LOS
ANGELES, May 22, 2024 /PRNewswire/ -- National
civil rights firms based in California, May Jung LLP and Orange
Law Offices, P.C. filed a complaint in the United States District Court for the
Central District of California
against the County of Los Angeles,
City of Los Angeles, as well as
multiple involved individuals, including former Los Angeles Deputy District Attorneys
Carmen Trutanich and James Jacobs, former Los Angeles District Attorney office
investigator Jim Bell, former
Los Angeles Police Department
officer Miguel Mejia (Estate of),
and former Los Angeles Sherriff Department deputy Joe Holmes on behalf of Barry G. Williams. This civil rights action
concerns the unlawful and unconstitutional deprivation of Mr.
Williams' rights, privileges, and immunities secured by the
Constitution and the laws of the State of
California. In addition, the lawsuit is brought on behalf of
Mr. Williams' son, Damien Williams,
who was two years old when he was incarcerated. He grew up without
a father physically present in his life and he is now 43 years
old.
Mr. Williams was 19 years old when he was arrested and
subsequently convicted of two murders. Mr. Williams
spent 41 years of his life incarcerated—32 of those years on death
row. He was 62 years old when he was released. The Defendants not
only stole decades of Mr. Williams' freedom, they forced him to
spend 32 long years in a death row 4×10 foot cell, largely in
isolation, and consumed with his impending execution.
The federal complaint alleges countless conspired
actions and omissions by the District Attorney's office, the
Los Angeles Police Department
("LAPD"), and the Los Angeles
Sheriff's Department ("LASD") that deprived Mr. Williams of his
constitutional rights, including due process. Specifically, the
complaint cites the actions of District Attorney Trutanich who knew
that a witness was providing false testimony against Williams and
did not provide this vital information to Mr. Williams' attorney at
the time of the trial. Additionally, the investigators for the
LAPD's infamous and disreputed CRASH unit suppressed exculpatory
evidence and provided false testimony during Mr. Williams' trial in
an effort to bolster the state's case to obtain the wrongful
conviction. A federal Department of Justice, Civil Rights Division
lawsuit was launched in 2000, largely related to the unlawful
misconduct of the CRASH unit officers. Similarly, Mr.
Williams' death penalty conviction was largely based on an
unreliable jailhouse snitch. In fact, Mr. Williams' conviction also
coincided with a grand jury investigation identifying multiple
concerns, including findings that the LADA "failed to fulfill the
ethical responsibilities required of a public prosecutor by its
deliberate and informed declination (refusal) to take the action
necessary to curtail the misuse of jailhouse informant testimony;"
and that the LASD "failed to establish adequate procedures to
control improper placement of inmates, with the foreseeable result
that false claims of confessions or admissions would be made." By
the time these systemic issues were exposed in the late 1990s and
early 2000s, it was too late. Mr. Williams was already sitting on
death row.
Civil rights attorney, Olu K.
Orange, stated – "Everything about what the government did
to Mr. Williams was utterly and horribly wrong. Mr. Williams
deserves justice and City and County officials must be held
accountable. We intend to make that happen."
Partner Je Yon Jung stated, "Mr.
Williams and his son will never get back the years that were taken
from him by the State. Mr. Williams will never recover from the
mental and physical toll that 32 years on death row caused him. His
son will never know what it is like to have a father attend his
sporting events or to give him fatherly advice. There is no amount
of money too large to compensate for what they have lost. This
lawsuit is to send a message that will prevent this from happening
again."
The National Registry of Exonerations data shows that in 2023 at
least 118 exonerations were marred by official misconduct. In 2022
84% of exonerations were persons of color and nearly 61% of
exonerees are Black.
For more information about May Jung LLP, go to
www.mayjung.com
CONTACT: Kameron
Coefield, 202-938-3524, info@mayjung.com
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SOURCE May Jung LLP