News & Events

STB filed an amicus brief in the New York Court of Appeals earlier this year on behalf of the NYU Center on the Administration of Criminal Law in a case challenging a conviction based on the extension of New York State's anti-terrorism statute to traditional gang-related street violence.  On December 11, 2012, the court unanimously vacated the conviction and ordered a new trial, ruling that criminal activity traditionally ascribed to gangs cannot be prosecuted under the anti-terrorism statutes enacted in the wake of the September 11, 2001 attacks. The Firm’s amicus argued that the Penal Law is replete with statutes that adequately punish gang-related crimes without the need for prosecutors to resort to laws that were enacted in response to 9/11 style terrorism, and that misapplying the anti-terrorism statute toward gang violence harms prosecutors’ ability to combat both terrorists and gang members.  The matter was handled by Nicholas Goldin.