Paul, Weiss Secures Dismissal of Murder Conviction

Paul, Weiss and The Legal Aid Society obtained an order dismissing and vacating a pro bono client’s 1997 conviction for murder in the second degree. At the time of the murder, our client was heavily addicted to drugs and in an abusive relationship with her co-defendant, who had conceived of a plan to rob his former employers and who, during the robbery, killed one of those employers. Our client, who had participated in the robbery, was convicted at trial of murder under a felony murder theory. She ultimately received the same 25-year-to-life sentence as her co-defendant despite the fact that he was the more culpable party and that our client was the prosecution’s primary witness at her co-defendant’s trial.

Twenty-five years later, in September 2022, we helped secure our client’s release at her first parole interview, a rarity in cases involving murder convictions, particularly those that go to a jury verdict. Shortly before her release, we filed a motion for resentencing under New York’s Domestic Violence Survivor’s Justice Act (DVSJA), which permits retroactive sentencing for certain defendants who are survivors of domestic abuse. Leveraging that motion, and the potential expansion of the DVSJA’s recognized applicability, we negotiated an agreement with the Kings County District Attorney’s Office in Brooklyn to vacate our client’s murder conviction altogether.

The Paul, Weiss team included pro bono attorney Jeremy Benjamin and litigation associate Maia Usui. The matter was supervised by litigation partner Michele Hirshman and special counsel Steve Banks.