Brooklyn prosecutors are seeking to throw out 378 criminal convictions mostly low-level drug and traffic offenses, dating to 1999 that relied on 13 former New York Police Department officers who were later convicted of crimes related to their work. 40 Worth Street, Suite 606. His conviction was dismissed August 4. Name: The Legal Aid Society; Industry: Legal Practice; Location: New York, NY, United States; Employees: 1000-5000 Description: The Legal Aid Society is the nation's oldest and largest provider of legal services to the indigent. The Bronx district attorney has also vacated more than 250 convictions that relied on a single officer, who has since been accused of lying in other cases. A PRDU Staff Attorney represents clients accused of violating their conditions of release at administrative parole revocation hearings and recognizance hearings held in the criminal courts, federal detention facilities, hospital prison wards and, where applicable, local . PHOTO CREDIT: Eagle Photo by Noah Goldberg. After taking office in 2014, Thompson expanded the Conviction Review Unit, fulfilling a. people from across the country. The new head of Brooklyns Conviction Review Unit should be someone with no prior connection to the office, in order to avoid any conflicts of loyalty or unconscious bias, Felber told New York Focus in a statement. The Corporate Lawyer Moonlighting as a New York Assemblymember. In statements to the press, the Brooklyn DAs office has claimed that Hale did not review Sims case. Iowa State Public Defender Wrongful Conviction Division Des Moines, IA. When he was convicted, she told New York Focus, she thought that was the end of my world., In 2013, controversy over Hynes tactics helped Kenneth Thompson defeat Hynes. A hearing before Chun is scheduled for next month. The Wrongful Conviction Unit continues to grow in size and outreach since its inception in 2019. Many of the other officers had been convicted of crimes like perjury, disorderly conduct or civil liberties violations, including Oscar Sandino who pleaded guilty to forcing a woman he arrested to perform oral sex on him in a Queens police precinct bathroom in 2008. In New York, most employers and agencies can only deny you a job or license because of your criminal conviction if theres a direct connection between the work and the offense or if giving you the job or license would involve an unreasonable risk to people or property. Lawyers, scientists, and policy advocates speak on topics of interest to the defense communityeverything to basics of DNA transfer to Bayesian networks, to cross examination techniques to litigating trade secrets. A jury of my peers found me guilty with the evidence that was presented to them and not the true facts., At the time, his sons were 4 and 5-years-old. Additionally, each year, the Defenders Clinic hosts an experienced attorney on leave from The Legal Aid Society as a Fellow and Supervising Attorney. Any of the other testimony [] wouldnt really matter unless I can get [Graves].. On Wednesday, Eric Gonzalez, the district attorney in Brooklyn, asked a state judge to vacate the first 15 convictions under his purview, all of which involved felonies and several of which resulted in prison time, according to the prosecutors office and the Legal Aid Society. The Defenders Clinic at CUNY Law and The Legal Aid Society are committed to addressing the systemic inequities in the criminal legal system so that no one is denied their right to freedom and equal justice. For Scandal-Plagued For-Profit Colleges, No State Is More Welcoming Than New York. Our work Our Family Law and Domestic Violence Practice provides legal services to survivors of domestic violence throughout New York City. Inside the restaurant, Sims says he saw Graves take out a small shotgun, point it at the cashier, Li Run Chen, and shoot. Legal Aid has secured a group discount at Aloft Long Island City. The other six convictions stemmed from the work of former NYPD Detective Oscar Sandino, who was charged in 2010 and pled guilty to sexual assault and other sexual misconduct charges involving arrestees. . Crime and delinquency 32: 518-544; Huff C, Rattner A & Sagarin E 1996. As a result, the Unit has been able to take on more clients, reinvestigate their cases and advocate for their exoneration and release. c/o The Legal Aid Society This case presents a number of disputed factual and legal issues which are appropriately resolved in a court of law and not in the media, the statement said. The average condemned person spends six-and-a-half years on Death Row as their case . Or email: wcu@legal-aid.org. It is my belief Mr. Graves will indicate he in fact saw the defendant shoot and kill the deceased in this case. 212-577-3300. Keisha and Kisha, along with Cooper and Collins, are championing Sims innocence. If you are innocent and have exhausted all appeals for a conviction in New York City, write to The Wrongful Conviction Unit and request our questionnaire to be considered for