News & Events

On August 6, Simpson Thacher successfully secured parole release on behalf of a client who has been incarcerated in New York State for over 27 years after the New York Supreme Court found that the Parole Board’s decision to deny release was “arbitrary and capricious” and ordered a de novo hearing, with at least two Parole board members who were not involved in the previous hearings. In ordering a new hearing, the Court highlighted our client’s positive achievements while behind bars and held that “the record before the Court...raises the inference that the Board’s stated reasons for denying petitioner parole release are merely pretextual.” At the de novo hearing, the Parole board granted release.   

This is the second Article 78 proceeding that Simpson Thacher successfully brought on this client’s behalf. In 2013, Simpson Thacher won an appeal before the Supreme Court, Appellate Division Third Department but our client was denied parole at his new hearing. 

The Simpson Thacher team included Michael Garvey, Lara Pomerantz (who argued the petition before the New York Supreme Court) and Matthew Bricker.