By Zachary Margulis-OhnumaI woke up this morning to the tenth anniversary of the most important day of my legal career and an even more important day in the life of my treasured client, Antonio Yarbough.On February 6, 2014, Antonio and his co-defendant Sharrif Wilson walked out of Supreme Court in Brooklyn as free men.They had
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Chief Judge Wilson, Restorative Justice, and Keeping Your Cool on New York's Streets
By Emily FurmanRemember Dustin Hoffman’s iconic “I’m walkin’ here!”?It’s a phrase on the tongue of every New Yorker, but a recent New York State court decision has given street hollers a new level of seriousness. In 2017, Mr. Fabian Greene was convicted of one count of fourth degree larceny and two counts of first degree…
In New York, Rape is now Rape — what does that even mean?
New York Governor Kathy Hochul swiftly signed the Rape is Rape bill into law this week, purporting to reform New York’s criminal sexual assault and rape statutes to make them fairer to survivors.While the new laws are somewhat more rational, they tend to expand the scope of the rape statutes in a way that is…
Governor Hochul vetoed bills aimed to curb police misconduct and overturn wrongful convictions
By Tess CohenAt the end of the year, Governor Hochul vetoed two hard fought bills advocated for by criminal justice reformers. Though the signing of Clean Slate remains a huge win for advocates, two bills aimed directly at injustices in the system were rejected by the Governor over the winter holidays.The first seems like a…
How the First Woman Supreme Court Justice Set the Rules for Criminal Lawyers
By Zachary Margulis-OhnumaUnited States Supreme Court Justice Sandra Day O’Connor died Friday. She will be remembered as the first woman justice, a fearless Republican who put principles of liberty and the rule of law above her personal distaste for abortion in Planned Parenthood v. Casey in 1992, a case that safeguarded a woman’s right to…
New Yorkers Get a Second Chance with the Clean Slate Act
By Tess CohenAdvocates for criminal justice reform are celebrating as Governor Kathy Hochul signed the Clean Slate Act into law, making millions of New Yorkers now eligible to have their criminal records automatically sealed. Before the new law was signed, New York only allowed special categories of people to apply to seal their convictions based…
Last Call for the Adult Survivors Act
By Zachary Margulis-OhnumaWith November upon us, the window is closing quickly on the New York Adult Survivors Act, which gave adult victims of sexual assault a chance to bring their claims in court even if the assult happened years ago.The law became effective for one year starting on November 24, 2022. That means that November…
Did your FBI handler coerce you into sex?
By Zachary Margulis-OhnumaIn a stunning revelation quietly received this week by the New York press corps, Gang Land News journalist Jerry Capeci broke a monster story: he revealed after two decades that a prolific mafia witness alleges he was coerced into sex with an FBI special agent who helped handle him while he was wearing…
A ZMO Law firm update
By Zachary Margulis-OhnumaAs the school year and the fiscal year and the biblical year all get underway, ZMO Law is settling into its new routine. We announced earlier this month that Tess Cohen is now a partner at the firm with increased responsibility for expanding our services to clients. We have a brilliant new paralegal,…
The Power of a Defense Expert
By Tess CohenA medical examiner declares cause of death. A DNA expert explains the likelihood of a match. A translator explains the meaning of a word in a foreign language. Criminal trials often hinge on the testimony of expert witnesses such as these, and all too often lawyers presume that the testimony of experts is…