Our Team

APCRP would not be successful without its core team, Board of Directors, and incredible volunteer counsel.

Christine Freeman

Meet our Executive Director

Christine A. Freeman retired on October 3, 2025, after a distinguished 30-year career with the Middle District of Alabama Federal Defender Program and the Alabama Post-Conviction Relief Project (APCRP), including 26 years as Executive Director. She founded APCRP in 2004 after witnessing federal capital clients lose access to relief due to failures in state post-conviction representation, and built the Project to strengthen support for lawyers handling these critical cases.

Before leading the federal defender office in Montgomery, Freeman served in federal and state public defense roles across Tennessee, Georgia, and Kentucky, including work with the Southern Center for Human Rights and the Appalachian Research and Defense Fund. She holds a J.D. from the University of Pennsylvania Law School and a B.A. with high honors from the University of Michigan. In 2022, she was named a Fellow of the American College of Trial Lawyers.

“Christine became a federal defender when there weren’t many women doing it—and she didn’t just do the job, she defined it. She took risks on people, including me, and changed the trajectory of an entire generation of defenders. Her legacy is measured not only in precedent and cases won, but in lives literally freed, clients whose futures she fought for, colleagues she pushed, protégés she toughened up, and the students she inspired. And, of course, her almost supernatural ability to survive on nothing but coffee and candy while working hours that defy both science and common sense will live on in the history of the Middle District.””

— Legal Fellow

Kacey Keeton

Meet our Volunteer Coordinator

Kacey Keeton earned her bachelor’s degree in journalism from Mississippi University for Women and her law degree from the University of Alabama, where she received the ACLU Award for her work on a death row appeal. After law school, she clerked for Chief Justice James Smith on the Mississippi Supreme Court and then worked as an associate at Brunini, Grantham, Grower & Hewes in Jackson, Mississippi. In 2007, she joined the Federal Defender Office for the Middle District of Alabama as an Assistant Federal Defender and now serves as a Senior Litigator.

Kacey has spent nearly two decades supporting the Alabama Post-Conviction Relief Project, helping train and guide volunteer attorneys representing individuals on death row. Her work focuses primarily on capital habeas cases, while also representing indigent clients in federal trial-level proceedings. She has received multiple honors for her professional and civic contributions, including the Distinguished Alumni Award from Mississippi University for Women. In 2025, she led a historic clemency effort for her client Robin Myers, securing Alabama’s first clemency grant to a Black man and only the second in the modern death penalty era.

Board of Directors

Ron McKeithen

Ronald McKeithen is a formerly incarcerated artist, advocate, and writer who spent 37 years in Alabama prisons under the Habitual Felony Offender Act. Released in 2020 with support from Alabama Appleseed, he now works as a reentry coordinator in Birmingham. He mentors others, shares his story, and advocates for justice reform and second chances.
Joel Sogol

After graduating from the University of Alabama School of Law, Joel began his career as a public defender in 1974 and entered private practice in 1978. He founded Sentencing Options, Inc. in 1992. With over 30 years of experience, he has defended clients across state and federal courts, earned distinguished service honors, taught trial advocacy, and remains active in numerous legal organizations.
Tiffany Cole

Tiffany Johnson Cole is an attorney in Tuskegee, Alabama, handling product liability, wrongful death, and civil litigation. She made history as the first female Municipal Court Judge in Tuskegee and Jackson’s Gap. A Spelman and Cumberland Law graduate, she is licensed in Alabama and Georgia and actively serves her community through leadership roles and civic organizations.
JaTaune Bosby Gilchrist

JaTaune Bosby Gilchrist is executive director of the ACLU of Alabama and the first Black woman to hold the role. Since joining in 2015, she has led initiatives on voting rights, criminal legal reform, and gender justice. A co-creator of the ACLU’s Southern Collective, she is a TEDx speaker and community leader focused on equity, reentry, and power building.
Richard Jaffe

Richard, an Alabama native and University of Alabama Law graduate, began as a prosecutor before becoming a nationally recognized criminal defense attorney. He has represented over sixty death penalty clients and is the only lawyer to win three acquittals at retrials for those formerly on death row. A respected leader, author, and trainer, he has shaped criminal defense practice nationwide.
Danielle Ward Mason

Danielle Ward Mason, a leading litigator and past president of major Alabama legal associations, was the first Black woman partner at two national firms. She has secured nearly $1 billion in verdicts against Johnson & Johnson for talcum powder–related ovarian cancer claims and leads toxic hair relaxer litigation. Active in national trial lawyer leadership, she advances women’s health advocacy while living in Montgomery with her family.
Nicole Ramos

Nicole Elizabeth Ramos is an attorney, movement strategist, and expert on U.S. border and asylum policy. She co-founded Al Otro Lado and directs its Border Rights Project, serving thousands of migrants annually. With over 15 years of experience, she leads litigation and advocacy, teaches at Temple Law, and advances research on the health impacts of border policies.
Ty Alper

Ty Alper, a former Southern Center for Human Rights attorney, represented death-row clients and led litigation on prison conditions. Now a Clinical Professor at UC Berkeley, he co-directs the Death Penalty Clinic and Berkeley Law’s clinical program. An award-winning scholar cited by Justice Stevens, he has held leadership roles in academia, public education, and multiple state bars.