Exonerations & Civil Lawsuits
ROHAN BOLT & GARY JOHNSON
Gary Johnson, Rohan Bolt, and a third man, George Bell, were wrongfully convicted for the double homicide of an off-duty NYPD Officer and check-cashing store owner in East Elmhurst, Queens. The crime occurred on December 21, 1996, and then-Mayor Giuliani pledged to have it “solved” by Christmas Day. Police quickly arrested Bell, then 19, and beat him until he assented to a false statement implicating himself and Johnson, then 22. After arresting Johnson, police used a “tip” from a crack addict to arrest Bolt, a 35 year-old father of four. Over the next few months, police and prosecutors obtained evidence that members of the “Speedstick” robbery gang–not Bell, Bolt, or Johnson–had committed the murders. Rather than disclose this evidence–and pursue the true culprits–police and prosecutors doubled down. They cultivated dishonest cooperators, one of whom admitted he did not witness the crime and another of whom committed a murder after providing false testimony. Bell, Bolt, and Johnson were each convicted and sentenced to 50 years-to-life or longer in prison.
For two decades, they fought to prove their innocence. In 2019, the firm obtained a long-buried police report showing the Speedstick gang had committed the murders. The firm worked to overturn all three convictions alongside a dedicated legal team, including exoneree Jabbar Collins and attorneys Marc Wolinsky, Scott Stevenson, and Rita Dave. In 2021, with the consent of the Queens DA, a judge exonerated Bell, Bolt, and Johnson. The judge found “the suppression of the [exonerating] information was not an isolated instance of misconduct, but part of a larger pattern of behavior that was calculated to deprive the defendants of fair trials[.]” Following the decision, two long-time Queens prosecutors were forced to resign.
The firm represented Bolt and Johnson in civil litigation. The two men settled their federal civil rights lawsuits for $15.2 million and $15 million, respectively. They settled their claims under the New York State Unjust Conviction and Imprisonment Act for $4.1 and $4 million, respectively.
ROBERT MAJORS
Robert Majors was wrongfully convicted of the 1997 robbery and attempted murder of two off-duty police officers who were ambushed by gunmen while delivering cash payroll in Flushing, Queens. Majors had a rock solid alibi–he was at his chiropractor’s office, as verified by his doctor and medical records, at the time of the crime. Nevertheless, NYPD detectives, including US Senate candidate Mike Sapraicone, fabricated evidence against Majors and concealed evidence of his innocence, including an affidavit by a member of the Speedstick gang reciting a fellow gang member’s confession. Majors repeatedly requested this affidavit, but Queens prosecutors refused to disclose it in violation of their legal and ethical obligations. Majors was convicted and sentenced to 62 years-to-life in prison.
In 2018, the firm helped Majors obtain the exonerating affidavit and then moved to vacate his conviction. In 2020, a Queens judge vacated Majors’ conviction, finding the prosecution’s failure to disclose the affidavit as well as an eyewitness description excluding Majors violated his right to a fair trial. Majors was released from prison in 2020. Upon learning he would be released, he stated, “Going from 62 years-to-life to freedom is an amazing turn of events.” The firm filed a federal lawsuit on Majors’ behalf that eventually settled for $3.3 million.
KELLY COOPER
Emmanuel “Kelly” Cooper spent over two decades in prison for a Brooklyn murder he did not commit prior to being exonerated in 2020. Cooper was convicted of the 1992 murder of a NYC token booth clerk, who was shot after two men forcibly entered his booth in the Euclid Avenue subway station in an attempted robbery. At the time of the crime, Cooper was playing cards in the lobby of his building, a fact supported by the testimony of four alibi witnesses. Cooper was convicted based on the testimony of eyewitnesses who had not identified him when first shown his photograph by police. At trial, the prosecutor told jurors that these witnesses were good samaritans who “didn’t need any kind of a deal” in exchange for their cooperation.
