Jones Day lawyers represent individuals and nonprofit organizations in both civil and criminal litigation before a variety of administrative agencies and state and federal courts, including the federal courts of appeal and the U.S. Supreme Court. Across the Firm, our lawyers participate in various local clinics that offer free legal advice to the poor on such matters as landlord/tenant law, public benefits, immigration, probate, family law, and consumer fraud. Our lawyers have represented defendants at all levels of the criminal justice system, from wrongfully charged individuals facing their first trials to death row inmates seeking new ones. In addition, we assist nonprofit organizations with corporate-related issues such as incorporation and tax advice.
Jones Day attorneys assisted two New York City entrepreneurs in corporate and tax matters related to Blue Marble Dreams, a New York not-for-profit corporation, whose mission is to sponsor community development projects involving the sale and production of ice cream in countries with indigenous but underutilized dairy resources. BMD will provide independently-owned start-up companies with seed capital, human capital and technological training and know-how to develop a sustainable ice cream business.
Jones Day obtained asylum for Client AA, an unaccompanied alien child from Somalia. A.A. was born in Mogadishu, Somalia in 1991 in the midst of a violent civil war and regime change. Due to the upheaval, and because A.A.'s father had been a military officer in the former government and feared retaliation from the new Somali leadership, A.A.'s family was forced to evacuate their home.
A Jones Day team, along with the Ohio Innocence Project, represented Douglas Prade, a former City of Akron police captain who was convicted of the November 1997 murder of his ex-wife, Dr. Margo Prade, before the Ohio Supreme Court. Dr. Prade was bitten on her arm by the killer, and the State's case against Mr. Prade in his 1998 trial was based in substantial part on the State's expert forensic dentists' testimony that Mr. Prade made the bite mark on Dr. Prade's arm. Testing of the lab coat that Dr. Prade was wearing in the blood-soaked area over the bite mark in 1998 identified only Dr. Prade's DNA (from her blood) and could not detect any of the killer's DNA.
A Jones Day team, along with the Ohio Innocence Project and Cleveland lawyer Mark DeVan, represented Raymond Towler in connection with seeking DNA testing that ultimately led to his exoneration. In 1981, Mr. