NEWS
march 16, 2026
shanies law client exonerated and freed AFTER TWO DECADES of WRONGFUL imprisonment
Shanies Law and our co-counsel, the Office of Amy Jane Agnew, successfully moved to overturn the conviction and dismiss all charges against Kenneth Windley, a man wrongfully convicted of robbing an elderly victim in Brooklyn in 2005. Kenneth was incarcerated for 20 years as a result of the false charges and conviction. Shanies Law worked cooperatively with the Brooklyn District Attorney’s Office Conviction Review Unit to comprehensively evaluate the conviction and presented a joint request by Kenneth and the prosecution to overturn the wrongful conviction. Brooklyn District Attorney Eric Gonzalez told reporters that “Mr. Windley's repeated claims that he did not commit this robbery were supported by the facts.” He added, “today we are able to validate his account, release him from prison and exonerate his name.” David B. Shanies told the press that the exoneration motivated him “to keep getting clients like Kenneth out of prison” and to get Kenneth “compensation that is well deserved for the ordeal he’s been through.”
February 18, 2026
SHANIES LAW FINALiZES $17.75 MILLION RECOVERY FOR WRONGFUL CONVICTION VICTIM
Shanies Law obtained settlements with the City and State of New York totaling $17.75 million in the case of James Irons, a man who spent 25 years in prison after being wrongfully convicted of murder in the infamous “Money Train” case in 1995. James was convicted due to a false confession coerced by disgraced former New York City detectives Louis Scarcella and Stephen Chmil, who have become infamous for cases involving false confessions and false witness statements.
The resolution represents one of the highest civil recoveries of all time—not only in New York, but in the world. Shanies Law has recovered more than ten million dollars each for five clients in wrongful conviction cases, setting Shanies Law apart as one of the country’s leading civil rights law firms.
January 12, 2026
shanies law obtains record-setting recovery in new orleans wrongful conviction
Shanies Law obtained the second-highest wrongful conviction settlement in the history of the City of New Orleans, Louisiana, in a federal lawsuit brought on behalf of client Raymond Flanks. Working alongside co-counsel co-counsel Christopher J. Murell and Meghan Matt, from the preeminent New Orleans civil rights and criminal defense firm Murell Law, Shanies Law has represented Raymond since his exoneration in 2022—achieved through the tireless advocacy of Innocence Project New Orleans (now Innocence and Justice Louisiana).
The recovery was exceptionally difficult, coming in the midst of the city’s fiscal crisis, and the settlement received high praise in the form of immediate criticism by Louisiana Governor Jeff Landry. The Times-Picayune, New Orleans’s paper of record, quoted David B. Shanies, who lauded Raymond’s “extraordinary courage” and praised the settlement that now “allows him to move forward with his life.”
