Her Lawyers Say She Was Coerced To Plead Guilty To A Crime That Never Happened
Accused of shaking a baby to death and facing the death penalty, Amy Wilkerson says she is innocent, but pleaded guilty to spare her life.
Plea Deal
Elizabeth Weill-Greenberg
Pretrial Detention During A Pandemic Could Be A Death Sentence. Yet, Prosecutors Continue To Use It To Extract Plea Deals.
A deadly pandemic should not be used as a bargaining chip against poor, detained people charged with crimes.
Billionaire Victims’ Rights Advocate Finds Himself at the Defense Table
Spotlights like this one provide original commentary and analysis on pressing criminal justice issues of the day. You can read them each day in our newsletter, The Daily Appeal. This month, billionaire Henry T. Nicholas III, who made his fortune as a co-founder of the semiconductor firm Broadcom, was arrested in Las Vegas for narcotics trafficking […]
Justice in America Episode 2: The 94% — Plea Deals
A podcast from The Appeal, featuring Josie Duffy Rice and Clint Smith III.
Lawyer for Pedro Hernandez Says Bronx DA’s Office Is Still Withholding Key Evidence
When Bronx District Attorney Darcel Clark announced last September that gun possession and assault charges would be dropped against teenager Pedro Hernandez, who had spent 12 months on Rikers Island, she pledged her office would investigate what went wrong, and that the investigation would “go wherever the evidence leads.” A lot had gone wrong in the case […]
As Reform Stalls in New York, Defendants Plead Out Because They Can’t Afford Cash Bail
At the beginning of the year, New York Governor Andrew Cuomo laid out a plan that would eliminate cash bail for those charged with misdemeanors and nonviolent felonies. Last week, however, his plan stalled out during budget negotiations with state legislative leaders. For bail reform advocates, including public defenders and advocates for incarcerated people, the plan’s failure serves as […]