The Exploitation Intervention Project works with trafficking survivors to help them vacate criminal convictions related to their trafficking and seal the records of those arrests. Phone: 917-661-4500 or 646-442-3600. The Brooklyn cases originated from arrests that took place between 1999 and 2017. | translate }}, {{ "I still have a question. The truth is gonna come out eventually.. We hope you will pursue all available legal remedies, Felber said. Sims trial lasted five days. Browse All Categories; Urgent. It was based almost entirely on Julius Graves recantation of his testimony in 2002. 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. One of those officers, Jerry Bowens, was charged with killing his girlfriend while he was facing charges arising from the corruption case. In statements to the press, the Brooklyn DAs office has claimed that Hale did not review Sims case. Queens DA Melinda Katz Moves To Expunge 60 Convictions Linked To Corrupt NYPD Officers, We rely on your support to make local news available to all, Overdose prevention centers save lives but remain in legal limbo, as NYC moves toward expansion, Overdoses of two men leaving Manhattan gay bars last spring found to be homicides, A man is dead after an encounter with police in New Jersey, Suspect arrested in connection with NJ State Trooper shot in leg. Click here for a schedule of events and list of speakers. One of the social forces that convictions uses is the human need for safety and serving justice. Unit Operations of Chemical Engineering (Warren L. McCabe; Julian C. Smith; Peter Harriott) . c/o The Legal Aid Society Legal Aid Society Wrongful Conviction Unit New York, NY. When he was convicted, she told New York Focus, she thought that was the end of my world.. Browse 8 NEW YORK CITY, NY WRONGFUL CONVICTION jobs from companies (hiring now) with openings. LAS in the News 03.03.23. The total is expected to rise to 496. CUNY Policy On Sexual Misconduct. More than half of wrongful convictions can be traced to witnesses who lied in court or made false accusations. This year, our 8th Questioning Forensics is titled A juror, an expert & an algorithm walk into a courtroom: Miscommunication in forensics and will focus on misleading testimony and the role of human factors in forensics. 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. 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. To Jabbar Collins, that conflict of interest makes it imperative that a CRU is led by someone outside the office. Include a mailing address for the CRU to contact the convicted person or their attorney. When a wrongfully convicted individual is exonerated, the original crime victim may experience feelings of guilt, fear, helplessness, devastation and depression. 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. One eyewitness, who knew both Sims and Graves, called police and told them that she saw Graves, not Sims, running out of the restaurant with a gun in his hand, according to a report by Graves fiancee. For more than two decades, Sims has tried to overturn his conviction in the appellate courts, without success. Click here to learn more and register. The site contains instructions and forms for applying for commutations and pardons. His then-wife, Kisha Sims, said she expected that he would be acquitted and had been planning a coming home party for him. . 2023 The Legal Aid Society. The Innocence Network is an coalition of organizations dedicated to providing pro bono legal and investigative services to individuals seeking to prove innocence of crimes for which they have been convicted, working to redress the causes of wrongful convictions, and supporting the exonerated after they are freed. 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. All Rights Reserved, Wrongful Convictions, Appeals, Clemency & Sealing, Empowering People with Disability & Health Issues, Lifting the Voices of Children & Adolescents, Supporting Survivors of Violence & Navigating Divorce, City of New York Law School in Queens, New York (CUNY), 8th Annual Questioning Forensics Conference, 18B or Public Defender (Individual Rate) $125, Public Defender (Bulk Rate, 3 or more staff from the same office) $100, LAS Staff & Student Interns/Volunteers Free. Copyright 2022 The City University of New York School of Law | 2 Court Square, Long Island City, NY 11101-4356 | Phone: 718-340-4200 The Wrongful Conviction Unit. I believe that many of them are not the same people that they were when whatever offense was committed, and theyre deserving of clemency as well.. I. We are excited that this collaboration with the Wrongful Conviction Unit will provide more access to legal advocacy for incarcerated New Yorkers, while also growing CUNY Laws relationship with the Legal Aid Society, one of our closest partners, said Nicole Smith Futrell, Associate Professor and Co-Director of the Defenders Clinic. 111 Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Blvd. But Graves 2002 statement said that he did not see who shot the victim and did not know who did, but that police had threatened to charge him with Chens murder unless he testified against Sims. 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. 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. The judge told them to keep going. (Yes!)" | translate }}, {{ "How do I get started with the One Degree app?" In the year following Sims trial, Graves and his family received more than $22,000. Suite 111 530 West New York Street . Alfonzo Riley, Case Handler (left), Elizabeth Felber, Supervising Attorney (center), Thomas McCall, Investigator (right), members of The Legal Aid Society Wrongful Conviction Unit. . A new review by the CRUunder a different directormay be Sims best chance at exoneration. 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. Then, he was unmasked as a quack. The loss of that evidence could affect cases and people The Legal Aid Society represents who may have been wrongly convicted. 2023 The Legal Aid Society. All Rights Reserved. 2023 Content may not be reproduced without permission. 