The city of Fairbanks is accusing the Fairbanks Four â Marvin Roberts, Kevin Pease, Eugene Vent and George Frese â of breach of contract and is seeking reimbursement for its legal defense after the men accused the city and four police officers of civil rights violations, malicious prosecution and wrongful imprisonment.
Roberts, Pease, Vent and Frese say they were wrongfully accused and convicted of murder and are suing for damages, but the city wants the U.S. District Court to enforce a 2015 agreement in which the Fairbanks Four, after collectively serving more than 70 years in prison, waived their rights to seek damages in exchange for their freedom.
RPD fosters culture of brutality and impunity, federal lawsuit alleges
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Sweeping lawsuit filed against Rochester police alleges decades of violent, racialized policing
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A lawsuit filed Monday morning in U.S. District Court for Western New York asserts sweeping change is necessary to reform what it describes as the racist, predatory, brutal culture and actions of the Rochester Police Department. Absent external enforcement, the system will not change itself, according to the 96-page filing that outlines constitutional and civil rights violations allegedly perpetrated by Rochester police over the last 50 years.
Named in the lawsuit are Rochester Mayor Lovely Warren, former Police Chief La’Ron Singletary, interim Chief Cynthia Herriott-Sullivan, the city of Rochester, Monroe County Executive Adam Bello, Sheriff Todd Baxter, other members of RPD’s command staff, members of the New York State Police and other law enforcement officers, including 200 “John Does.”
Morrison & Foerster LLP
Carrie Cohen is an expert in public corruption and state and local government who made a name for herself by prosecuting former Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver. At Morrison & Foerster – or MoFo – she has assisted the New York City Council in investigations into the behavior of several members, the Metropolitan Transportation Authority in a review of overtime practices, and a Rochester City Council probe into the death of Daniel Prude.
54. David Patton
Executive Director and Attorney-in-Chief, Federal Defenders of New York
A federal defender for nearly 20 years, David Patton in 2011 became the executive director and attorney-in-chief of the Federal Defenders of New York, a group that provides representation to those in need. During the coronavirus pandemic, Patton has been representing prisoners who are at high risk of catching the disease, telling Slate that the response by “prosecutors and prison officials to COVID-19 has been hard to fathom.”