August 28, 2024
Firm brings $27 million lawsuit in Brooklyn wrongful conviction case
Our firm today filed an unjust conviction lawsuit on behalf of Steven Ruffin, seeking a total of at least $27,010,000 in compensatory damages from the State of New York. You can read the lawsuit here. Mr. Ruffin was convicted of a Brooklyn homicide he did not commit in 1996, and spent fourteen years behind bars, until he was paroled in 2010. Mr. Ruffin’s case was investigated by, among others, the notorious NYPD detective Louis Scarcella, whose illegal practices have been responsible for numerous wrongful convictions, resulting in over $100 million in awards to victims by the City and State of New York. Mr. Ruffin’s conviction was vacated in January of this year, following a joint motion filed by his defense attorneys, the Legal Aid Society and Garrett Ordower, and the Conviction Review Unit of the Brooklyn DA’s Office. In a press release issued the same day, District Attorney Eric Gonzalez acknowledged that “Mr. Ruffin was convicted for the actions of a different person whom he claimed to be the killer all along.” Mr. Ruffin’s lawsuit seeks compensation from the State under a statute, the Unjust Conviction Act, that provides a remedy to innocent individuals like him. Garrett Ordower, who represented Mr. Ruffin pro bono for over a decade as he sought to overturn his wrongful conviction, is working with our firm on its efforts to seek compensation for the harms Mr. Ruffin suffered.