representation: The Wrongful Conviction Unit Lastly David heads Legal Aid's Wrongful Conviction Unit. At the time, all we knew was that he had been forced to give up his green card. Eric Gonzalez, right, the Brooklyn district attorney, in 2020. From 1990 to 2013, the Brooklyn DAs office was run by Charles Hynes, under whom more than 100 people were wrongfully convicted, in some cases serving decades in prison before being exonerated. The Brooklyn review has been underway since last year and came after the offices review of cases involving a former narcotics detective, Joseph E. Franco, who was charged with perjury and other offenses in connection with his undercover work and testimony for prosecutors. He said he forgave him years ago, during a family visit. The audience is typically ~100-200 defense attorneys from around the United States. This involved evaluating court documents, conducting investigations, presenting to a panel of academic and legal professionals, and devising a new method of archiving documents for the project. I know in my heart and God knows that I am not capable of what I was convicted of, Sims said, according to a court transcript. The Brooklyn review grew out of the offices investigation of cases involving Joseph E. Franco, a former narcotics detective who was charged with perjury and other offenses. As a result . Section II looks at the role cognitive biases play in wrongful convictions. At his sentencing hearing, he professed his innocence. Lorenzo Johnson served 16 and a half years of a life-without-parole sentence, from 1995 to 2012, when the Third Circuit Federal Court . To me that's just an inherent dual loyalty," said Elizabeth Felber, a supervising attorney at the Legal Aid Society's wrongful conviction unit. When a wrongfully convicted individual is exonerated, the original crime victim may experience feelings of guilt, fear, helplessness, devastation and depression. They rejected him. Heres what you should know after your conviction has been sealed. View Case Acceptance Criteria. As a subscriber, you have 10 gift articles to give each month. Admission & Aid Overview; Undergraduate Admission; The Legal Aid Society will be hosting its Wrongful Conviction Day event over Zoom on Oct. 6. I want to support him now because hes another one of the many individuals thats in there for something he didnt do, said Cooper. Despite his obligation to correct false testimony by witnesses, Hale did not challenge Graves claims. The representative is charged with ensuring equal protection of the law in police surveillance and police investigations and reporting any systematic and repeated violations of individuals civil [], In the summer of 2016, in the course of representing an Uzbek client who had been questioned by FBI agents, CUNYs Creating Law Enforcement Accountability & Responsibility Clinic (CLEAR) learned of Akram Djumaevs ordeal. Record Sealing Had we known about these officers, we would never have brought these cases.. Defense attorneys point to Hales control of the unit as a key reason for the slow pace of exonerations, New York Focus and The Appeal reported in May. This is why our office consented to a hearing that would allow Mr. Sims to argue his claim of innocence before a judge, including a new contention, not made in previous motions, that his good friend was the alleged perpetrator and then conspired to frame him., But at trial, Sims defense counsel said that Graves, not Sims, was the perpetrator. These positions require . Many of these convictions were secured in the late 1980s and early 90s, when misplaced and biased prosecutorial and police responses to substance abuse, poverty, and racial tension within communities, led to a surge of questionable arrests and convictions. The collaboration between the Defenders Clinic and The Legal Aid Society's Wrongful Conviction Unit will help the next generation of social justice attorneys develop vital lawyering skills while increasing access to post-conviction legal representation. Previously a reporter for Courthouse News, he has appeared as a guest on NewsNation, NBC, MSNBC, CBS's "Inside Edition," BBC, NPR, PBS, Sky News, and other . Hes now 46. Post-conviction case files will be reviewed to determine which evidentiary item(s) should be initially tested for DNA and/or retested using modern, advanced technologies. Instead, he received a one page rejection letter stating that it would not investigate the case because the evidence that you are asking the CRU to rely on has already been rejected by multiple courts.. Sims trial lasted five days. Sims trial counsel has since died. Skip to Job Postings. (Yes!)" The Registry provides detailed information about every known exoneration in the United States since 1989cases in which a person was wrongly convicted of a crime and later cleared of all the charges based on new evidence of . The gun used in the murder was kept in the apartment where Graves lived. I would just hear them screaming Daddy, Daddy, Daddy!. When