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LAS, Davis Polk Secure Vacatur for Wrongfully Convicted Client

The Legal Aid Society and Davis Polk & Wardwell LLP this afternoon announced the exoneration of Carlos Weeks, a client who had served 26 years incarcerated for second-degree murder and first-degree assault convictions relating to a July 1993 shooting in the New York City Housing Authority Tompkins Housing development, reports the New York Post. Legal Aid was first contacted by Weeks about his case in 2012. After several years of investigating, an application for vactur was submitted to the Brooklyn District Attorney’s Office in 2017. Prosecutors on Friday consented to the application. Brooklyn Supreme Court Justice Dineen presided over the vacatur.

“This is a happy day for Carlos and his family — a long time in coming — but we have other clients with matters pending before the CRU. We urge that office to investigate those matters promptly so that other wrongfully convicted individuals can experience the vindication that Carlos has experienced today,” said Elizabeth Felber, Supervising Attorney of The Legal Aid Society’s Wrongful Conviction Unit.