26 years later, the firm, working with Jabbar Collins, obtained records and statements showing the opposite to be true. NYPD detectives had threatened to charge one eyewitness with the murder until he agreed to implicate Cooper. And they had secretly arrested and charged another witness for an unrelated shooting before he agreed to cooperate. In 2020, following these revelations, the Brooklyn DA agreed to vacate Cooper’s conviction. At the dismissal hearing, the judge called for an independent investigation of Cooper’s case. In 2023, the firm secured a $10 million settlement for Cooper in his federal civil rights lawsuit. Cooper’s state lawsuit is ongoing.
JAYTHAN KENDRICK
NYPD detectives, aided by Queens prosecutors, framed Kendrick for the 1994 stabbing murder of an elderly lady. Kendrick was a United States Army Veteran and employee of the US Postal Service who had nothing to do with the horrific crime. The trial evidence against him consisted mainly of the eyewitness testimony of a 10 year old, who observed the stabbing from over 100 feet away, and of an 18 year-old drug addict with serious legal troubles. In addition, police planted a purse in Kendrick’s apartment and falsely claimed it belonged to the victim.
The firm began reinvestigating Kendrick’s case in 2016 and then teamed up with WilmerHale and the Innocence Project. The joint reinvestigation uncovered clear evidence of Kendrick’s innocence and law enforcement misconduct: Forensic testing of the murder weapon revealed the DNA of another man, not Kendrick; the formerly 10 year-old eyewitness recanted and swore police had manipulated him; and new facts emerged about the other eyewitness’ criminal history and secret cooperation agreement. The reinvestigation also revealed the trial prosecutor had elicited false and misleading police testimony and misled jurors in his summation.
In 2020, the Queens DA agreed to vacate Kendrick’s conviction and let him go home after 26 years in prison. The presiding judge called Kendrick’s conviction a “monumental” “miscarriage of justice” and “travesty” that “took way, way too long to discover.” Tragically, Kendrick died in 2022. The firm represented his estate in civil litigation, together with the Law Offices of Joel Rudin and Bloch & White LLP. In 2024, the cases settled for $19 million, including a $15 million settlement with New York City and $4 million settlement with New York State. A lawsuit for additional damages against the New York City Housing Authority, for the misconduct of its detectives and its unlawful policies, is ongoing in federal court.
KAREEM BELLAMY
Kareem Bellamy spent 14 years in prison for a Far Rockaway murder he had nothing to do with. After receiving a chance letter from Bellamy in 2004, Tom Hoffman agreed to reinvestigate his case and recruited a pro bono team from Cravath, Swaine & Moore, led by partners Darin McAtee and Antony Ryan. Together, Tom and Cravath obtained evidence showing NYPD detectives pressured witnesses to lie and the Queens DA’s Office secretly bribed a key witness. Then, in 2008, they solved the murder–by discovering that a long-time suspect had recently confessed. In 2008, a Queens judge vacated Bellamy’s conviction and ordered his release. The Queens DA tried, and failed, to put Bellamy back in prison before agreeing to dismiss all charges.
In 2015, the firm reached a $2.75 million settlement with New York State on behalf of Bellamy. In 2019, the firm and co-counsel Joel Rudin won a landmark victory in an appeal of Bellamy’s federal civil rights lawsuit before the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit. In its decision, Bellamy v. City of New York, 914 F.3d 727 (2d Cir. 2019), the Second Circuit ruled that New York City could be held liable for prosecutorial misconduct caused by the policies of a district attorney’s office and also for the first time recognized a civil cause of action for summation misconduct. In addition, the court upheld Bellamy’s claims against NYPD detectives John Gillen and Michael Solomeno. Following this decision, Bellamy’s legal team, joined by the Emery Celli law firm, developed evidence that the Queens District Attorney’s Office was indifferent to pervasive misconduct by its prosecutors. In 2021, Bellamy’s federal lawsuit settled for $8 million.