Cases

The clients we represent, and the facts of their cases.

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  Active case · New Jersey

  Stephon Downer

  Stephon Downer was convicted in 2002 of the March 1997 felony murder of Carlos Ruiz in Camden County, NJ. Four witnesses say he was not at the scene and have independently identified another man, Jimel Quann (known as "Rat Rat"), as the person involved in the robbery and shooting. The surviving eyewitness, Edelmiro Robles, has since said he could not confirm his identification and that detectives told him Downer was the shooter before he picked him from a photo array. A jailhouse informant has also said he can no longer recall the substance of any conversation with Downer. Downer has now spent over 20 years incarcerated.

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  Active case · New Jersey

  Daniel Locus

  Daniel Locus was convicted of the June 2008 murder of Anthony Ball in Camden County, NJ. He was on a live phone call with a friend, blocks away, when the shooting happened -- audibly reacting to the gunshot in real time, before anyone else knew what had occurred. No murder weapon was recovered and no physical evidence ties him to the scene. Multiple witnesses have identified a different man, known as "Pooh Bear," as the actual shooter, and the state's own witnesses have since been shown to have falsely denied receiving benefits for their testimony.

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  Active case · New Jersey

  Richard Barge

  A single, coerced eyewitness identification put Richard Barge away for a 2010 murder conviction in Camden County, NJ. That witness has since recanted multiple times, saying he never actually saw the shooter's face and that police coerced his identification. The jailhouse informants who testified against Barge have also recanted or contradicted themselves. New evidence points to two other named suspects, and the murder weapon was used in a separate crime committed after Barge was already incarcerated -- evidence the prosecution disclosed late and never properly investigated.