In a statement responding to questions sent to the DAs office by New York Focus, spokesperson Yaniv characterized Sims account as novel. 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 bottom line is that the D.A.s Office is fighting to uphold Anthonys conviction despite overwhelming evidence that Anthony is innocent and never received a fair trial, said his attorney, Jonathan Hiles. To find out if you are eligible to have a criminal record sealed call 212-298-3120 or email CaseClosed@legal-aid.org. Tenant/landlord issues. 199 Water Street New York, NY 10038. Under a recent New York State law (CPL 160.59), some people may be able to get their criminal convictions sealed. But the CRUs preliminary review may have been undermined by a fundamental conflict of interest: Mark Hale, who led the unit from its creation in January 2014 until July of this year, was the lead prosecutor in Sims murder trial. Unit Operations of Chemical Engineering (Warren L. McCabe; Julian C. Smith; Peter Harriott) . After taking office in 2014, Thompson expanded the Conviction Review Unit, . The office spent 10 months reviewing every Brooklyn conviction in which the 13 former officers were involved, flagging for dismissal cases in which they served as the primary witnesses. His then-wife, Kisha Sims, said she expected that he would be acquitted and had been planning a coming home party for him. Subscribe to The Legal Aid Society's newsletters for campaign updates, case victories, client stories, and more. 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.) Find job opportunities near you and apply! Catch up on the most important headlines with a roundup of essential NYC stories, delivered to your inbox daily. 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. Member Board of Directors Drama Club Feb 2015 - Jun 2022 7 years 5 . Copyright 2022 The City University of New York School of Law | 2 Court Square, Long Island City, NY 11101-4356 | Phone: 718-340-4200 For more than two decades, Sims has tried to overturn his conviction in the appellate courts, without success. Legal Aid Society Wrongful Conviction Unit New York, NY. 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. The Legal Aid Society, one member of the 2021 group, urged the city's district attorneys to continue reviewing potentially wrongful convictions "on an ongoing basis and with full transparency . I know in my heart and God knows that I am not capable of what I was convicted of, Sims said, according to a court transcript. 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 . According to Coopers civil complaint, two eyewitnesses said they recognized the assailant and it was not Cooper. Sims with his sons, Antoine and Anthony Jr., in 2015 | Keisha Sims. If you are innocent and have exhausted all appeals for a conviction in New York City, write to The Wrongful Conviction Unit and request our questionnaire to be considered for representation: The Wrongful Conviction Unit Founded in 1876, the Society provides a full range of civil legal services as well as criminal defense work, and juvenile rights representation in . By the numbers, there are 39,683 incarcerated persons in New York State prisons with many of them serving lengthy prison sentences. 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. Elizabeth Felber, director of the Wrongful Conviction Unit at The Legal Aid Society, said the people whose cases were tossed endured "hardships that should have never been allowed to happen . When a wrongfully convicted individual is exonerated, the original crime victim may experience feelings of guilt, fear, helplessness, devastation and depression. Legal Services NYC Website. This case presents a number of disputed factual and legal issues which are appropriately resolved in a court of law and not in the media, the statement said. Read our cookies policies here. All Rights Reserved. | Brooklyn DA. A new head of the unit, Sims and his attorneys hope, will give his case a fair review. Today, DNA testing has developed to a point where reinvestigation, reanalysis, or retesting of biological evidence can help prove innocence. James Davis. 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 partnership between CUNY Law and the Legal Aid Society is symbiotic: The Legal Aid Society increases the capacity of their client services; experienced attorneys learn about clinical teaching and supervision in an academic setting, and students are exposed to the most current and specialized practice approaches. Freeing the innocent and preventing wrongful convictions worldwide. One witness for the prosecution, who was under arrest for an unrelated attempted murder, repeatedly told police he had no information on Coopers alleged involvement in the murder, according to Coopers civil complaint. The article has been updated to account for the one exoneration produced in that year. Member Organizations. 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. Prior to joining the Legal Aid Society, Sherry was Of Counsel Bashian P.C. 