Wrongful Conviction Lawsuit Filed After Released Prisoner Serves 30 Years
Civil Rights Law Firm Files Wrongful Conviction Federal Complaint
PHILADELPHIA, November 15 (Williams Cedar Law Firm) – Today, Williams Cedar filed a civil rights wrongful conviction federal complaint on behalf of Marcus Perez, who was released from prison in January, 2021, after serving more than 30 years for a shooting he committed as a teenager.
As alleged in the complaint, Perez pleaded guilty to a charge of murder only because the trial judge suggested that doing so would lead to a sentence that would render him eligible for parole after 15 years. As the judge later agreed, this advice was erroneous, as the crime for which Perez was convicted in 1990 carried a mandatory life sentence with no parole.
The complaint alleges that Perez’s attempts to appeal the sentence were frustrated because a lawyer then serving as an Assistant District Attorney wrongfully caused the transcript of the sentencing hearing to be altered so as to mischaracterize the judge’s advice. Perez was only able to establish the former ADA’s intent in 2019, when the District Attorney’s office reverse a longstanding policy, and permitted Perez’s attorneys to review its file, which contained a contemporaneous handwritten note from the former ADA that a “new and improved” transcript was needed. The District Attorney’s Office concurred with Perez’s argument that this newly discovered evidence required that Perez’s sentence be vacated, as his 1990 guilty plea was involuntary.
By opening its files and concurring in Marcus Perez’s request that his unfairly imposed life sentence be vacated, the District Attorney’s office took an important step toward providing him with long-awaited justice. This lawsuit aims to complete that process by obtaining compensation for Marcus’s suffering and inappropriate punishment.
The wrongful conviction lawsuit seeks damages against the former ADA under 42 U.S.C Sec. 1983, a federal civil rights statute, and against Perez’s original defense attorney who failed to correct the trial judge’s advice, or inform Perez of its consequences.
Williams Cedar partner Gerald Williams said, “By opening its files and concurring in Marcus Perez’s request that his unfairly imposed life sentence be vacated, the District Attorney’s office took an important step toward providing him with long-awaited justice. This lawsuit aims to complete that process by obtaining compensation for Marcus’s suffering and inappropriate punishment.”
Stu Bykofsky, a former columnist with The Philadelphia Daily News and The Philadelphia Inquirer, covered Mr. Perez’s case with almost a dozen columns going back to 2011. Read his post about this latest development.
About Williams Cedar
Williams Cedar has a proven track record of protecting the personal, civil, and consumer rights of clients throughout the country, and New Jersey and Pennsylvania in particular. From personal injury cases and civil rights cases to individual and class action environmental toxic tort cases, our diverse and experienced legal team has an extensive understanding of the law and what it takes to secure maximum cash settlements for our clients.
$20.8 Million Settlement Agreement Announced in Prison Sexual Abuse Case
Williams Cedar was co-lead counsel in a $20.8 Million settlement in a case involving the prison sexual abuse and physical abuse of inmates at Edna Mahan Correctional Facility operated by the New Jersey Department of Corrections.
The $20,835,600 in damages and attorney fees will be distributed amongst women who were directly impacted by the prison sexual abuse and sexual misconduct at the Edna Mahan facility between 2014 and the date at which the settlement agreement was signed.
Previously in April of 2020, the Department of Justice had issued a Investigation Report that found that prison sexual abuse had been a longstanding problem at the prison that the administration had failed to address. The DOJ cited multiple examples of investigations, convictions, guilty pleas, etc. that are corroborative of the allegation supporting that overriding claim. This settlement also comes less than eight months after the trial court ruled that the plaintiffs satisfied the requirements for class-action treatment. The litigation alleged at its core that that inmates at the New Jersey’s only women’s prison were subjected to a longstanding and pervasive atmosphere of prison sexual abuse that had gone unchecked for years.
Also included in the settlement is the institution of body cameras to be worn by the NJDOC staff. This step was an important step in the development of safer confinement conditions in all NJDOC facilities moving forward.
Read the full NJDOC release.
Chistopher Markos Re-Appointed Chair of the Philadelphia Bar Association’s Civil Rights Committee
PHILADELPHIA, PA, March 11, 2021 – The Philadelphia Bar Association has re-appointed William Cedar associate Christopher Markos as Chair of its Civil Rights Committee for 2021.
