SIOUX FALLS, S.D. (KELO) - Since 2001, The Great North Innocence Project has helped free 11 people who were wrongfully convicted of a crime, one of which was serving a life sentence. Anna McGinn is one of the staff attorneys for the Great North Innocence Project.An organization that represents clients in Minnesota, and South and North Dakota. "We get dozens of applications every year from individuals in South Dakota claiming their innocence. And we look into every single one of those cases," McGinn said. A process that can take time. "It's sort of a two-step process. One, do we believe the individual is innocent? And two, do we believe that there's some path forward to help get them relief? As cases become older, it's a lot harder to get back into court and litigate cases," McGinn said. Taking a gun into a SD school: What state law says Tom Rhodes is one of the 11 people the organization helped exonerate. He was a client of Great North Innocence Projects for I want to say, about 10 to 15 years before he was released from prison," McGinn said. Currently, their organization is working on a handful of South Dakota homicide cases. "Oftentimes very serious crimes like homicides. We find rates of wrongful conviction occur at anecdotally, perhaps a slightly higher rate, given the fact that there's a lot of pressure to solve these crimes and mistakes can happen," McGinn said. With the goal of giving back freedom to the innocent. "We serve a very narrow role in the criminal justice system. But it is an important role to correct a very specific type of wrong," McGinn said. The Great North Innocence Project also has a clinic at the University of South Dakota Law School.