• Filed under , Civil Rights , Prosecutorial Misconduct , Wrongful Conviction

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A jury in Rochester, N.Y., returned a verdict of $80 Million against Erie County, N.Y. – the largest wrongful conviction civil damage award in U.S. history – on behalf of our firm’s client, Estate of Darryl Boyd, following a 2 ½ week trial.   Darryl Boyd and his original codefendant, John Walker, were convicted in 1977 in Buffalo, N.Y., for a murder they did not commit.  Darryl spent a total of 28 years in prison for this crime; John spent 21 years.  Following the overturning of their convictions in 2021, Darryl and John retained our firm to bring a damages action on their behalf; we brought in the international law firm, WilmerHale, together with a Buffalo law firm, Hoover & Durland, and together we won this victory as well as a prior civil trial for John Walker in April, recovering $28 million for John.  The $28 million verdict already was the largest verdict ever against a municipality in this country for misconduct by a prosecutor.  See coverage of our historic victory in The New York Times here, the New York Law Journal here, Law360 here, and the Buffalo News here.  The Law360 article credits our law firm with developing the entire area of law of municipal liability for prosecutorial misconduct that allowed this verdict to be achieved.