Beginning in 2021, the NYC District Attorneys offices have begun dismissing our clients cases where the officers involved in the prosecution were convicted of crimes relating to corruption. Subscribe to The Legal Aid Society's newsletters for campaign updates, case victories, client stories, and more. Our services focus on providing support to survivors as they re-build after abuse. Chao Tzee Cheng was the son of a professor in cultural studies and a school principal.Of Cantonese origin, he later migrated to Singapore with his parents and received his education at Catholic High School and Victoria Continuation School. | translate }}, {{ 'Find and save resources 24/7 from anywhere' | translate }}, {{ 'Get the free One Degree App. Biography Early life and education. 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. The police stated that if I do not appear tomorrow morning at the trial, they are going to release Anthony and charge me with the murder, he said in his 2002 affidavit. Member Board of Directors Drama Club Feb 2015 - Jun 2022 7 years 5 . BY: Elizabeth Dickinson | DATE: Jan 04, 2021, BY: Naz Ahmad, Acting Director of CLEAR | DATE: Feb 01, 2023, Delivering Justice: CUNY Law and The Legal Aid Society Team Up to Reduce Incarceration through Post-conviction Testing of DNA Evidence. 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. Quick hits with little oversight, said Charles Linehan, a former Manhattan prosecutor who has run the Brooklyn district attorneys conviction review unit since January. 199 Water Street New York, NY 10038. | The Legal Aid Society is the nation's oldest and largest provider of legal services to the indigent. In 2013, controversy over Hynes tactics helped Kenneth Thompson defeat Hynes. Please register prior to March 10th. But we know that wrongful convictions happen. 2023 The Legal Aid Society. Gothamist is a website about New York City news, arts, events and food, brought to you by New York Public Radio. Wrongful Conviction Clinic. | translate }}, {{ "How do I save resources on the app?" 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. However, three days into the trial, Hale told the judge that Graves was nowhere to be found and asked for a material witness order, which allows law enforcement to take a witness into custody to ensure that they appear in court. NYS Attorney Elizabeth Sack Felber The Legal Aid Society 199 Water St, New York, NY . I want to support him now because hes another one of the many individuals thats in there for something he didnt do, said Cooper. | Brooklyn DA. Wrongful Convictions CRUs are tasked with investigating convictions secured by their own officeoften the colleagues, friends and supervisors of CRU staff. . Historically, the parole boards routinely denied parole to people who maintained their innocence because they were not accepting responsibility for crimes they did not commit. DNA; Non-DNA; Catch up on the most important headlines with a roundup of essential NYC stories, delivered to your inbox daily. It was at that point, I forgave him, said Sims. Sims told him he couldnt think like that. For Elizabeth Felber, the director of the Legal Aid Society's Wrongful Conviction Unit, . but that police had threatened to charge him with Chens murder unless he testified against Sims. 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.. The concerns over his cases sparked the broader review in Brooklyn, as prosecutors began to examine past cases handled by other officers who were similarly charged and convicted of misconduct that was directly related to their jobs. 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. Copyright 2022 The City University of New York School of Law | 2 Court Square, Long Island City, NY 11101-4356 | Phone: 718-340-4200 Our success so far with these advocacy letters indicates that there has been a shift in attitude at the parole boards. 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. About Us. Address. Hale then obtained a material witness order for Graves fiance as well, even though she was never called to testify at trial. They dont want to hurt their friends or make their friends look bad. 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, Discrimination Based on Arrest & Conviction Records, What You Need to Know About Marijuana Legalization in New York, What You Need to Know About Marijuana Expungement, What You Need to Know About Loitering & Prostitution Records, What You Need to Know About Sealing Your Criminal Convictions, What You Need to Know After Your Convictions Have Been Sealed, What You Need to Know About Discrimination Based on Arrest and Conviction Records. Collins was wrongfully convicted in 1995 in Brooklyn; his. If you were convicted of a criminal offense as a result of having been sex or labor trafficked, you may be eligible to have your record sealed. It would be among the largest mass dismissal of convictions in the country, according to data collected by the National Registry of Exonerations. 