Kristine Bunch to Speak on Her Wrongful Incarceration

This February 19 event is free and open to the public.

Longmeadow, MA— What happens when you’re wrongfully convicted of a crime, only to be exonerated after spending almost two decades in prison? Kristine Bunch, Executive Director of JustIS 4 JustUS, Inc., will be on the Bay Path campus to share her story of wrongful conviction. After spending more than 17 years behind bars after she was arrested and charged with setting a fire that claimed the life of her three-year-old son, Anthony, the Indiana Court of Appeals reversed the conviction. Bunch, who had earned undergraduate degrees in English and anthropology from Ball State University in prison, was released on her own recognizance — 17 years, one month, and 16 days after her wrongful arrest. Eight days before Christmas 2012, the prosecution dropped all of the charges.

"This is an extraordinary opportunity for the Bay Path community, and especially our students and future students, to hear Kristine's remarkable story of overcoming the tragic injustice she suffered and her inspiring, relentless advocacy to secure justice for other exonerees,” shared Dr. Gwen Jordan, Chair of Bay Path’s Justice and Legal Studies Department and previous staff attorney for the Illinois Innocence Project. “Kristine's raw honesty provides a unique insight into the consequences of convicting the innocent and provides a pathway for all of us to help prevent future wrongful convictions."

This free event, scheduled for February 19 at 7:00 p.m., is open to the public, and will be held at Mills Theatre in Carr Hall, Bay Path University, 588 Longmeadow Street, Longmeadow, MA. For more information or to register, please visit https://wrongfulincarceration.eventbrite.com/.

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About Bay Path University
Bay Path University was founded in 1897. With locations in Longmeadow (main), East Longmeadow (Philip H. Ryan Health Science Center), Springfield (MA), Sturbridge (MA), and Concord (MA), Bay Path’s innovative program offerings include traditional undergraduate degrees for women, The American Women's College on-ground and online, the first all-women, all-online accredited bachelor’s degree programs in the country; over 30 graduate programs for women and men, including doctorate degrees; and Strategic Alliances, offering professional development courses for individuals and organizations. Bay Path’s goal is to give students confidence in the fundamentals of their chosen field, the curiosity to question the ordinary, the leadership to show initiative, and the desire to make a difference.