Defenders Association Marks April Achievements

ALBANY, NY (05/07/2010)(readMedia)-- The New York State Defenders Association provided many services and was pleased to share successes with others in the last month. The Association, which began receiving state funds in 1981 for the first and only Public Defense Backup Center in the country, provides practical help to attorneys representing individuals who cannot afford to hire a lawyer in criminal (and many family court) matters. It also provides technical assistance at both the county and state level as well as policy analysis and recommendations in a variety of forums.

Chief Defender Updates

In April, busy Chief Defenders – heads of public defender, legal aid, and assigned counsel programs across the state – received a variety of NYSDA updates, including summaries of:

• an important United States Supreme Court decision about advice lawyers must provide to clients in immigration cases,

• the distribution of revenue for public defense to localities from a state fund established in 2003, and

• the status of state budget proposals affecting public defense.

Continuing Legal Education

NYSDA sponsored or co-sponsored a number of successful Continuing Legal Education training events. Lawyers around the state were able to choose training relevant to the work they do from many options:

• Criminal Defense Tactics and Techniques XII (Rochester, April 10);

• Adult Representation in Family Court (Rochester, April 24);

• Federal Criminal Law Update (Albany, April 29);

• Cutting Edge Criminal Defense: Evidence Foundations (Binghamton, April 30); and

• Trainings on the interface between criminal law and immigration law (from Erie County to Westchester County).

The experienced and knowledgeable presenters at the month's training events included Donald M. Thompson of Rochester. Thompson has worked independently and together with the Innocence Project to obtain the release and exoneration of wrongfully convicted defendants, including most recently Frank Sterling. Thompson is a member of the firm Easton Thompson Kasperek Shiffrin, LLP, which has co-sponsored a number of NYSDA trainings.

Exoneration of Frank Sterling Touches NYSDA

Frank Sterling's exoneration in Monroe County touched NYSDA in another way as well. Sterling was one of 12 prisoners identified in a study as wrongfully convicted. In May 2001, author Scott Christianson collaborated with NYSDA on a project dealing with people wrongfully convicted in courts throughout New York State. An exhibit setting out Christianson's research, sponsored by the Association, was to be unveiled at the State Capitol on September 11, 2001, but the day's tragic, historic events prevented that. He later presented his findings in a book, Innocent: Inside Wrongful Conviction Cases (NYU Press), and the exhibit returned to the Well of the Legislative Office Building in Albany as part of Gideon Day 2009.

Sterling marked the 12th and final prisoner of the original dozen to be released from prison. All but one had been convicted of murder. One was discharged by death, after succumbing to a heart attack. The other eleven were ordered free by a judge or paroled – an outcome that Christianson regards as one validation of his study as well as a testament to the ceaseless efforts of the innocent prisoners and their lawyers and supporters, all of whom had to fight mightily in order to ultimately win some measure of justice.