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. The mission of the Wrongful Conviction Division is to identify and litigate claims of actual innocence in post-conviction proceedings. According to Coopers civil complaint, two eyewitnesses said they recognized the assailant and it was not Cooper. Legal Aid Society . Brooklyn, Manhattan, Queens, and Staten Island Trial Offices, the Homicide Defense Task Force Unit, Wrongful Conviction Unit, Parole Revocation Unit, and the Criminal Appeals Bureau. The Corporate Lawyer Moonlighting as a New York Assemblymember. When he went to prison, his wife, Kisha, brought their children to visit every weekend. The judge told them to keep going. Coopers appellate criminal defense attorney and civil attorney is Tom Hoffman, the same person representing Sims. When questioned by the trial judge after the witnesss outburst, Hale initially denied any knowledge of a lie detector test. When he was convicted, she told New York Focus, she thought that was the end of my world., In 2013, controversy over Hynes tactics helped Kenneth Thompson defeat Hynes. You will get this benefit if you were convicted of possessing up to 16 oz or selling up to 25 grams. The Legal Aid Society had filed an amended lawsuit to stop illegal apartment layout alterations initiated by the landlords, which threaten to displace long-term rent-stabilized tenants, as reported by Gothamist.. All members of the Legal Aid community have a shared responsibility to support and comply with policies and protocols to protect the health and safety of our . Tenant/landlord issues. About half of them involved four officers who were involved in a corruption scandal that rocked the police departments narcotics operations in Brooklyn more than a decade ago. Prior to joining the Legal Aid Society, Sherry was Of Counsel Bashian P.C. Try our guided search" | translate }}, {{ 'Get the free One Degree App' | translate }}, {{ 'Use our apps to find and save resources 24/7' | translate }}, {{existingAffiliation.organization_name}}. Sims is no longer angry with Graves. He pleaded guilty in 2011 and was sentenced to a prison term of a minimum 37 years. To Jabbar Collins, that conflict of interest makes it imperative that a CRU is led by someone outside the office. According to Sims attorneys, Hale never disclosed this information to the defense. In response to that request, Katz, who formed a conviction integrity unit when she took office as district attorney last year, launched a review and found that 10 of the 22 flagged officers had contributed to convictions in Queens. Today, DNA testing has developed to a point where reinvestigation, reanalysis, or retesting of biological evidence can help prove innocence. After the shooting, Graves told police that he took the gun home with him and wiped it down to remove fingerprints. Find job opportunities near you and apply! His then-wife, Kisha Sims, said she expected that he would be acquitted and had been planning a coming home party for him. | translate }}, {{ 'How do I search on One Degree?' Hale disclosed none of this to Coopers defense counsel, according to Coopers civil complaint. 2023 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 Brooklyn cases originated from arrests that took place between 1999 and 2017. Although he did not pull the trigger and was actually nowhere near the shooting, he was charged under New Yorks controversial felony murder law and sentenced to 71 years to life. Browse Resources . 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. The group Families of the Wrongfully Convicted, along with lawyers from the Legal Aid Society, argued that the Conviction Review Unit established in 2014 under the late Brooklyn DA Kenneth . Name: The Legal Aid Society; Industry: Legal Practice; Location: New York, NY, United States; Employees: 1000-5000 Description: The Legal Aid Society is the nation's oldest and largest provider of legal services to the indigent. At the Legal Aid Society of Westchester County, Sherry concentrates her practice on Criminal Defense. The state has two years to implement the expungement, BUT if you have an expungeable PL 221 offense it is already being suppressed and it should NOT show up on a background check. 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. When a crime occurs, the person is considered a danger to society. | translate }}, {{ "Add or edit any resource" | translate }} After spending 17 years behind bars for a crime he didn't commit, Brooklyn man James Davis is finally coming home. Earlier this year, Graves told the Daily News that Sims killed the victim. Instead, he received a one page rejection letter stating that it would not investigate the case because the evidence that you are asking the CRU to rely on has already been rejected by multiple courts.. This grant will provide us with vital support to expand our work as we train law students to reverse wrongful convictions and decarcerate our prisons. Nearly 75% of Defender Clinic students intern at The Legal Aid Society. James Davis. 