Renay Lynch

Renay Lynch spent nearly 24 years wrongfully incarcerated in New York after a 1998 conviction built on a coerced false confession, a recanting jailhouse informant, and fingerprint evidence that excluded her but was withheld from prosecutors and the defense. To secure her exoneration, the Erie County District Attorney required her to abandon any claims of prosecutorial misconduct. Exonerated on January 5, 2024 as the 250th person freed by the Innocence Project, she now serves on its Speakers Bureau and advocates for incarcerated mothers and women.

“I have waited 26 years for this day to come. That’s days without seeing my children grow up, days without holding my grandchildren, days that I will never get back.” — Renay Lynch