About the Digital Innocence Initiative
Preventing and Helping Overturn Wrongful Convictions Through Digital-Evidence Readiness
The Digital Innocence Initiative (DII) is an independent, defense-led national initiative advancing digital-evidence readiness for public defense.
DII works to prevent and help overturn wrongful convictions by transforming practitioner experience, technical knowledge, and successful lessons demonstrated in practice into resources, training, partnerships, and repeatable processes that defense teams can use now.
Explore the Framework and Read the Paper
Our Origin
The work that became DII began in 2018 and was publicly launched in 2019. Based in Connecticut, the Initiative was developed by defense practitioners with experience in criminal-defense investigation, digital forensics, complex forensic litigation, public defender training, cold-case investigation, and wrongful-conviction review.
DII grew from recognizing a recurring need across defense cases: public defenders needed a reliable starting point for identifying, preserving, obtaining, understanding, and independently evaluating digital evidence.
Potentially important evidence was sometimes identified too late, lost before it could be preserved, incompletely collected or produced, accepted without meaningful independent review, misinterpreted, inaccessible, or overlooked during appellate and post-conviction review. These recurring problems showed that technical capability alone was not enough. Defense teams also needed practical knowledge and a consistent process for recognizing and addressing digital-evidence issues.
Developed Through Public Defender Work
DII did not begin with a theoretical model. Its readiness approach developed through direct work with public defenders and within the practical realities of criminal-defense cases.
In that work, DII applied a practical process addressing three recurring readiness gaps: time-sensitive evidence, technical knowledge, and digital-evidence preservation and collection proficiency. Supported by Toolbox resources, recognized standards, and qualified forensic assistance when needed, that process improved how defense teams identified and addressed digital-evidence issues.
The work produced measurable results after these practices were introduced, including increased digital-evidence requests, more relevant evidence identified or preserved, and improved case outcomes. The work also demonstrated that meaningful progress could begin with practical steps already within the defense’s reach—without requiring every office to create a laboratory or employ a full-time forensic examiner.
Extending the Work to Past Convictions
DII expanded its case-based inquiry through a practitioner review of wrongful-conviction cases in which digital evidence materially affected the investigation, defense, prosecution, or later case outcome.
The review identified recurring problems involving digital evidence that was missing, incomplete, inaccessible, misunderstood, inadequately reviewed, or limited by the technology available at the time. Historical cell-site evidence emerged as a particular priority.
Those findings helped DII develop structured Post-Conviction Digital Evidence Assessment Criteria and a Technical Guide. These resources apply the same readiness principles used in active cases to help practitioners identify older convictions in which current knowledge, newly available records, or improved forensic capabilities may justify renewed examination.
Explore Post-Conviction Digital-Evidence Review
From Proven Results to National Expansion
DII was created to convert that experience into a national readiness model that more public defender offices can use now.
That work became the foundation of the National Digital Evidence Readiness Framework for Public Defense. Through the framework, Toolbox, DERU partnerships, Digital Innocence Coalition, training, research, and post-conviction review, DII is working to expand practical digital-evidence readiness nationwide.
The Digital Innocence Coalition now includes dozens of public defender offices and agencies participating as DERU partners across the country. These partnerships expand access to practical resources, a common readiness process, post-conviction materials, training, and shared practitioner experience.
DII’s national objective is practical and achievable:
Every public defender office should have a reliable starting point, a repeatable process, and access to the resources needed to respond when digital evidence may affect a case.
Enroll Your Office as a DERU Partner
Defense-Led and Practitioner-Developed
DII’s practitioner foundation shapes every resource it creates. Its objective is not to turn public defenders into forensic examiners. It is to help attorneys and investigators recognize digital-evidence issues early, act within their roles, ask better questions, use reliable resources, and know when qualified forensic assistance is necessary.
The Initiative is built by defense practitioners for the defense and is intended to strengthen the defense’s capacity to conduct an early and independent assessment of digital evidence.
Explore the Framework and Read the Foundational Paper
Independence and Provider Choice
DII’s educational resources and partnerships are intended to strengthen independent public-defense readiness.
Use of DII resources or participation in a DII partnership does not require an office or defense team to retain any particular consultant, forensic laboratory, expert, or technical-services provider.
Core readiness and Toolbox resources are intended to remain free to eligible defense professionals. Restricted partnership resources are free to verified public defender offices and authorized participants.
Leadership and Experience
DII is led by defense practitioners whose combined work spans criminal-defense investigation, digital forensics, forensic litigation, public defender education, cold-case investigation, and post-conviction review. That experience keeps the Initiative focused on practical problems defense teams encounter in actual cases.
Mike Udvardy
Founder and Director
Mike Udvardy is a board-certified criminal defense investigator, cold-case specialist, and digital-evidence strategist. His work includes homicide and cold-case reinvestigation, wrongful-conviction matters, pre-arrest investigation, digital-evidence case assessment, post-conviction review, and public defender training.
His experience helping defense teams address overlooked, incomplete, inaccessible, and misunderstood digital evidence led to the development of DII, the Digital Evidence Toolbox, the DERU public defender partnership, and the National Digital Evidence Readiness Framework.
James Oulundsen, EnCE, CCME
Co-Founder and Digital Forensics Advisor
James Oulundsen is a criminal defense investigator and certified digital forensic examiner with experience in computer, mobile-device, and complex digital-evidence examinations. His work focuses on forensic acquisition and analysis and translating technical findings into clear, defensible information for attorneys, investigators, and courts.
He contributes technical guidance to DII’s framework, Toolbox resources, case-assessment materials, and training, helping ensure they remain grounded in recognized forensic practices and real defense-case needs.
William H. Paetzold, Esq.
Co-Founder and Legal Advisor
William Paetzold is a criminal defense attorney with more than three decades of experience and a prior background as a criminalist with the Connecticut State Police Forensic Science Laboratory. His work includes complex criminal litigation involving digital evidence, DNA, forensic science, and crime-scene reconstruction.
He helps DII connect digital-evidence readiness with independent investigation, discovery, admissibility, expert integration, professional judgment, and practical defense strategy.
George Shaw
Technical and Quality Advisor
George Shaw is a criminal defense investigator and digital-forensic professional whose work includes mobile-device repair and recovery, historical cell-site analysis, radio-frequency analysis, documented forensic procedures, tool validation, and quality control.
He helps DII connect developments in device recovery, location evidence, and forensic quality practices with active-case and post-conviction readiness.
Andres Virgin
Training Director and Public Defense Advisor
Andres Virgin is a public defense investigator and digital-evidence trainer. He began his criminal-defense work with Mike Udvardy at IRIS, later worked in the Connecticut public defender system, and now serves with the Public Defender Service for the District of Columbia.
His experience helps DII translate the National Framework and Toolbox into practical resources for attorneys and investigators working within public-defense workloads.
Read the DII Origin and Legacy
Our National Purpose
DII seeks to make digital-evidence readiness a standard part of public defense while expanding access to practical knowledge that can reduce the risk of future wrongful convictions and support the review of potentially unreliable convictions.
One equipped defender can change a life. A coalition of prepared public defender offices can change the system.