More than three decades after Carlton Lewis was wrongfully convicted and incarcerated for a murder he did not commit, ECBAWM has filed lawsuits in the Court of Claims and the Northern District of New York.

In 1992, Mr. Lewis was sentenced to 20 years to life in prison following the death of Cheryl Coleman in Syracuse, New York. Mr. Lewis’s arrest and conviction was a result of police misconduct, including falsification of evidence, as well as problematic forensic evidence obtained through hair microscopy, a now-discredited testing methodology. Mr. Lewis maintained his innocence for over 30 years while he was wrongfully imprisoned. In August 2023, Mr. Lewis was exonerated after the testing of new DNA evidence confirmed his continued assertion of innocence.

In August and November 2024, ECBAWM filed lawsuits on Mr. Lewis’s behalf in the Court of Claims as well as in the Northern District of New York seeking justice for the three decades that Mr. Lewis spent wrongfully incarcerated.

Mr. Lewis is represented by ECBAWM attorneys Earl S. Ward, Julia P. Kuan, Katie Rosenfeld, and Rachael Wyant.