Following his graduation from The Moritz College of Law at the Ohio State University, where he served as an articles editor of the Law Review and graduated Order of the Coif, summa cum laude and 2nd in his class, Professor Godsey clerked for Chief Judge Monroe G. McKay of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Tenth Circuit in Salt Lake City, Utah. He then practiced civil litigation and white collar-criminal defense at Jones, Day, Reavis and Pogue in Chicago and New York City, where he performed significant pro bono work for the Federal Public Defenders. Professor Godsey then joined the Department of Justice as an Assistant United States Attorney for the Southern District of New York, where he prosecuted federal crimes ranging from political corruption to hijacking to organized crime. As a federal prosecutor, Professor Godsey supervised FBI investigations, presented cases to federal grand juries, conducted jury and bench trials, and argued numerous appeals before the United States Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit. He prosecuted several cases that received national media attention, and received several awards for his performance as an AUSA, including the Director's Award for Superior Performance, presented to him by then Attorney General Janet Reno, and a major award from the FBI.

Professor Godsey then joined the faculty at the Salmon P. Chase College of Law at Northern Kentucky University, where he was a Faculty Supervisor to the Kentucky Innocence Project. At Chase, Professor Godsey was awarded the Lukowsky Award for teaching excellence by vote of the graduating class of 2003. In 2004, his first year at UC Law, Professor Godsey was a recipient of the Goldman Prize for Excellence in Teaching. Professor Godsey also is the editor of  CrimProf Blog, a blog for law professors, students and practitioners of criminal law and procedure.

In addition to his teaching and scholarly activities at UC Law, Professor Godsey is an active criminal litigator. He serves as the Faculty Director for the Lois and Richard Rosenthal Institute for Justice and Ohio Innocence Project , where he represents convicted Ohio inmates for whom new evidence, such as DNA evidence, proves their innocence. Recent high profile cases include that of Clarence Elkins (exonerated in 2005 by DNA and released from life sentence for murder and double rape) and Chris Bennett (released in 2006 through DNA evidence from imprisonment for aggravated vehicular homicide). He also represents indigent criminal defendants before the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit as a member of the CJA panel. In 2004, he was received a Superstar of Criminal Law Award by the Ohio Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers.  In 2007, he recieved the TIAA-CREF Award for Distinguished Public Service from the University of Cincinnati, an award given to one faculty member university-wide each year.  Also in 2007, Professor Godsey was named as one of the eight most inspiring men in Cincinnati by Inspire Magazine.

Professor Godsey is regular a commentator on issues relating to criminal law in both the local and national press. He is frequently interviewed by local television news, and has appeared nationally on Larry King Live, Dateline NBC, CNN, Court TV, the Oxygen Network, NPR and A&E's American Justice, among others. He has been quoted in papers and magazines across the country, including The New York Times, Newsweek, People and the Wall Street Journal. 

Download a copy of Professor Godsey's Curriculum Vitae (pdf).

Selected Publications

Reformulating the Miranda Warnings in Light of Contemporary Law and Understandings, 90 Minnesota L. Rev. __ (forthcoming 2006).

Rethinking the Involuntary Confession Rule: Toward a Workable Test for Identifying Compelled Self-Incrimination, 93 California L. Rev. 465 (2005).

The Final Frontier of Constitutional Confession Law - The International Arena: Exploring the Admissibility of Confessions Taken by U.S. Investigators from Non-Americans Abroad, 91 Georgetown L.J. 851 (2003).

Miranda's Final Frontier - The International Arena: A Critical Analysis of U.S. v. Bin Laden, and a Proposal for a New Miranda Exception Abroad, 51 Duke L.J. 1703 (2002).

When Terry Met Miranda: Two Constitutional Doctrines Collide, 63 Fordham L. Rev. 715 (1994).

Educational Inequalities, The Myth of Meritocracy, and the Silencing of Minority Voices: The Need for Diversity of America's Law Reviews, 12 Harv. Blackletter L.J. 59 (1995).