The Legal Aid Society celebrated a decision rendered by the New York State Appellate Division, Second Judicial Department which vacates a conviction and orders a new trial for James Davis, a Brooklyn man who was wrongfully convicted of murder in 2006, as reported by the Pix 11 News.

The Second Department found that Mr. Davis’s trial attorney was ineffective for failing even to interview numerous witnesses who would have strongly supported Mr. Davis’s claims of innocence by confirming that, after drinking too much and becoming ill, he left the party where the shooting occurred well before it happened. Mr. Davis had provided this account of his innocence to police immediately upon his arrest and promptly furnished his attorney with the names of the witnesses who would corroborate it. The attorney, however, failed entirely to act.

“James Davis has spent nearly 17 years imprisoned for a crime he didn’t commit, convicted without any physical evidence linking him to the crime and despite multiple witnesses corroborating his innocence,” said Elizabeth Felber, Supervising Attorney of the Wrongful Conviction Unit at The Legal Aid Society. “We applaud this decision from the Second Department which rightly vacates this wrongful conviction against James, and orders a new trial. We call on the Kings County District Attorney to deliver our client justice by declining to prosecute James any further and dismissing the case in its entirety.”

Learn more about The Legal Aid Society’s work to exonerate Mr. Davis here.