a total of 30 days to submit it. GN-IP anticipates that the appeal will be set for oral argument sometime this fall, with a decision two to three months after that. If, as the team hopes, the Court of Appeals affirms the trial court's decision and the prosecution opts to re-try Robert’s case, then the retrial would likely take place sometime next year.
If Robert’s team is ultimately successful, it’s an opportunity for the team to influence legal precedent that could impact future innocence cases and cases dealing with Abusive Head Trauma.
“I just hope the outcome is positive for Robert, and we’re working really hard on that,” Megan said. “From a broader perspective, if we get a favorable opinion on appeal, then we also get to play a part in setting a precedent going forward as to how courts look at these types of cases, which hopefully means more fair results going forward.”
For now though, Robert is enjoying his life outside prison walls while on bail. He still calls Alex nearly every Tuesday to check in.
“It’s great because he’s out now, so he has more going on. So every once in a while he’ll forget to call because he was busy. But most weeks, he still calls. There’s a difference–he talks so much faster now! It’s like, he has so much more to say and share about his life so he has to speed up.”