Gerald Williams, partner at Williams Cedar, said, “We congratulate Christopher on his appointment and continued involvement in protecting civil rights for all Philadelphians. His role with the bar association reflects our firm’s reputation for leadership and commitment to public service.”
Mr. Markos has built a career in public interest advocacy. Along with two Williams Cedar colleagues, he was honored by the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania’s Prisoner Civil Rights Panel for service to hundreds of prisoners injured as a result of unconstitutional conditions in the Philadelphia Prison System. Christopher is a graduate of Rutgers University and received his J.D. from Rutgers Law School – Camden.
Christopher Markos said, “I am honored to be appointed by my peers to Chair the Civil Rights Committee for the Philadelphia Bar Association. In this role, I look forward to a year of service to the legal community and participating in the planning of an upcoming public forum for candidates for District Attorney of Philadelphia.”
Williams Interviewed Regarding Proposed Remedy for Wrongful Convictions
Gerald Williams
Williams Cedar attorney Gerald Williams was recently quoted in a Harrisburg Patriot News article regarding the proposed remedy for wrongful convictions. Below is a portion of the article:
Philadelphia civil attorney Gerald Williams, who has handled about 12 such cases in his career, noted that
exonoree plaintiffs have to prove civil rights violations in federal court, and as long as police or prosecutors
can make a credible defense that they were acting in good faith throughout their prosecution, that’s
impossible to do. Because sometimes, in fact, these wrongful arrests and convictions are just that – the mistakes of a human run system.
If there has been provable misconduct, Williams said he has seen cases where the employing agency has
terminated the offending employees and refused to extend liability coverage for their actions because they
acted outside policy and regulation. That leaves plaintiffs seeking damages from shallow pockets.
Only about 20 of Pennsylvania’s exonerees had received civil settlements through 2017. And while the
settlements often bring bigger dollar amounts, these lawsuits also often take years to resolve, meaning
exonerees aren’t getting any financial assistance when they need it the most.
“It’s very far from a slam dunk” for the exonerees,” Williams said. “That’s why these statutes are kind of
important.”Click here to view the article in full.
The attorneys at Williams Cedar are dedicated to giving voice to the wrongfully convicted and any victims of civil rights violations. Contact us online or call 856-470-9777 or 215-557-0099 today to arrange a free and confidential consultation with an experienced and dedicated civil rights lawyer.
From our offices in Philadelphia and Haddonfield, New Jersey, we represent clients throughout the surrounding areas, including those in Camden, Cherry Hill, Metuchen and Trenton, New Jersey as well as those in Allentown, Scranton, Pittsburgh, Harrisburg, Greensburg, Johnstown, Eerie, Wilkes-Barre, Pennsylvania.
Williams Cedar Teams with Co-Counsel in Class Action Civil Rights Case
On December 11, 2017 , attorneys from Williams Cedar and Mark B. Frost & Associates filed a class action asserting claims on behalf of women incarcerated at the Edna Mahan Correctional Facility for Women, a state prison in Clinton, New Jersey. The complaint describes a years-long pattern of sexual harassment and abuse perpetrated by corrections officers at the facility. The plaintiffs assert that supervisory personnel at the facility and the New Jersey Department of Corrections tolerated a “persistent culture of abuse” and retaliation against women who complained about it. The conditions at EMCF have been the topic of recent news stories. The class action, Nobles, et al v. State of New Jersey Department of Corrections, et al, is filed in Mercer County, and includes actions under New Jersey’s Civil Rights Act and the New Jersey Law Against Discrimination. It seeks monetary damages and a court order requiring the Department to “implement policies and procedures sufficient to protect the rights of persons incarcerated at EMCF to be free of sexual abuse and harassment.”
As current events have borne witness, sexual harassment of women remains a serious problem in society at large. In jails and prisons, where women live under the power of frequently poorly supervised and seldom disciplined correction officers, harassment is common. The Nobles case, like other civil rights litigation, represents an attempt to provide some measure of justice to a population whose needs—and rights—are often ignored or treated with contempt.
The plaintiffs’ attorneys are Gerald J. Williams and Shauna Friedman of Williams Cedar, LLC and Mark B. Frost and Ryan Lockman of Frost & Associates. For more information, call a member of our civil rights legal team at 215-557-0099 or 856-470-9777 or contact us online.