Hamilton County Prosecutor Connie Pillich has selected attorney and wrongful conviction expert Donald Caster to serve as the first director of the Hamilton County Prosecutor’s Office Conviction Integrity Unit (CIU), a newly established unit dedicated to ensuring fairness, accountability, and justice with integrity.

Caster brings more than two decades of legal experience to the role, including extensive work investigating and litigating claims of wrongful conviction. He previously served as the Lois and Richard Rosenthal Professor of Clinical Law at the University of Cincinnati College of Law and has spent more than a decade with the Ohio Innocence Project, where he has represented wrongfully convicted Ohioans and supervised investigations into claims of innocence.

“Donald Caster is one of Ohio’s leading voices on wrongful convictions and post-conviction justice,” Prosecutor Pillich said. “His experience, integrity, and commitment to ensuring that justice is done in every case make him uniquely qualified to lead our Conviction Integrity Unit. I am confident he will help build a nationally respected program that strengthens public trust in our criminal justice system.”

The Conviction Integrity Unit will review claims of wrongful convictions and sentencing inequities, conduct independent investigations, and review convictions to ensure that they were both lawful and just.

“I am honored to join the Hamilton County Prosecutor’s Office and help establish the Conviction Integrity Unit,” Caster said. “A strong conviction integrity process benefits everyone by ensuring confidence in the criminal justice system and carefully reviewing cases where credible claims of wrongful conviction or injustice have been raised. I look forward to building a unit that serves the interests of justice.”