September 26, 2024
shanies law WINS EXONERATION IN BRONX WRONGFUL CONVICTION CASE
Shanies Law, together with co-counsel Ronald L. Kuby, secured the exoneration of Antonio Mallet, a man wrongfully convicted for a 1996 murder in Bronx, New York. The case was the subject of a joint reinvestigation by Shanies Law, Kuby, and the Westchester County District Attorney’s Office Conviction Review Unit.
The case involved two former NYPD detectives who, the prosecution admitted, had been credibly accused of misconduct, including making false statements, witness coercion and intimidation, substance abuse, and violence. The district attorney credited the sole eyewitness’s revelation that his incriminating statements about Mr. Mallet “were the result of physical and psychological coercion during a nearly 19-hour interrogation by two New York City Police Department detectives.”
The police detective who testified against Mr. Mallet at trial had been suspended for misconduct and was barred from performed law enforcement functions; yet, that same detective was allowed to interrogate a subject in a murder investigation and fabricate the evidence used to wrongfully convict Mr. Mallet.
JUNE 6, 2024
shanies law WIns $16.25 MILLION SETTLEMENT FOR EXONERATED CLIENT
Shanies Law negotiated one of the largest settlements ever in a lawsuit brought on behalf of a wrongfully convicted client. James Irons, who was exonerated in 2022 after serving 27 years in prison for a murder he did not commit, accepted a federal magistrate judge’s recommendation to settle his claims against the City of New York and three former NYPD detectives, including Louis Scarcella and Stephen Chmil.
As of this date, Mr. Irons still has a lawsuit pending under New York State’s Unjust Conviction and Imprisonment Act.
FEBRUARY 1, 2024
shanies law clients and attorneys featured on abc’s “X/ONERATEd”
ABC launched its Black History Month programming by airing an hour-long, prime-time special about one of the Firm’s proudest victories: the exonerations of Muhammad A. Aziz and Khalil Islam. ABC’s Soul of a Nation produced “X / o n e r a t e d,” telling the story of our clients, the two men wrongfully convicted for the 1965 murder of El Hajj Malik El-Shabazz, also known as Malcolm X. In addition to Mr. Aziz and members of his and Khalil Islam’s families, David B. Shanies and Deborah I. Francois spoke about the firm’s clients and our ongoing quest for justice on their behalf. Vanessa Potkin, one of the firm’s co-counsel from the Innocence Project, spoke about the importance of robust and cooperative conviction integrity review processes. The program, which originally aired in 2022, earned an Emmy nomination for Outstanding Crime and Justice Coverage.