he went to prison, his wife, Kisha, brought their children to visit every weekend. c/o The Legal Aid Society. The Wrongful Conviction Unit continues to grow in size and outreach since its inception in 2019. Her proof: an industry-commissioned study that she refuses to release. Address. CLEAR offered assistance [], Stay connected: Facebook | Twitter | Instagram | LinkedIn, Human Resources | Information Technology |Communications & Marketing | Consumer Information (ABA Required Disclosures), Plan an Event at CUNY Law | Student Handbook | CUNY Law Giftshop Sims request to the CRU did not present any of the new claims that his attorneys have included in the current petition to vacate Sims conviction, including evidence of Hales misconduct and eyewitness testimony that Graves was the shooter. Rene Thomas Folse, JD, Ph.D. is the host for this edition which reports on the following news stories: Interpreter Must Show Evidence of Fees in Same Geographic Area. Indianapolis, IN 46202. The Brooklyn cases originated from arrests that took place between 1999 and 2017. Hale then obtained a material witness order for Graves fiance as well, even though she was never called to testify at trial. Phone: 917-661-4500 or 646-442-3600. The Cop Accountability Project (CAP) of the Criminal Defense Practices Law Reform and Special Litigation Unit empowers organizations and communities across New York City to hold police accountable for human rights violations. Tandy Lau is a Report for America corps member and writes about public safety for the Amsterdam News. Thirty-four of those cases were linked to Detective Kevin Desormeau, who was convicted in 2018 for lying about an alleged cocaine sale in Jamaica, Queens. NYS Attorney Elizabeth Sack Felber The Legal Aid Society 199 Water St, New York, NY . Convicted but innocent: wrongful conviction and . | translate }}, {{ "How do I get started with the One Degree app?" Join to connect . Provided at no cost, it protects those who do not have the means to defend their rights in the criminal justice system: the detained, arrested or imprisoned; those suspected, accused of, or charged with a criminal offence; and victims . Another 20 were tossed because they hinged on the work of Detective Sasha Cordoba, who pleaded guilty in 2018 after prosecutors found she made repeated false statements in a gun possession case in Washington Heights in Manhattan. The WCU played an integral role in bringing these convicted officers to their attention and demanding justice for our clients whose lives were impacted by these corrupt officers. Sims trial counsel has since died. Wrongful Conviction Clinic. Research shows challenges to wrongful convictions have extremely low success rates; even defendants who were later exonerated by DNA evidence had their appeals rejected in more than 90 percent of cases, one study found. Emergency services Emergency financial assistance Medical emergency Mental health emergency . One witness for the prosecution, who was under arrest for an unrelated attempted murder, repeatedly told police he had no information on Coopers alleged involvement in the murder, according to Coopers civil complaint. Alfonzo Riley, a paralegal in The Legal Aid Society's Wrongful Conviction Unit, was recently profiled by The Appeal.. Riley was incarcerated for his role in a 1988 drug deal that ended in a homicide. pay $21,500 to each of hundreds of demonstrators, shows that the Police Department paid $121 million. Another 78 cases on the prosecutors list arose from two detectives, Edward Martins and Richard Hall, who pleaded guilty in 2019 to charges that they released an 18-year-old woman from custody in exchange for sexual favors. Content may not be reproduced without permission. The Legal Aid Society | 35,370 followers on LinkedIn. And that cannot be done by the District Attorneys Office., A May 2021 rally called on the Conviction Review Unit to overturn Sims conviction and expedite other pending cases | Josmar Trujillo. Public defenders and advocates for criminal justice reform say Sims case highlights an inherent problem with the Brooklyn CRU and similar conviction review units in DAs offices across the country, in which prosecutors serve as the gatekeepers for potentially innocent people seeking to overturn convictions that resulted from their own misconduct. Freeing the innocent and preventing wrongful convictions worldwide. Legal Services NYC. He previously worked for WNYC and Gothamist, and has published stories with NPR, ProPublica, Esquire, and The Intercept among other outlets. Later, when he tried to recant, investigators with the DAs office told him that the DA would pursue the attempted murder charges if he disavowed his earlier statement. 