The Office of the Appellate Defender, Inc. stands in solidarity with the families of Ahmaud Arbery, Breonna Taylor, George Floyd, and Tony McDade. We support the protestors in New York City, across the country and throughout the world. We share their outrage at the seemingly endless list of black victims of police and vigilante violence.…

Like you, everyone at OAD is deeply concerned about and closely monitoring the spread of the coronavirus/COVID-19. Although we have closed our physical office for the safety of our staff and our clients, we continue to do the important work of representing and advocating for people convicted of felonies every day. We are answering all…

Today, in People v. Coulibaly, the First Department vacated OAD’s client’s conviction and dismissed his indictment after finding that trial counsel incorrectly calculated his client’s speedy trial time. Kudos to our Volunteer Appellate Defender co-counsel at MilbankLLP! You can read the decision here.

In OAD’s May 2019 Newsletter, you can learn more about: OAD’s holistic post-conviction representation model; OAD’s First Monday in October Counsel for Justice Honoree, Tony West; and OAD’s available Staff Attorney positions! Check it out here.

On April 8, 2019, OAD joined forces with Appellate Advocates, the Bronx Defenders, Brooklyn Defender Services, the Center for Appellate Litigation, the Center for Community Alternatives, the Legal Aid Society, the Neighborhood Defender Service of Harlem, New York County Defender Services, and the Sex Law Policy Center in a letter urging Mayor DeBlasio and Governor…

On April 26, 2019, in People v. Taylor, the Appellate Division dismissed the indictment of an OAD client after finding an “unreasonably long” delay in sentencing. The Court held that the prosecution “offer[ed] no excuse for more than one year of the delay in defendant’s sentencing, a period that began when the prosecution received actual…