NSB in the News

A wrongful conviction lawsuit from a man incarcerated 17 years for a San Jose drive-by shooting — based on flimsy witness identifications that were later recanted — has been allowed to proceed toward trial by a federal judge, according to the San Jose Mercury News.  As reporter Robert Salonga recounts, “federal Judge Beth Labson Freeman allowed claims against…

Police coerced a false confession and fabricated evidence, and then buried DNA evidence of innocence, leaving Calhoun wrongfully imprisoned for over 15 years.    (DETROIT, MI)  The national civil rights law firm Neufeld Scheck Brustin Hoffmann & Freudenberger, LLP (NSBHF) and Detroit based law firm Goodman Hurwitz & James, P.C. (GHJ) filed a federal lawsuit…

Lawsuit seeks accountability for overwhelming evidence of police misconduct after St. Louis Circuit Court declared Johnson “factually innocent” (ST. LOUIS, MO)  Today, the Kansas City law firm Morgan Pilate, LLC (Morgan Pilate) and the national civil rights law firm Neufeld Scheck Brustin Hoffmann & Freudenberger, LLP (NSBHF) filed a wrongful conviction lawsuit on behalf of…

Clear Signs Pointing to the Real Perpetrator Were Ignored by Police, Lawsuit Charges (LOS ANGELES, CA) National civil rights law firm Neufeld Scheck Brustin Hoffmann & Freudenberger, LLP (NSBHF) today filed a wrongful conviction lawsuit on behalf of Maurice Hastings, who served 38 years in prison for a murder he did not commit. Earlier this…

Settlement Is One of the Largest Per-Year of Wrongful Incarceration in Los Angeles History (LOS ANGELES, CA) National civil rights law firm Neufeld Scheck Brustin Hoffmann & Freudenberger, LLP, with co-counsel Los Angeles criminal defense attorney Angela Berry and criminal defense and civil rights attorney Ian Wallach, today announced that Los Angeles has agreed to…

National Civil Rights Law Firm Neufeld Scheck & Brustin, LLP Announces Three Partners and a New Firm Name Leading Civil Rights Trial Attorneys Anna Benvenutti Hoffmann and Emma Freudenberger Join the Marquee of Celebrated Wrongful Convictions Experts FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: October 11, 2023 CONTACT: Emily Whitfield: emily@nsbhf.com (NEW YORK, NY)  One of the nation’s foremost…

In an article titled “Where It’s Been, Where It’s Heading,” Super Lawyers profiles six Rising Stars who “will carry the legal mantle into the middle of the 21st century.” Among them, singled out for her civil rights litigation expertise, is NSBHF partner Amelia Green. “It was my first job out of law school,” Green told Super Lawyers. “The…

(LOUISVILLE, KY) The law firms of Neufeld Scheck & Brustin, LLP and Loevy & Loevy today announced that Louisville has agreed to pay $20.5 million to their clients Keith Hardin and Jeffrey Clark, who each spent 22 years of their lives behind bars for a heinous murder they did not commit. The settlement stems from egregious…

NSB has won a $5.5 million settlement on behalf of John Floyd, who was wrongfully sentenced to life in Angola prison for the 1980 stabbing death of William Hines. A federal judge overturned his conviction in 2017, after finding “that Floyd has met the demanding standard of actual innocence.” The 5th U.S. Circuit Court of…

NSB has won a $12.5 million settlement on behalf of Lamonte McIntyre and his mother Rosie, after he spent 23 years in prison for a double murder he did not commit. According to the Associated Press, “McIntyre was 17 in 1994 when he was arrested in Kansas City for the shooting deaths of 21-year-old Doniel…

NSB today announced that it has won an $11.7 million settlement on behalf of Christopher Tapp, who was psychologically coerced by police into confessing to a 1996 murder he did not commit. The settlement also provides that the City of Idaho Falls discuss possible reforms to its interrogation techniques with leading experts in the field….

NSB and co-counsel Paul, Weiss have successfully resolved a federal civil rights case on behalf of Pablo Fernandez, securing one of the largest-ever wrongful conviction settlements to be paid by the City of New York. The case, brought in the Southern District of New York against the City and former NYPD officers, sought compensation for…

NSB has won a $7.5 million settlement on behalf of Davontae Sanford, who entered prison as a teenager and spent eight years there before he was freed. As reported by The Detroit News, Davontae Sanford was just 15 when he pleaded guilty to second-degree murder in the fatal shootings of four people at a drug…

On April 5th, 2021, NSB attorney Katie McCarthy joined members of Free the People Roc, the National Lawyers Guild Rochester, and ten individual plaintiffs on the steps of city hall in Rochester NY after filing a “landmark civil rights lawsuit” to address a decade-long pattern of racist violence by the Rochester Police Department.  The 96-page…

NSB has won a $9.8 million pre-filing settlement against the City of Philadelphia for client Chester Hollman. Mr. Hollman spent 28 years wrongfully imprisoned for a 1991 murder he did not commit before he was exonerated in 2019. Mr. Hollman’s wrongful conviction was the result of police misconduct: Philadelphia homicide detectives not only coerced two…

Valentino Dixon received accolades this past holiday season for his incredible artwork.  Former First Lady Michelle Obama purchased one of Valentino’s works, “Augusta The Beautiful”, as a gift for former President Barack Obama, who was so moved by the piece and the story behind the artist that he posted about it on his Instagram account….

NSB has secured a $12 million settlement for single mother Susan Mellen and her children after they were separated for more than 17 years because of her wrongful conviction and incarceration for a brutal murder she did not commit. The settlement comes after the Ninth Circuit ruled that LAPD officer Marcella Winn should have turned…

NSB client Valentino Dixon’s drawings were on display on March 13 at the Andrew Edlin Gallery in New York City. Check out Golf Digest’s coverage of the show here.

NSB client Mark Denny will run the NYC Half Marathon on Sunday, March 17. Check out the full coverage of Mr. Denny’s accomplishment from Pix 11 News here.

In February 2019, NSB secured an unprecedented $21 million out-of-court settlement with the City of Simi Valley, California on behalf of client Craig Coley. Mr. Coley was wrongly convicted of the brutal 1978 murders of a woman and her 4-year-old son and served 39 years in prison before he was pardoned by California Governor Jerry Brown, after…

In August 2018, NSB won a $4.75 million settlement for the estate of 18-year-old Victoria Herr, who died from complications of heroin withdrawal after five days in the Lebanon County, Pennsylvania jail. Consistent with a devastating pattern around the country, the jail’s correctional and medical staff ignored her deteriorating condition and failed to take the…

On August 17, 2018, in a precedent-setting decision, the Ninth Circuit reinstated NSB client Susan Mellen’s wrongful conviction lawsuit. Ms. Mellen, a single mother of three, spent more than 17 years incarcerated for a brutal murder she didn’t commit. She was convicted by the perjured testimony of June Patti, an infamous liar with a long…

On June 6, 2018, NSB client Anthony Wright won a $9.85 million settlement to resolve his federal civil rights claims against the City of Philadelphia and several of its homicide detectives. Mr. Wright was wrongfully convicted of the 1991 rape and murder of an elderly North Philadelphia woman in 1993, and served 25 years in…

In April 2018, Suffolk County, New York approved a $10 million settlement for NSB client Martin Tankleff, to resolve his federal civil rights claims against the County and several of its police detectives. Mr. Tankleff was wrongfully convicted of murdering his parents in 1990 and spent 17 years in prison before his conviction was overturned….