We handle civil rights matters involving prisoners’ rights, as well as voting rights and racial and other forms of discrimination. Cases are referred by federal court pro bono panels and organizations such as Asian American Legal Defense and Education Fund, the Brennan Center, Gay Men’s Health Crisis, the Lawyers’ Committee for Civil Rights Under Law, and New York Lawyers for the Public Interest.
A team of Davis Polk lawyers won an acquittal on all charges in the jury trial of Lonnie Jones, a client who had been convicted of murder in the second degree and sentenced to 37 years to life. In 2006, the team succeeded in obtaining a new trial for Mr. Jones due to serious irregularities and the introduction of false evidence at his first trial. The case involved a drug-related shooting in a Brooklyn housing complex in 2001. After extensive investigation, the Davis Polk team was able to develop evidence that the prosecution's sole eyewitness at the trial could not have witnessed the crime at all. At the new trial, three eyewitnesses testified that this witness was in a different location (Nathan’s Restaurant) at the time of the crime. The jury in the new trial deliberated for just two hours and found Lonnie innocent of the crimes charged. The verdict led to Lonnie's immediate release after having spent more than five years in prison on the false charges.
We recently completed Lonnie Jones' civil trial for wrongful conviction and expect a decision soon.
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