Ballard Spahr's Tom Hazlett Recognized by Pennsylvania Innocence Project

Ballard Spahr Litigation Partner Thomas W. Hazlett is the 2026 recipient of the Pennsylvania Innocence Project’s Edward D. Ohlbaum Volunteer Award.

Tom was recognized for working alongside the Pennsylvania Innocence Project and the Exoneration Project on the case of Dawud Turner, a man who was imprisoned for almost 39 years for a crime he did not commit. He and the other team members worked together to introduce several pieces of evidence not shared during Dawud’s original trial that exposed his conviction as wrongful. On December 10, 2025, Tom and many of the other team members were outside when Dawud was finally released from prison.

Tom has volunteered with the Pennsylvania Innocence Project since 2015, an example of his longstanding commitment to pro bono work. Ballard Spahr partners with various organizations throughout the country to provide free legal services to those in need. Collectively, the firm’s attorneys contribute more than 50,000 pro bono hours each year.

Read more about the Dawud Turner case here. For a full list of the Pennsylvania Innocence Project’s 2026 honorees, please see its website.

For media inquiries, please contact Will Ashenmacher at 612.371.5792.