A pro bono team of dozens of Paul, Weiss, Rifkind, Wharton & Garrison attorneys working over fifteen years finally secured the freedom of Pablo Fernandez, who was wrongfully convicted of murder way back in 1996.
The first sign of victory came in February, when the Second Circuit Court of Appeals overturned Fernandez’s conviction after finding that a New York Police Department officer had pressured a witness to falsely identify Fernandez at trial.
But Fernandez wasn’t free until the Manhattan District Attorney’s Office dropped its new criminal case against him on Sept. 13. The DA’s office declined comment, noting the matter ...