Our unparalleled success in winning record wrongful conviction settlements and payouts on behalf of our clients frequently results in headline news.
If you are a journalist seeking comment on a case, please use the media contact form or call (212) 965-9081.
Jury Awards Stefon Morant $38,000,000 for Wrongful Conviction
Verdict Comes After Jury Finds the City of New Haven and Individual New Haven Police Department Officers Liable for Putting an Innocent Man in Prison for 21 Years (Hartford, CT) After a month-long trial in the District of Connecticut, a jury has awarded Morant $38,000,000, the national civil rights firm Neufeld Scheck Brustin Hoffmann & Freudenberger, LLP announced today. Morant was wrongfully convicted in 1994 for a crime he had nothing to do with. Though no amount of money can make up for what he went through, the verdict is powerful proof of what Morant has always maintained—he is innocent and his conviction happened because of egregious police misconduct. The jury found not only that NHPD detectives made up false evidence and lied to frame Morant, but that the City of New Haven was directly responsible. Specifically, the jury found the City liable for its widespread custom and practice of suppressing evidence favorable to criminal defendants. Municipal liability claims are notoriously hard to prove, and the verdict against the City is a strong indictment of the City’s longstanding tolerance for widespread police corruption. The jury also found former NHPD officer Vincent Raucci liable for the failure to disclose evidence favorable to criminal
Leonard Mack, Exonerated After 47 Years, Sues Over Wrongful Conviction
“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
Family of Andrew Washington, Killed by Jersey City Police, Sues Over Wrongful Death
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
NSBHF Partner Amelia Green Makes Bloomberg Law’s “They’ve Got Next: 40 Under 40” List
The 2024 honorees of “They’ve Got Next: The 40 Under 40,” Bloomberg Law’s prestigious annual award recognizing the accomplishments of stellar young lawyers nationwide, this year includes NSBHF partner Amelia Green. The 40 awardees, according to executive editor Lisa Helem, “inspire their law firms, companies, non-profit organizations and government agencies to elevate, innovate and serve — not only clients but their communities beyond.” Green was one of seven attorneys selected under the Litigation category and the sole honoree specializing in civil rights. In an interview about her accomplishments, Green recalled a recent $12 million settlement for NSBHF client Lionel Rubalcava, an innocent man who spent 17 years wrongfully incarcerated after he was framed by San Jose, California police officers for a drive-by shooting. “The litigation was hard-fought and against a municipality that had a history of failing to acknowledge misconduct in its police department,” Green recalled. She went on to observe: “In our practice, the classic definition
San Jose Pays a Record $12 Million to Lionel Rubalcava, Declared Innocent After 17 Years Behind Bars
City Faced its First-Ever Wrongful Conviction Trial After Judge Rejected Attempt to Dismiss Rubalcava’s Claims Against Police (SAN JOSE, CA) The City of San Jose today is expected to approve a $12 million settlement in the wrongful conviction case of Lionel Rubalcava, a 46-year-old resident who was incarcerated 17 years for a drive-by shooting he did not commit based on flimsy witness identifications manufactured by police. He was exonerated in 2019. This is believed to be the largest police misconduct settlement in the city’s history, and the first in a wrongful conviction suit, according to Amelia Green, a partner with the national civil rights law firm Neufeld Scheck Brustin Hoffmann & Freudenberger (NSBHF), which filed a lawsuit in 2020 on Mr. Rubalcava’s behalf. A trial in the case was scheduled to begin on August 5. “Given the clear evidence of serious police misconduct we would have put on at trial,
L.A. County Pays $24 Million to Wrongfully Convicted Teens
Two men who were wrongfully convicted of murder as teens in 1997 and exonerated after 23 years behind bars will share a $24 million settlement from Los Angeles County, The Los Angeles Times reported. “The lies behind John Klene and Ed Dumbrique’s decades-long wrongful imprisonment were exposed before their criminal trial began when a witness described how a Sheriff’s Department detective made up the evidence against them,” Klene and Dumbrique’s attorneys, Deirdre O’Connor and Nick Brustin said in a joint statement. “But the detectives lied again to cover up their misconduct, and the Sheriff’s Department let them. John and Ed are hopeful that the magnitude of this settlement leads to a careful evaluation of how many other wrongful convictions were caused by these same systemic failures.” They said Klene plans to use some of his settlement to help mentor at-risk youths, while Dumbrique intends to further his work on prison reform. “My time in
Wrongful conviction lawsuit for exonerated San Jose man heads toward trial
A wrongful conviction lawsuit from a man incarcerated 17 years for a San Jose drive-by shooting — based on flimsy witness identifications that were later recanted — has been allowed to proceed toward trial by a federal judge, according to the San Jose Mercury News. As reporter Robert Salonga recounts, “federal Judge Beth Labson Freeman allowed claims against three San Jose police officers at the time — Topui Fonua, Joe Perez and Steven Spillman — to head toward trial, rejecting city legal arguments to toss the lawsuit. Several other officers initially named in the lawsuit have since been dropped from the case, as was the city.” “I’m grateful the court has ruled that the police officers who put me behind bars for 17 years have to answer to a jury,” Rubalcava said in a statement Thursday. “The state declared my actual innocence in 2019, and now there’s no one but the officers whose
Terance Calhoun Files Federal Lawsuit Against Detroit Police Officers for Over 15-Year Wrongful Imprisonment
Police coerced a false confession and fabricated evidence, and then buried DNA evidence of innocence, leaving Calhoun wrongfully imprisoned for over 15 years. (DETROIT, MI) The national civil rights law firm Neufeld Scheck Brustin Hoffmann & Freudenberger, LLP (NSBHF) and Detroit based law firm Goodman Hurwitz & James, P.C. (GHJ) filed a federal lawsuit on behalf of Terance Calhoun for his over 15-year wrongful imprisonment. Calhoun, at only 19 years old and with obvious cognitive deficits, was coerced by Detroit police to falsely confess to crimes that he did not commit, and then police buried exculpatory forensic evidence, knowingly leaving an innocent man wrongfully imprisoned. “This is a case that truly shocks the conscience,” said Emma Freudenberger, a partner with NSBHF. “Police had definitive scientific evidence proving Terance Calhoun’s innocence, and deliberately hid it, choosing to let him suffer in prison rather than own up to their own misconduct.
Lamar Johnson, Whose Exoneration Raised a National Outcry, Sues St. Louis Police Officers Responsible for His Wrongful Conviction
Lawsuit seeks accountability for overwhelming evidence of police misconduct after St. Louis Circuit Court declared Johnson “factually innocent” (ST. LOUIS, MO) Today, the Kansas City law firm Morgan Pilate, LLC (Morgan Pilate) and the national civil rights law firm Neufeld Scheck Brustin Hoffmann & Freudenberger, LLP (NSBHF) filed a wrongful conviction lawsuit on behalf of Lamar Johnson, who served 28 years of a life sentence for a murder he did not commit. “This lawsuit is about accountability,” said Emma Freudenberger, a partner with NSBHF. “The defendant officers framed a young man with his life ahead of him. Even after the Court declared his innocence, there have been no apologies and no consequences. The City of St. Louis cannot continue to simply ignore the glaring police misconduct that has caused Mr. Johnson and his family so much harm.” Johnson, a St. Louis native, was a young father who was working and