News Archives - The Office of the Appellate Defender

Indictment Dismissed

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.

OAD Joins NYC Defenders in Urging Accuracy and Transparency in DNA Testing and Analysis

On February 15, 2019, OAD joined with New York City indigent and post-conviction defense providers to urge the Office of the Chief Medical Examiner to conduct a transparent and collaborative review to determine whether and to what extent a controversial method for evaluating DNA mixtures has been used in New York City criminal cases. You…

AD1 Reverses OAD Client’s Conviction: Cumulative Errors Deprived Right to a Fair Trial

In People v. Ortiz, the First Department reversed Mr. Ortiz’s conviction because numerous errors—including the improper admission of testimony about cell-site data by an unqualified lay witness—deprived Mr. Ortiz of his right to a fair trial. The decision is available here: http://www.nycourts.gov/reporter/3dseries/2019/2019_00221.htm Mr. Ortiz was represented by OAD Staff Attorney, Victorien Wu.

OAD’s 2019 Preservation Training for Trial Lawyers

On February 4, 2019, OAD Supervising Attorneys, Eunice Lee and Joe Nursey, will lead a discussion about how trial lawyers can and should preserve errors to maximize full and complete appellate review. This training will be held at: New York University Law School Room 210, Vanderbilt Hall 40 Washington Square South New York, N.Y. 6-8pm…

OAD Alumni Directory

In honor of OAD’s 30th anniversary, we are proud to present this first-ever OAD Alumni Directory. We have listed our former staff members’ names, current place of business, and position while at OAD. As this Directory powerfully demonstrates, OAD-trained attorneys have become state and federal public defenders, scholars, policy-makers, jurists and private practitioners. OAD’s alumni…

OAD@30

In honor of OAD’s 30th anniversary, we are sharing 30 ways that OAD makes a difference. From our courtroom success, reinvestigation project, esteemed alumni, client advocacy programs, and social services–follow along on Twitter and Facebook, or click here to see all of the ways revealed thus far! #WeRepresent #OAD@30

OAD Appellate Update (October 23 to November 5, 2018)

Appellate Update (October 23, 2018 to November 5, 2018) Court of Appeals People v. Jakim Grimes (Oct. 23, 2018) Opinion by Judge Di Fiore with Judges Stein, Fahey, Garcia and Feinman concurring; Judge Wilson dissents in an opinion joined by Judge Rivera The Court of Appeals previously held in People v Andrews (2014) that an…

Two Wins in the Appellate Division

On June 7, 2018, the First Department vacated Mr. Travis Breckenridge’s first degree assault conviction after concluding that “the court’s jury charge failed to convey that an acquittal on the top count of attempted second-degree murder based on a finding of justification would preclude consideration of the count of first-degree assault.” On May 31, 2018, the First Department…

OAD Receives Open Society Foundations Grant

Today, the Open Society Foundations (OSF) announced that OAD’s President and Attorney-in-Charge, Christina Swarns, is one of eight new leaders of nonprofit organizations who has been awarded a New Executive Fund grant to “help implement their vision of change.” You can read more about this exciting grant here.

OAD is Selected as a Host Site for NLADA’s Inaugural AmeriCorps VISTA Program

The National Legal Aid and Defender Association (NLADA) has selected the Office of the Appellate Defender (OAD) to serve as a host site for NLADA’s inaugural AmeriCorps VISTA program. This initiative is designed to train AmeriCorps VISTA members in best practices in Community Oriented Defense by placing them in public defense agencies to help establish…