199 Water Street Any of the other testimony [] wouldnt really matter unless I can get [Graves].. 4 The National Registry of Exonerations, "Basic Patterns" (Nov. 2016). 207 followers 207 connections. In another case, Hale prosecuted Vladymir Campos, 22, for the 1997 murder of 16-year-old Felix Gonzalez. Skip to Job Postings. This is a very important role; the work of this committee is of extraordinary importance, not just to the Muslim community, but to all communities in New York. contribute to wrongful convictions, and the best practices that address these factors. A PRDU Staff Attorney represents clients accused of violating their conditions of release at administrative parole revocation hearings and recognizance hearings held in the criminal courts, federal detention facilities, hospital prison wards and, where applicable, local correctional . Crime and delinquency 32: 518-544; Huff C, Rattner A & Sagarin E 1996. The Project can also tell you if you are eligible for the many other types of record relief that can help to end the perpetual punishment of a conviction record. Many of these convictions were secured in the late 1980s and early 90s, when misplaced and biased prosecutorial and police responses to substance abuse, poverty, and racial tension within communities, led to a surge of questionable arrests and convictions. 2023 The Legal Aid Society. Their scientists will collaborate with the Delivering Justice Project to determine the most appropriate DNA testing and analysis. In April 2021, Mr. Gonzalez asked the court to dismiss 90 convictions involving Mr. Franco. 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. 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. 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. New York, NY 10038. Make your contribution now and help Gothamist thrive in 2023. The new head of Brooklyns Conviction Review Unit should be someone with no prior connection to the office, in order to avoid any conflicts of loyalty or unconscious bias, Felber told New York Focus in a statement. The grant will be managed by the Research Foundation of CUNY. . Legal Services NYC. Legal Aid Society (1) The Legal Aid Society (1) Get fresh Wrongful Conviction jobs daily straight to your inbox! After three days of deliberations, the jury sent a note to the court saying that they were deadlocked. It will be held in-person in NYC on March 23 and 24 at the City of New York Law School in Queens, New York (CUNY). Founded in 1876, the Society provides a full range of civil legal services as w. Legal Services NYC Website. Emergency services Emergency financial assistance Medical emergency Mental health emergency . Legal Aid Society Wrongful Conviction Unit, Iowa State Public Defender Wrongful Conviction Division. | translate }}, {{ "Is One Degree free? Find and save resources 24/7 from anywhere!' Riley was incarcerated for his role in a 1988 drug deal that ended in a homicide. A new review by the CRUunder a different directormay be Sims best chance at exoneration. The Wrongful Conviction Unit continues to grow in size and outreach since its inception in 2019. The Criminal Appeals Bureau prepares commutation applications for eligible clients individuals with excellent institutional records who have served more than half of their minimum term and are more than a year away from parole eligibility. Enough is Enough: Combating Sexual Misconduct | Notice of Non-Discrimination | Legal Notices | CUNY Copyright | Text Only View | 8th Annual Questioning Forensics Conference. {{ "Empowering you to find what you need" | translate }}, {{ "It's always 100% free" | translate }}, {{ 'Search for resources' | translate }} >, {{ 'Learn how to use One Degree' | translate }} >, {{ "One Degree amplifies your work" | translate }}, {{ "View tools & resources" | translate }} >, {{ "We're a 501(c)(3) technology-driven non-profit" | translate }}, {{ 'Learn more about us' | translate }} >, {{ 'Learn about our impact' | translate }} >, {{ 'How do I search for resources on the One Degree app?' In New York, most employers and agencies can only deny you a job or license because of your criminal conviction if theres a direct connection between the work and the offense or if giving you the job or license would involve an unreasonable risk to people or property. Photo: Legal Aid Society. All Rights Reserved, Anthony Sims, seen here in 2019 with his wife Keisha, has been imprisoned for over two decades for a murder he says he didn't commit, For more than two decades, Sims has tried to overturn his conviction in the appellate courts, without success. After taking office in 2014, Thompson expanded the Conviction Review Unit, fulfilling a. people from across the country.