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In the afternoon of April 15, 2008, Charles Atkins, a 26-year-old black man, was walking down a Baltimore street, about to meet a friend. Two plain-clothes police officers happened to be in the neighborhood, and they spotted Atkins walking by. They became interested in him because, they claimed, [...]
Prosecutors in Baltimore City have started to ask the courts to throw out old convictions that relied on dirty police officers. Starting on October 1, 2019, prosecutors began undoing 790 convictions that they believe are no longer valid. If the courts agree to vacate these convictions, judges will [...]
Brown Law won another Maryland post-conviction proceeding recently, reversing a murder conviction and winning a new trial for Mohammad Biglari, a man who has maintained his innocence for the past 27 years. This marks the seventh time the Firm has obtained an order reversing a life sentence. The [...]
Brown Law last week won a high-stakes post-conviction proceeding in Anne Arundel County when a Circuit Court Judge found that prosecutors had withheld critical evidence from the defendant. As a result, our client’s life sentence was vacated and a new trial ordered. This marks the sixth time [...]
(Photo by Alan Chin) A Montgomery County Circuit Judge ordered Lloyd Hall to be released from prison on Thursday – immediately – vacating a life-without-parole sentence and ending an injustice that had persisted for 34 years. Hall walked out of the courthouse in a new black suit around [...]
I get asked the question all the time. Why do you represent criminal defendants? Sometimes I ask myself. But this is why. I have sat in prison visiting booths with inmates serving life sentences whom I believed were innocent. I have stood side by side with guilty defendants who were better human [...]
This week the Seventh Circuit Court of Appeals upheld the legality of Brendan Dassey’s confession to the 2005 killing of Teresa Halbach, finding that it was voluntary and could be used against him at trial. To many of the millions of people who watched video of the confession in the Netflix [...]
Adnan Syed today filed his final written brief leading up to the oral arguments scheduled for June 8 before the Maryland Court of Special Appeals. Read the filing here: REPLY BRIEF The oral arguments are open to the public, although seating may be [...]
Adnan Syed today filed a Motion seeking to be released on bail while the State’s appeal is pending and while he awaits a new trial. The Motion was prepared by Brown & Nieto and Hogan Lovells, and was filed in Baltimore City Circuit Court. The full Motion is available here: Motion for [...]
Two prominent criminal defense organizations have moved for leave to file an amicus curiae brief on behalf of Adnan Syed, urging the Maryland Court of Special Appeals to deny the State’s appeal and push the case forward toward a new trial. The brief, drafted by Steven Klepper of Kramon [...]