Created: 9/3/2009 6:38:50 PM 
Winston-Salem, NC -- The attorney who helped an innocent man serving life in prison estimates there are at least ten others who have been wrongfully convicted in our state.
Joseph Abbitt walked out of the Forsyth County Detention Center a free man Wednesday after spending 14 years in prison.
He'd been accused of breaking in the home of two teenage girls, kidnapping and raping them.
Wednesday, a judge declared DNA evidence cleared him of the crimes.
We got answers on how the Innocence Project that investigates these cases works.
Eight students and their directors are currently re-visiting nine cases at Wake Law School's Innocence and Justice Clinic.
Wake Forest students were not involved in Joseph Abbitt's case.
However, four of their cases involve inmates convicted in Forsyth County who are asking for their judgments to be looked at and possibly overturned.
Thursday afternoon, Wake Law students who were new to campus received an introduction to how they can give back to the community.
One option includes offering free legal aid to those in need.
Co-Director, Mark Rabil, says The Innocence Project is a program that depends on students doing the background work that prosecutors and defense attorneys don't have the time to do.
"There's a lot of work being done that otherwise would not be done because it's being done for free. We also see it as a wonderful educational opportunity for the students to go through and see how cases actually work and determine whether they went wrong and if so how," explained Rabil.
The Innocence Project at Wake started back in January.
The course is an elective - - so each semester new students carry on the work that other students started.
The N
The Center receives an average of 1,000 inmate inquiries each year and carries an average active case load of 130 cases.