2023 The Legal Aid Society. It will be a measure of justice to make up for the original injustice of your arrest and conviction.. When Anthony Jr. was about eight years old, Sims recalled, he told his father that he would get Graves for what he had done. View Case Acceptance Criteria. Upon retrial, Hunt was offered a sentence of time served if he would admit guilt. DECISION AND ORDER BRENDA K. SANNES Chief District Judge. wcu@legal-aid.org. , the Brooklyn DAs office has claimed that Hale did not review Sims case. I expected the CRU to interview me, which would give me a chance to answer their questions and give a detailed account of seeing Julius shoot the victim., The CRU did not contact Sims to learn more about his claims. How can I contact you?" But this is not enough to protect an applicant to the CRU from an inherent conflict of interest, said Collins, who met Sims twenty-five years ago while they were both incarcerated in New York. Since 2015, the DNA Unit of the Legal Aid Society in New York City has held an annual, two-day forensic conference for defense attorneys called Questioning Forensics. Even if he was not part of the review process, youre still asking a subordinate to make a finding about his superior., Conviction review units, said Sims, should not even be housed in prosecutors offices. Convicted but innocent: wrongful conviction and public policy. As the Court has obviously seen, I have nobody else that has said that, Hale told the court. Brooklyn DA Eric Gonzalez is searching for a replacement for Hale, and defenders are urging him to hire someone from outside the DAs office to lead the unit. (formerly Bashian & Farber, LLP), from November 2017 to September 2019, where she practiced criminal defense, general civil litigation and trusts & estates. Pursuant to a federal grant, our WCU has teamed up with CUNY Law Schools Criminal Law Clinic and the Henry Lee Institute of Forensic Science to broaden its ability to represent the wrongfully convicted. All rights reserved. The judge admonished Hale for committing prosecutorial misconduct. She struck the witnesss testimony, but allowed the case to proceed. On appeal, the conviction was overturned due to the wrongful admission of the interrogation. The letter asked the offices to review and erase convictions in which the officers played a role. Although he did not pull the trigger and was actually nowhere near the shooting, he was charged under New Yorks controversial felony murder law and sentenced to 71 years to life. The office spent 10 months reviewing every Brooklyn conviction in which the 13 former officers were involved, flagging for dismissal cases in which they served as the primary witnesses. Coopers appellate criminal defense attorney and civil attorney is Tom Hoffman, the same person representing Sims. In the fall of 2017, The Legal Aid Society launched The Womens Pretrial Release Initiative (The Initiative). Montclair State University. His then-wife, Kisha Sims, said she expected that he would be acquitted and had been planning a coming home party for him. Read More. Subscribe to The Legal Aid Society's newsletters for campaign updates, case victories, client stories, and more. At a virtual hearing on Monday, Queens District Attorney Melinda Katz successfully petitioned a judge to expunge 60 convictions linked to three NYPD officers who were found to have committed crimes and fabricated evidence in other cases in years past. Sims said he told his trial counsel that he saw Graves commit the crime and asked to testify, but that the lawyer advised him not to testify. Elizabeth Felber, director of the Wrongful Conviction Unit at The Legal Aid Society, said the people whose cases were tossed endured "hardships that should have never been allowed to happen . Cooper said he felt he could not have the CRU review his case when Hale was running it. Since 2015, the DNA Unit of the Legal Aid Society in New York City has held an annual, two-day forensic conference for defense attorneys called Questioning Forensics. Myself and a multidisciplinary team of students reviewed criminal cases in Western Australia for possible wrongful conviction. Visit website. The Legal Aid Society's Parole Revocation Defense Unit has an immediate opening for a Staff Attorney. We seek to be a beacon of hope for those who feel neglected . The Legal Aid Society's Wrongful Conviction Unit represents those wrongfully committed once all appeals have been exhausted. Hochul Projects Horse Racing Renaissance, Declines to Share Evidence. Then, two days later, he told the court that he had, in fact, ordered the polygraph and helped formulate the questions, according to a transcript of the proceedings. They cannot be made over the phone. In January of 2021, two attorneys joined the WCU: CUNY Law alum Antonia Codling 90 and Christine Bella. Mark Hale is not going to fix his faults, he told New York Focus. contribute to wrongful convictions, and the best practices that address these factors. Identifying and understanding the causes of wrongful convictions is critical to maintaining the integrity of our justice system. In court, Katz promised that these expungements were just the beginning as her office continues to probe the work of the other officers tied to convictions in Queens.