The Erie County Supreme Court has thrown out the murder conviction of ECBAWM client Brian Scott Lorenz for the 1993 murder of Deborah Meindl, a nursing student and young mother from Tonawanda, New York.

Since 1994, Mr. Lorenz has been serving life imprisonment based on a conviction fueled by questionable and dubious evidence. A post-conviction hearing revealed DNA tests that exclude Mr. Lorenz and his co-defendant Mr. Pugh from the crime scene, witnesses whose testimony was fabricated or coerced, and evidence pointing to other possible murderers.

In his opinion, State Supreme Court Justice Paul W. Wojtaszek cited the original prosecutors’ violations of the rules governing the sharing of evidence, the emergence of new evidence in the case, and advances in DNA testing as the grounds for setting aside the defendants’ convictions.

Mr. Lorenz is represented by ECBAWM partner Ilann M. Maazel, associate Emily Wanger, and paralegal Eman Merghani. Maazel said he is hoping Mr. Lorenz will be released quickly from state prison. “Scott is a broken man. More than anything, he just wants to go home to his wife and live in peace.”

Press
“Judge Orders New Trials for 2 Men Convicted in Grisly ’93 Murder,” The New York Times