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

In an article published today on the New Yorker website, veteran reporter Tom Robbins writes about the wrongful conviction of Shuaib O’Neill and, after the conviction was reversed, the ensuing civil actions that our firm brought on Mr. O’Neill’s behalf. In those lawsuits, handled by firm principal Joel Rudin and associate Haran Tae, we achieved settlements for […]

• Filed under , Civil Rights , Police Misconduct

Yesterday the firm filed a federal lawsuit on behalf of Ahmed Sami, who was arrested by the NYPD during last summer’s George Floyd protests. The complaint alleges that Mr. Sami was arrested without probable cause as he was leaving a peaceful protest against police brutality. Officers handcuffed him too tightly using plastic flex-cuffs and then […]

• Filed under , Civil Rights , Police Misconduct , Prosecutorial Misconduct

Today, the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York denied the City of New York’s motion for partial judgment on the pleadings and held that firm client Jawaun Fraser’s claims could proceed. Mr. Fraser alleges that the defendants violated Brady v. Maryland when they disclosed to the defense only two of the […]

• Filed under , Civil Rights , Prosecutorial Misconduct

In a long article reporting on the recent exonerations in Queens of George Bell, Gary Johnson, and Rohan Bolt after they spent almost a quarter-century in prison, Gothamist discusses our firm’s lawsuits against New York City based on the longstanding misconduct of the Queens DA’s Office. In addition to covering our documentation of more than a hundred decisions […]

• Filed under

On March 8, the United States Supreme Court agreed to hear the case of Thompson v. Clark, which presents the question of whether a plaintiff alleging that law enforcement officials maliciously prosecuted him in violation of the Constitution must prove that he won his state criminal case on the basis that he was innocent. An article appearing […]

• Filed under , Appeals , Criminal Defense

Today the New York Appellate Division, Second Department, reversed our client’s conviction for first-degree rape in People v. King. Jacob Loup took the lead in writing the briefs, with the collaboration of firm principal Joel Rudin, who argued the appeal. In today’s ruling, the Appellate Division agreed with our argument that the trial court violated Mr. […]

• Filed under , Appeals , Civil Rights , Police Misconduct

Firm principal Joel Rudin today argued an important civil rights case in the United States Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit. Listen to the oral argument here. At issue is whether a plaintiff in a federal civil rights case claiming that fabricated evidence was used against him must also prove that he won his […]

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

The U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of New York granted Rhian Taylor’s motion to amend his complaint yesterday, allowing him to add claims of evidence fabrication and excessive pretrial detention under the Fourth Amendment. Mr. Taylor alleges that he spent nearly nine years in jail and prison because of the police and prosecution’s […]

• Filed under , Appeals , Criminal Defense

The firm filed an amicus brief in the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit in the case of Farhane v. United States today. The Government is trying to denaturalize naturalized citizen Abderrahmane Farhane on the basis of his 2006 guilty plea. We argue that the Sixth Amendment requires defense counsel to advise naturalized […]

• Filed under , Civil Rights , Criminal Defense , Prosecutorial Misconduct

Firm principal Joel Rudin was quoted in a recent Times article about the Queens District Attorney’s Office. The article also cited information compiled by the firm showing that, between 1985 and 2017, judges had ruled that Queens prosecutors had “failed to disclose information to the defense or committed other misconduct” at least 117 times. You […]