People v. George Oliveras

On December 27, 2011, the Appellate Division reversed the order of Bronx Supreme Court Justice David Stadtmauer denying George Oliveras's motion to vacate his conviction pursuant to Criminal Porcedure Law Section 440.10. The Appellate Division, in a 3-2 decision, granted the motion, vacated Mr. Oliveras's conviction for second degree murder and his sentence of 25 years to life, and ordered a new trial. The Court agreed with OAD that Mr. Oliveras was denied his constitutional right to effective assistance of counsel, where his lawyer failed to obtain psychiatric records that would have supported his defense that his confession -- the centerpiece of the prosecution's case -- was false and coerced by the police, who took advantage of Mr. Oliveras's history of mental illness to overcome his will and extract the confession. This case marks a major success for OAD's Reinvestigation Project, which uncovered the psychiatric evidence and other indicia of innocence. Mr. Oliveras was represented by OAD's Director of Reinvestigation, Risa Gerson, along with Dan Roeser and Tim Kline, of Cravath, Swaine & Moore, who worked on the case through OAD's Volunteer Appellate Defender Program.
To read the decision, Click here.

People v. Tony William
Awaiting the scheduling of argument in the Court of Appeals, People v. Tony William seeks clarification of the factors that may be considered by a suppression court when considering the constitutionality of the stop and search of a car.

Mr. William is represented by Volunteer Appellate Attorney Jonathan K. Chang of Davis Polk & Wardwell and OAD Supervising Attorney Rosemary Herbert.