Anna is the Executive Director of the Georgia Resource Center. Prior to joining the GRC team in August 2019, she worked for more than a decade as a staff attorney with the ACLU Capital Punishment Project. At the ACLU, Anna represented people in death penalty cases at the trial, direct appeal, and post‐conviction stages across the South. She also authored amicus curiae briefs in capital cases across the country and in the United States Supreme Court. Anna serves as a regular consultant with capital defense attorneys and advocates, and presents at training seminars for capital defense professionals.

Anna began her legal career as a fellow with the Fair Trial Initiative, where she assisted in the preparation of capital trial and post‐conviction cases in North Carolina. Anna received her J.D. from Columbia University School of Law and her B.A. from the University of Texas at Austin.

Vanessa originally joined the Georgia Resource Center as a staff attorney from 2017-2021, and returned in August 2024 as GRC’s Deputy Director. Prior to this, Vanessa worked as a senior attorney at the Southern Center for Human Rights where she litigated federal civil rights cases challenging inhumane prison conditions in Georgia.

Vanessa began her legal career at the Southern Poverty Law Center in 2007. At SPLC, she represented clients in individual and class action litigation targeting unlawful conditions in the mental health, special education, indigent defense, and criminal legal systems in Mississippi and Louisiana. Following the Supreme Court’s 2012 decision in Miller v. Alabama, she coordinated re-sentencing procedures for children sentenced to life without parole in Mississippi. In 2013, Vanessa began representing individuals sentenced to death in Mississippi in state and federal post-conviction proceedings. Vanessa received her J.D. from the University of Wisconsin Law School and her B.A. from New York University

Danielle joined the Georgia Resource Center in 2023. Prior to joining GRC, she was a staff attorney at Reprieve, where she provided legal support to foreign nationals held on death row across the U.S. and coordinated civil rights litigation challenging state-sanctioned executions. Danielle began her legal career as a fellow at the Equal Justice Initiative, where she represented clients in capital post-conviction proceedings, provided trauma-informed re-entry support, and conducted historical research on racial injustice. Danielle earned her J.D. and M.S.W. from New York University and her B.A. from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.  

Devin Kirkland joined the Georgia Resource Center as an investigator in May of 2021. She has a Bachelor’s degree in Psychology and a Master’s degree in Forensic and Legal Psychology. Before working with the resource center, Devin was a mitigation investigator with the Northern Virginia Capital Defender Office. 

Brandie Martinez Bedard joined the Georgia Resource Center as the Operations Manager in 2021. In addition to financial responsibilities, Brandie manages office operations, personnel, and benefits. She is also responsible for case tracking and case file management. Brandie has earned two Bachelor’s degrees in Philosophy and Religious Studies, a Master’s degree in Philosophy (specializing in Neurophilosophy), and a Juris Doctorate all from Georgia State University. After graduating from law school, Brandie joined the Georgia Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers (GACDL) as the Membership Director and worked for GACDL for almost six years prior to joining the Resource Center. 

Justin joined GRC in 2023 as an Equal Justice Works Fellow, sponsored by Greenberg Traurig. He received his J.D. from New York University School of Law as a Root Tilden Kern Scholar. There, he represented juveniles in Queens and Brooklyn facing criminal charges through the Juvenile Defender Clinic. In the Civil Rights Clinic, he advocated on behalf of communities facing displacement and fighting discriminatory housing laws. While in law school he interned with the Louisiana Center for Children’s Rights, and the Center for Constitutional Rights. He was a recipient of the Anthony C. Thompson Award for Racial Justice, the Eric Dean Bender Prize and the Christian Jarecki ’98 Memorial Prize for outstanding work in a law clinic. Prior to law school Justin received his B.S. from Emory University.

Erin has worked as an investigator in death penalty cases since 2011, when she began at the Georgia Capital Defender Office, conducting mitigation investigation at the trial and direct appeal stage. Prior to joining the Georgia Resource Center in 2024, she investigated cases with The Innocence Project and GRC, and consulted on cases with GCD. She has a B.A. in Psychology from The City University of New York, Brooklyn College and an M.S.W. from Georgia State University.

John has been an investigator at the Resource Center since October of 2012 and has been doing investigative work in death penalty cases since 2003. Prior to joining the Resource Center team, he worked as a mitigation investigator in Memphis, TN. He has a Bachelor’s degree in Psychology and a Master’s degree in Rehabilitation Counseling.

Victoria joined the Georgia Resource Center as a staff attorney in 2023. Prior to joining GRC, Victoria assisted attorneys in representing people convicted of criminal offenses as a legal intern at the Southern Center for Human Rights, DeKalb Public Defender’s Office, and the Georgia Resource Center. She also interned at the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Georgia, the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, and as a student attorney in Emory’s International Humanitarian Law Clinic. 

Victoria graduated from Emory University School of Law, where she earned her J.D., with honors, and was the Director-in-Chief of the Emory Moot Court Society. Upon graduating, she was awarded the Dean’s Service Award and Pro Bono Publico Award for her volunteer service and involvement. Victoria holds a Master’s Degree in Political Science and two Bachelor’s degrees in Anthropology and Political Science from Appalachian State University. 

Prior to joining the GRC team in March 2023, Evan Reid worked as a 2020 Equal Justice Initiative Law Fellow in Montgomery, Alabama. At the Equal Justice Initiative, Evan assisted attorneys in representing various capital litigants at the post-conviction stage. In addition, Evan researched and published information connecting America’s long history of racial terror to the death penalty and mass incarceration. Evan received his J.D. from the University of California, Davis School of Law and his B.A. from Morehouse College.

Marcy Widder is a Senior Litigator at GRC. Prior to joining the Resource Center in October 2012, she represented Louisiana capital litigants, mostly on direct appeal, at the Capital Appeals Project in New Orleans, and later as a solo practitioner, following a two-year clerkship for the Honorable James L. Dennis at the Louisiana Supreme Court and the United States Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit. She graduated summa cum laude from Tulane Law School and was articles editor for the Tulane Law Review. She has been counsel in four successful cases before the United States Supreme Court.