The national civil rights law firm Neufeld Scheck Brustin Hoffmann & Freudenberger, LLP (NSBHF), together with co-counsel Kaufman Lieb Lebowitz & Frick LLP (KLLF), Kairys, Rudovsky, Messing, Feinberg & Lin LLP, and Levy Firestone Muse LLP, has filed a federal civil rights lawsuit on behalf of the Estate of David Blakeney and his mother Ginetta Bynum, seeking justice for Mr. Blakeney’s brutal and entirely preventable death while incarcerated at United States Penitentiary (USP) Canaan in the custody of the federal Bureau of Prisons (“BOP”). Mr. Blakeney was only 32 years old when he died. “My son was in pain and asking for help, and they just ignored him until it was too late,” said Ginetta Bynum, Mr. Blakeney’s mother. “I think about it every day, how he must have been crying out for someone to help him, and no one came. They let my baby die like he was nothing.”

(KANSAS CITY, MO) The Kansas City, Missouri Board of Police Commissioners on April 29th, 2025 approved a $14 million settlement in the wrongful conviction case of Ricky Kidd, who spent over 23 years wrongfully incarcerated for a 1996 double homicide he did not commit. Mr. Kidd was exonerated in 2019. In 2021, the law firms of Neufeld Scheck Brustin Hoffmann & Freudenberger, LLP and Lathrop GPM LLP filed a lawsuit on Mr. Kidd’s behalf against the Kansas City, Missouri Board of Police Commissioners and former Kansas City Police Department detectives alleging violations of Mr. Kidd’s constitutional rights during the 1996 homicide investigation. In December 2024, the federal district court denied defendants’ motion for summary judgment and ruled that Mr. Kidd’s claims against the detectives would proceed to trial. “This 14 million dollar settlement speaks unequivocally to Mr. Kidd’s innocence, and to his unwavering perseverance, dignity, and strength in the face

NSBHF joined amicus briefs supporting Jenner & Block and WilmerHale, and now Susman & Godfrey, as those firms challenge the White House’s unlawful Executive Orders targeting them and flouting the basic principles that underlie our profession. You can read each brief together with the appendix noting the firms that signed on below. Jenner & Block  v.  U.S. Department of Justice   Wilmer Cutler Puckering Hale and Dorr LLP  v.  Executive Office of The President   Susman & Godfrey LLP v. Executive Office of the President  

Roberts Spent Nearly 18 Years in Prison for a Murder He Didn’t Commit, Due to Corruption, Misconduct and Cover-Ups by Fairbanks Officials (Fairbanks, AK) — Marvin Roberts, who is Alaska Native, spent nearly 18 years wrongly incarcerated for a crime he did not commit: the brutal 1997 murder of John Hartman, a white 15-year-old in Fairbanks, Alaska. With trial on Mr. Roberts’ civil rights claims against the Fairbanks Police Department officers who caused his wrongful conviction set for later this year, the City of Fairbanks today agreed to a record-breaking $11.5 million settlement—believed to be the biggest police misconduct settlement in Alaska history, according to Roberts’ attorneys at the national civil rights law firm Neufeld Scheck Brustin Hoffmann & Freudenberger, LLP (NSBHF.com). The historic settlement brings a nearly three-decade ordeal to a close and comes on the heels of stunning admissions by the police officials as to their misconduct which ultimately forced their

Suit seeks justice for wrongful conviction which led to legislative change (MINNEAPOLIS, MN) The national civil rights law firm Neufeld Scheck Brustin Hoffmann & Freudenberger, LLP (NSBHF) today filed a wrongful conviction lawsuit on behalf of Marvin Haynes, who was arrested at 16 and served almost two decades in prison for a murder he did not commit. Haynes never wavered in proclaiming his innocence, even as a teen subjected to hours of aggressive interrogation and lies by investigators. “The complaint we filed today tells my story—one I’ve been telling since I was arrested in 2004,” said Haynes, now 37. “I’m grateful that people are now listening, but it is devastating that it took so long for the truth to come out. My life was destroyed by the officers who wrongly chose to fabricate a case against me, and I have a long road in front of me to heal.” Hennepin

“His Innocence Was Apparent From the Beginning,” Lawsuit Charges (NEW YORK, NY) — The national civil rights law firm Neufeld Scheck Brustin Hoffmann & Freudenberger, LLP (NSBHF) today filed a wrongful conviction lawsuit on behalf of Leonard Mack, whose 1976 conviction for rape is the longest to be overturned by DNA evidence. Mack, a Black Vietnam War veteran, was 23 years old when he was wrongly arrested and charged with rape in the largely white community of Greenburgh, New York.  At the time of the arrest, he was studying to obtain a GED and had a small child and a newborn. By the time he was exonerated in September 2023, he was 72 years old and had spent over 47 years living with the stigma of a sexual assault conviction for a crime he did not commit. He spent nearly eight years in prison followed by approximately two-and-a-half years on parole. “We can’t

Calls for mental health intervention led to a SWAT-team response with “tragic but predictable consequences,” lawsuit charges (JERSEY CITY, NJ) — The national civil rights law firm Neufeld Scheck Brustin Hoffmann & Freudenberger, LLP (NSBHF) and New Jersey attorney Randy Davenport today filed a wrongful death lawsuit on behalf of the estate of Andrew “Drew” Washington, a Black man who was killed on August 27, 2023 by Jersey City Police Department (JCPD) officers who were sent to check on his safety during a mental health episode and instead broke down his apartment door, shot him twice, and tased him. “Having a mental health disability is not a crime, and the price of seeking help during a mental health episode should not be a death sentence,” said Amelia Green, a partner with NSBHF. “Instead of ensuring Drew’s wellbeing, Jersey City police officers violated fundamental police rules and unnecessarily caused Drew’s death. Instead of connecting Drew