Emery Celli Brinckerhoff Abady Ward & Maazel, together with Romano & Kuan, PLLC filed lawsuits in the Southern District of New York today on behalf of Michael Cosme and Carlos Perez, who spent almost 18 years in prison for two murders they did not commit. The complaints allege that the two lead detectives manufactured the entire prosecution by coercing and bribing two “witnesses” to give false testimony and that the detectives suppressed evidence – including surveillance footage that undermined the testimony of a third “witness” and phone records that would have implicated the real murderers. Had the detectives followed up on basic leads instead of intentionally framing six innocent people (who collectively spent 100 years in jail), they would have caught the real murderers (who have since confessed) and prevented several heinous murders that those individuals instead remained free to commit. ECBAWM attorneys Earl Ward, Elizabeth S. Saylor, and David A. Lebowitz, along with Julia Kuan of Romano & Kuan, PLLC represent Mr. Cosme and Mr. Perez, as well as one of the other co-defendants whose case is already pending in federal court.

“Set Free in 1995 Killings, 3 Bronx Men File Suits Alleging Police Misconduct,” New York Times