Contact Information: Contact: Ashley Kanigher 650-843-5721 akanigher@cooley.com
Cooley Godward Kronish Pro Bono Client David Lemus Acquitted
| Source: Cooley Godward Kronish LLP
NEW YORK, NY--(Marketwire - December 10, 2007) - Cooley Godward Kronish LLP pro bono client
David Lemus was acquitted last Thursday in a high-profile retrial of a 1992
case in which he was convicted of murder. Cooley's pro bono defense team
in the three-week re-trial in the State Supreme Court in Manhattan was led
by New York-based litigation partner Jonathan Bach.
On Thanksgiving night 1990, one Palladium employee was killed and another
wounded after shots were fired outside the nightclub early in the morning.
Lemus and another man, Olmedo Hidalgo, were originally convicted of the
crime. But in 1994, in the course of a separate federal investigation
concerning the activities of a notoriously violent Bronx street gang, one
gang member confessed to the crime and implicated a fellow gang member. In
2005, after additional exculpatory evidence became available, the original
convictions were overturned and Lemus was released from prison after 14
years. Hidalgo was not re-tried, but prosecutors continued to pursue Lemus
for his alleged involvement in the shooting, resulting in the recent
re-trial.
"Despite many twists and turns in the road, we never gave up hope that we
could set the record straight," said Bach. "His acquittal is the
culmination of thousands of hours of work by a team that was buoyed by a
steadfast belief that our client was wrongfully convicted. We are thrilled
this day has finally arrived."
In addition to Bach, Lemus's defense team included Cooley associates Kate
Cassidy and Jeff Lang. Co-counsel in the case was Dickstein Shapiro.
Cooley's pro bono practice is an integral part of the Firm. Attorneys firm
wide spend thousands of hours annually litigating impact cases, staffing
community clinics, assisting micro-entrepreneurs, advising not-for-profit
corporations, and handling asylum, guardianship and domestic violence
matters on a pro bono basis.
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