5. Last spring, several defense and civil rights organizations sent a letter to the citys five district attorneys and the special narcotics prosecutor, identifying 20 police officers who had been convicted of crimes and two others who had engaged in work-related misconduct. The Legal Aid Society can assist with wrongful convictions, applications for commutation and pardon, and the sealing of past criminal records. Speakers have ranged from scientists and academics to practicing attorneys. Elizabeth Felber, a supervising attorney at the Legal Aid Societys wrongful convictions unit, thanked Katz, who is the first District Attorney in the city to seek to overturn convictions in response to the mass exoneration campaign Felbers organization helped spearhead.Felber also directly addressed the 60 people who had their convictions purged, some of whom she said served prison sentences, lost jobs, and had licenses suspended as a result. His conviction was dismissed August 4. 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. Riley also believes that there are many others who deserve the second chance that he received. The collaboration between the Defenders Clinic and The Legal Aid Societys Wrongful Conviction Unit will help the next generation of social justice attorneys develop vital lawyering skills while increasing access to post-conviction legal representation. You will get this benefit if you were convicted of possessing up to 16 oz or selling up to 25 grams. Sims attorneys have filed a petition to overturn his conviction, but the judge hearing their case, Danny Chun, has never reversed a conviction during his 16 years on the bench. The project team will then locate and test evidence. Emergency services Emergency financial assistance Medical emergency Mental health emergency . As deputy chief of the homicide bureau under Hynes, Hale participated in an office-wide practice of deceiving judges in criminal cases, witness coercion, and intentional suppression of evidence, according to a federal lawsuit recently filed by exoneree Emmanuel Cooper. Convicted but innocent: wrongful conviction and public policy. The Wrongful Conviction Unit was created to address the population of prisoners who have exhausted all possible avenues of defense and are still fighting for their freedom. The woman had told the authorities that Mr. Sandino warned that she would go to jail and lose custody of her children if she refused. Join us April 14-15, 2023 in Phoenix, AZ for two days of powerful plenary and breakout sessions. In April, the CRU also moved to vacate 90 convictions based on the testimony of disgraced NYPD narcotics detective Joseph Franco. The lawsuit, against the New York City Department of Buildings (DOB), the New York State Department of Homes and Community Renewal (DHCR), and individual landlords, now includes . c/o The Legal Aid Society. 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. The Legal Aid Society is grateful and honored to partner with CUNY School of Law in this endeavor, and we look forward to making more of a difference in the lives of New Yorkers and communities that we serve.. Involved and accomplished at a range of pro-bono initiatives.Skilled in Legal Writing, Advocacy Appeals, Legal research Constitutional Law, Civil law, Criminal Law, Human rights law, Terrorism law, Evidence law, and Alternative Dispute Resolution. To find out if The Exploitation Intervention Project is able to assist you in having your trafficking-related convictions vacated and the records sealed, contact Leigh Latimer at 646-385-5025 or lelatimer@legal-aid.org. Sims and his attorneys allege that police and prosecutors, including Hale, illegally suppressed evidence of Sims innocence and pressured witnessesincluding Gravesinto making false statements. September 16, 2020 / David Brand / Communities, . This article has also been updated to clarify that the CRU also moved to vacate 90 convictions based on the testimony of disgraced NYPD narcotics detective Joseph Franco. Mark Hale, right, was chief of the Brooklyn District Attorneys Conviction Review Unit from 2014 until his retirement in 2021. PHOTO CREDIT: Eagle Photo by Noah Goldberg. Collins was wrongfully convicted in 1995 in Brooklyn; his own investigation led to his exoneration in 2010. Address. 199 Water Street New York, NY 10038. Requests for review must be done by letter or email. Cooper said he felt he could not have the CRU review his case when Hale was running it. These convictions continue to hang around people and impact them in all kinds of ways, Mr. Gonzalez said. The Clinic has had tremendous success in securing parole release and sentence commutation. Heres what you should know after your conviction has been sealed. On February 2, 2021, the New York legislature repealed the loitering for the purposes of prostitution statute, commonly called the Walking While Trans Ban. This means loitering for the purposes of prostitution is no longer a criminal offense in New York, and the records of past convictions should have been sealed automatically. In 2013, controversy over Hynes tactics helped Kenneth Thompson defeat Hynes. t the time, his sons were 4 and 5-years-old. 212-577-3300. In the fall of 2017, The Legal Aid Society launched The Womens Pretrial Release Initiative (The Initiative). 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. DNA; Non-DNA; There is nothing that you need to do to make this happen. He and Graves then ran out of the restaurant. Experienced Litigation Support Specialist with a demonstrated history of working in the legal services sector. Hochul Projects Horse Racing Renaissance, Declines to Share Evidence. Access to legal aid translates into access to justice for the poor, the marginalized, and the disadvantaged. Admission & Aid. Civil law is the law that controls non-criminal issues.Civil lawsuits generally do not result in jail time or "punishment." Instead, the outcome of a civil case is usually an order from a judge that one person pay another person money to make up for harm that they caused, handling a family law (custody, divorce, etc.) On Monday, the Legal Aid Society announced it had proven to the court that Davis did not shoot and kill a man at a 2004 party in East New York. In court filings and statements to the media, the Brooklyn DAs office has said Hale recused himself from reviewing Sims case. | translate }}, {{ "Is One Degree free? At The Legal Aid Society our Civil, Criminal Defense, Juvenile Rights, and Pro Bono practices work tirelessly in and out of thecourtroom to defend our clients and dismantle the hidden, systemic barriers that can prevent them from thriving in New York City. Rooms are limited and are available on first come first serve basis. 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.