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. New York Focus Emergency services Emergency financial assistance Medical emergency Mental health emergency . The loss of that evidence could affect cases and people The Legal Aid Society represents who may have been wrongly convicted. CAB also prepares pardon applications for clients who have rehabilitated themselves but are facing deportation. While working to seek exoneration of our clients, we have successfully advocated for the release of incarcerated clients who have gone before the parole board but maintained their innocence. The Defenders Clinics new grant-funded wrongful conviction project will build on the expertise developed through its parole and clemency work, add forensic evidence investigation to its post-conviction practice and deepen a long-standing partnership with The Legal Aid Society. 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. During trial, a state witness testified that police had coerced him into implicating Campos, that he had later recanted his statement to Hale, and that he had failed a lie detector test. From 2014 until Thompsons death in the fall of 2016, Brooklyns unit exonerated 21 people. . The collaboration between the Defenders Clinic and The Legal Aid Society's Wrongful Conviction Unit will help the next generation of social justice attorneys develop vital lawyering skills while increasing access to post-conviction legal representation. Practicing as a forensic psychiatrist, Dr. James Grigson was called upon to evaluate people charged with capital murder crimes. At trial, the States star witness was Graves, who testified that Sims had shot the victim. In certain cases, video As a result of harmful changes to immigration law and policy, Legal Aids clients are increasingly unable to access justice before the USCIS and the immigration courts. Hopefully they will follow the lead of social media and start bringing more wrongful convictions to light. The expungements are the result of a campaign by the Legal Aid Society, the Exoneration Project, and other organizations focused on overturning wrongful convictions, which asked prosecutors across the city in May to investigate cases involving 22 NYPD officers who were convicted of crimes at some point in their careers. 2023 New York Public Radio. he did not see who shot the victim and did not know who did. 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. Subscribe to The Legal Aid Society's newsletters for campaign updates, case victories, client stories, and more. 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 gun used in the murder was kept in the apartment where Graves lived. I want to support him now because hes another one of the many individuals thats in there for something he didnt do, said Cooper. Defendants offered guilty pleas in 34 exonerations and gave false confessions in 24 cases. He pleaded guilty in 2011 and was sentenced to a prison term of a minimum 37 years. But we know that wrongful convictions happen. Sims said he told his trial counsel that he saw Graves commit the crime and asked to testify, but that the lawyer advised him not to testify. New York, New York, United States . Later, when he tried to recant, investigators with the DAs office told him that the DA would pursue the attempted murder charges if he disavowed his earlier statement. Get familiar with some legal terms and acronyms you might hear like appeal, adjournment, petition, jurisdiction, deposition, and affidavit. The article has been updated to account for the one exoneration produced in that year. But at trial, Sims defense counsel said that Graves, not Sims, was the perpetrator. The Case Closed Project helps people clear their criminal records. This is why our office consented to a hearing that would allow Mr. Sims to argue his claim of innocence before a judge, including a new contention, not made in previous motions, that his good friend was the alleged perpetrator and then conspired to frame him., But at trial, Sims defense counsel said that Graves, not Sims, was the perpetrator. Rarely did any of the 167 inmates he testified against escape the death penalty. He only implicated Cooper after police told him his charges would be dropped if he cooperated. I. 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. Hale had a record of alleged prosecutorial misconduct dating back to the 1990s. So, I appeared the next day and did whatever it was they wanted.. 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. George covers Brooklyn for THE CITY with a focus on criminal justice and housing. It was based almost entirely on Julius Graves recantation of his testimony in 2002. Elizabeth Felber, supervising attorney for the Legal Aid Society's Wrongful Conviction Unit, said she hopes the next head of the unit, Hale's replacement, comes from the defense community, as has been the practice in other jurisdictions in New York, such as . The Cop Accountability Project (CAP) of the Criminal Defense Practices Law Reform and Special Litigation Unit empowers organizations and communities across New York City to hold police accountable for human rights violations. The Legal Aid Society is among the first state public defender organizations working in-house to explore our clients' lives through video to convey their character, aspirations, traumas, difficulties, and often, transformation. Find and save resources 24/7 from anywhere!' The hundreds of convictions thrown out in the Bronx involved Mr. Franco.

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