Brown, Goldstein & Levy attorneys Neel Lalchandani and Catalina Odio obtained an necessary victory on behalf of Tyrone Jones, who was wrongfully convicted of conspiracy to commit homicide and sentenced to life in jail; he served ten years behind bars earlier than being exonerated. Mr. Jones was awarded each greenback allowed underneath the Walter Lomax Act (“WLA”), plus housing, training, and well being advantages. Neel and Catalina, along with co-counsel Ralph Mayrell and Mark Russell of Kramer Levin, secured this aid for Mr. Jones after a contested continuing earlier than the Workplace of Administrative Hearings.
Mr. Jones was 21 years outdated when he was arrested in Baltimore Metropolis and charged with the homicide of a 16-year-old he had by no means met. Though acquitted of the homicide and handgun prices, he was discovered responsible of conspiracy to commit homicide. He went on to spend 10 years in jail earlier than his conviction was vacated and the State selected to not retry his case.
Mr. Jones, now 48, utilized for compensation underneath the WLA, however was initially denied. A listening to officer dominated that the cost of conspiracy to commit homicide didn’t qualify for compensation. Following an intensive advocacy marketing campaign supported by BGL workers and allies, the Common Meeting handed laws that modified the eligibility requirements in 2024, which allowed Mr. Jones to lastly see compensation for the injustice of his wrongful conviction.
“BGL’s WLA follow is a key a part of our holistic method to combating the injustice inherent within the legal authorized system,” Neel defined. “Along with defending people’ rights by our legal protection and police misconduct practices, acquiring compensation for exonerees helps help them after they come residence from jail.”
“In a system that prizes finality above all else, defendants are instructed again and again that they get one chew on the apple,” Catalina mentioned. “A silver lining of getting to show factual innocence underneath the WLA is that petitioners have a chance to set the report straight in entrance a choose and to refute a state that continues to insist they might have performed it. This course of is retraumatizing, however it can be cathartic. As Mr. Jones mentioned after the two-day listening to, ‘even when we don’t win, I really feel like I gained.’”
Maryland Governor Wes Moore apologized on to Jones for the struggling he needed to endure by the hands of the State.
“Mr. Jones, because the governor of this state, but additionally, extra importantly, as a father and a husband and a son and a fellow Marylander, I wish to share phrases that you simply deserve to listen to, as a result of I’m not simply talking on behalf of myself and the treasurer and the comptroller, I’m talking on behalf of this whole state: I’m sorry. It ought to have by no means occurred, and I do know there aren’t any phrases that may undo the injustice and what was taken away from you and your loved ones,” Governor Moore mentioned.
ABOUT NEEL LALCHANDANI
Neel Lalchandani represents people, nonprofits, and firms in a various array of civil rights and industrial issues. Amongst different victories for his purchasers, Neel has helped safe a number of of the biggest funds in Maryland historical past for victims of police misconduct, together with greater than $80 million for harmless males imprisoned for crimes they didn’t commit. Be taught extra about Neel right here.
ABOUT CATALINA ODIO
Catalina’s follow contains instances involving civil rights, incapacity rights, employment, wrongful convictions, and police misconduct. She is dedicated to a profession as a trial lawyer with a various follow, together with public curiosity litigation. As an undergraduate, she adopted that aspiration to Immigrant Justice Corps (IJC), the place she served as a fellow for 2 years after school. At IJC, she represented low-income people and households of their citizenship, residency, and work allow functions, helping purchasers from screening by last interviews earlier than U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Providers. Be taught extra about Catalina right here.
ABOUT BROWN, GOLDSTEIN & LEVY
Based in 1982, Brown, Goldstein & Levy is a legislation agency primarily based in Baltimore, Maryland, with an workplace in Washington, D.C. The agency is nationally acknowledged in all kinds of follow areas, together with complicated civil and industrial litigation, civil rights, well being care, household legislation, and legal protection. Above all else, Brown, Goldstein & Levy is a client-centered legislation agency that brings many years of expertise and passionate, efficient advocacy to your struggle for justice.
