On behalf of the Innocence Project, a pro bono team of lawyers from Davis Polk & Wardwell LLP helped secure the release of a man who was wrongly convicted of a murder stemming from a Greenwich Village shooting in 1991. The firm worked with the Innocence Project to submit an amicus curiae brief on behalf of Fernando Bermudez, who, on November 12, 2009, was exonerated when a New York Supreme Court judge ruled that he had been wrongfully convicted and had produced clear and convincing evidence of actual innocence. In a 79-page decision, the court vacated the conviction and dismissed the indictment against Bermudez. Throughout the entire history of the case, Bermudez, who was convicted solely on the basis of eyewitness evidence, claimed that he was innocent.

In 1992, Bermudez was convicted of shooting a 16-year-old boy, Raymond Blount, who was killed as he left a club in Manhattan after getting into a fight with another person at the venue. The eyewitnesses who identified Bermudez as the shooter had been permitted to consult with each other prior to identifying him from a photo lineup and at trial. The identification witnesses who testified at trial against Bermudez later recanted their testimony after he was sentenced. Four of Bermudez's friends testified that Bermudez had been with them, miles away, at the time of the crime. No forensic evidence linked Bermudez to the crime.

In conjunction with the Innocence Project, Davis Polk filed an amicus brief in support of Bermudez, arguing that the identification procedures – in which the eyewitnesses were permitted to jointly view and discuss mug shots – were unduly suggestive and entitled Bermudez to vacate his conviction. The New York Supreme Court vacated Bermudez's conviction and dismissed the indictment on multiple grounds, including that the flawed identification procedures had violated Mr. Bermudez's rights under the New York and U.S. Constitutions. Mr. Bermudez has spent nearly 18 years in prison.

The Davis Polk lawyers who worked on the matter were associates Jane H. Yoon, Peter A. Nelson and Melissa T. Aoyagi, with assistance from partners Karen E. Wagner and Sharon Katz.