LOS ANGELES, May 22, 2024 /PRNewswire/ -- National civil rights firms based in California, May Jung LLP and Orange Law Offices, P.C. filed a complaint in the United States District Court for the Central District of California against the County of Los Angeles, City of Los Angeles, as well as multiple involved individuals, including former Los Angeles Deputy District Attorneys Carmen Trutanich and James Jacobs, former Los Angeles District Attorney office investigator Jim Bell, former Los Angeles Police Department officer Miguel Mejia (Estate of), and former Los Angeles Sherriff Department deputy Joe Holmes on behalf of Barry G. Williams. This civil rights action concerns the unlawful and unconstitutional deprivation of Mr. Williams' rights, privileges, and immunities secured by the Constitution and the laws of the State of California. In addition, the lawsuit is brought on behalf of Mr. Williams' son, Damien Williams, who was two years old when he was incarcerated. He grew up without a father physically present in his life and he is now 43 years old.

Mr. Williams was 19 years old when he was arrested and subsequently convicted of two murders.   Mr. Williams spent 41 years of his life incarcerated—32 of those years on death row. He was 62 years old when he was released. The Defendants not only stole decades of Mr. Williams' freedom, they forced him to spend 32 long years in a death row 4×10 foot cell, largely in isolation, and consumed with his impending execution.

The federal complaint alleges countless conspired actions and omissions by the District Attorney's office, the Los Angeles Police Department ("LAPD"), and the Los Angeles Sheriff's Department ("LASD") that deprived Mr. Williams of his constitutional rights, including due process. Specifically, the complaint cites the actions of District Attorney Trutanich who knew that a witness was providing false testimony against Williams and did not provide this vital information to Mr. Williams' attorney at the time of the trial. Additionally, the investigators for the LAPD's infamous and disreputed CRASH unit suppressed exculpatory evidence and provided false testimony during Mr. Williams' trial in an effort to bolster the state's case to obtain the wrongful conviction. A federal Department of Justice, Civil Rights Division lawsuit was launched in 2000, largely related to the unlawful misconduct of the CRASH unit officers.  Similarly, Mr. Williams' death penalty conviction was largely based on an unreliable jailhouse snitch. In fact, Mr. Williams' conviction also coincided with a grand jury investigation identifying multiple concerns, including findings that the LADA "failed to fulfill the ethical responsibilities required of a public prosecutor by its deliberate and informed declination (refusal) to take the action necessary to curtail the misuse of jailhouse informant testimony;" and that the LASD "failed to establish adequate procedures to control improper placement of inmates, with the foreseeable result that false claims of confessions or admissions would be made." By the time these systemic issues were exposed in the late 1990s and early 2000s, it was too late. Mr. Williams was already sitting on death row.

Civil rights attorney, Olu K. Orange, stated – "Everything about what the government did to Mr. Williams was utterly and horribly wrong. Mr. Williams deserves justice and City and County officials must be held accountable. We intend to make that happen."

Partner Je Yon Jung stated, "Mr. Williams and his son will never get back the years that were taken from him by the State. Mr. Williams will never recover from the mental and physical toll that 32 years on death row caused him. His son will never know what it is like to have a father attend his sporting events or to give him fatherly advice. There is no amount of money too large to compensate for what they have lost. This lawsuit is to send a message that will prevent this from happening again."

The National Registry of Exonerations data shows that in 2023 at least 118 exonerations were marred by official misconduct. In 2022 84% of exonerations were persons of color and nearly 61% of exonerees are Black.

For more information about May Jung LLP, go to www.mayjung.com

CONTACT: Kameron Coefield, 202-938-3524, info@mayjung.com

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SOURCE May Jung LLP