Four Decades for Justice
On June 10, 2010, the United States District Court of the Eastern District of New York accepted the settlement by New York State in Lewis v. Burroughs, pursuant to which Stephen Lewis will be paid $300,000. The Honorable John Gleeson appointed Cravath to represent Mr. Lewis, then an inmate, in his lawsuit against four New York state prison guards for violation of his Eighth Amendment right to be free from cruel and unusual punishment. Mr. Lewis alleged that, while he was an inmate at the Arthur Kill Correctional Facility, he was subjected to a sexual assault during a pat frisk by a prison guard, while three other guards watched and failed to intervene. Following three days of a trial consisting of three different phases, the jury entered a verdict of liability against all four guards and awarded compensatory and punitive damages to Mr. Lewis. Despite testimony by all four guards that nothing had happened, the jury found Mr. Lewis’s testimony to be credible. The final phase of trial, against the Superintendent of the prison for failure to supervise, was ongoing when New York State decided to settle. In accepting the settlement, the Court noted that the trial had revealed “systemic problems in the management of Arthur Kill facility . . . [that] contribute to an environment that allows the abuse of inmates to go unpunished.”
The Cravath legal team, supervised by partner Richard W. Clary and Darin P. McAtee, consisted of associates Yonatan Even, Alexandra Reeve Givens and Michael A. Sanfilippo, and summer associates Lauren G. Gallo and Alexander V. Maugeri.
Deals & Cases
February 22, 2024
On February 13, 2024, the New York State Appellate Division, First Department, reversed the convictions of Tommy Davis, who was simultaneously prosecuted for two unrelated incidents involving firearms. Cravath represented Mr. Davis on a pro bono basis alongside co‑counsel at the Office of the Appellate Defender.
Deals & Cases
December 28, 2023
On November 28, 2023, the Queens County Criminal Court entered an order on consent resentencing pro bono client A.M. and securing her release. A.M. had been incarcerated since June 2010. She was originally sentenced in June 2011, pursuant to a plea agreement, to a 20‑year determinate sentence plus five years’ post‑release supervision for first‑degree manslaughter after her romantic partner, who had subjected her to severe domestic abuse, killed her former partner, who had sex trafficked her and also subjected her to severe domestic abuse.
Deals & Cases
October 19, 2023
On August 30, 2023, Judge Leo A. Finston of the Newark Immigration Court granted asylum to a Cravath pro bono client persecuted by gang members in El Salvador.
Deals & Cases
October 12, 2023
On October 4, 2023, an immigration judge (IJ) granted asylum to Cravath pro bono client Johanna R., a transgender woman from El Salvador who had been abused by gang members based on her identity.
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