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

Today, The AmLaw Litigation Daily recognized Joel Rudin and co-counsel Ryanne Perio of WilmerHale and Spencer Durland of Hoover & Durland as its “Litigators of the Week” for their work in obtaining a $28 million verdict for John Walker, a 65-year-old man who was wrongfully convicted in 1977 of a murder he did not commit in Buffalo, […]

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

A federal jury today awarded $28 million in compensatory damages to our client, John Walker, for his unlawful murder conviction and 21 years of imprisonment, following a three-week trial in federal court in Rochester, New York. The damage award is believed to be the largest ever in this country for misconduct by a District Attorney’s Office.   […]

• Filed under , Appeals , Criminal Defense

The Appellate Division, First Department, has vacated the murder conviction of our client, Fabian Coke, and dismissed the indictment, agreeing with our argument that the evidence was legally insufficient to support the conviction. Importantly, the Appellate Division then went even further, taking the rare step of finding that the jury’s guilty verdict was against the […]

• Filed under , Appeals , Criminal Defense

Today the United States Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit, in a rare en banc ruling, decided that criminal defense lawyers are required by the Sixth Amendment to the United States Constitution to advise a client who is a naturalized citizen and wishes to plead guilty of the risk of denaturalization and then deportation. Firm […]

• Filed under , Criminal Defense

A New York judge has reversed the 2023 manslaughter conviction of our client, Gregory Thayer. (See previous posts on this case here and here.) As we alleged in our motion papers, Mr. Thayer’s local attorney never told Mr. Thayer or his lead attorney, Robert Gottlieb, that he had improperly met privately with the trial judge’s law clerk, who made […]

• Filed under , Civil Rights , Police Misconduct

Today our firm reached an early settlement for $90,000 with the New York City Comptroller’s Office for client Daryus Bryant to settle his claim against the City for excessive force and false arrest.  On the evening of August 2, 2023, police officers drove into a pedestrian area in front of the Sumner Houses in Brooklyn, […]

• Filed under , Civil Rights , Wrongful Conviction

Our firm today filed a wrongful conviction lawsuit on behalf of Donnell Perkins, seeking a total of at least $80 million in compensatory and punitive damages against individual police officers who caused Mr. Perkins to be falsely prosecuted in 2000–01 for a Brooklyn homicide he didn’t commit. You can read the lawsuit here. In 2015, firm […]

• Filed under , Civil Rights , Wrongful Conviction

Today, our firm settled claims, brought on behalf of the estate of the late Jaythan Kendrick, against New York City for $15 million. Last month, our firm settled, for $4 million, a claim brought on behalf of the estate against New York State. Mr. Kendrick tragically died two years ago, after being released from 26 […]

• Filed under , Wrongful Conviction

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, […]

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

The firm filed a federal lawsuit on behalf of Robert Hooper today, seeking $30 million in compensatory and punitive damages against individual police detectives and the City of New York.  The complaint alleges that a team of narcotics officers fabricated drug charges against Mr. Hooper and then failed to disclose numerous lawsuits and civilian complaints […]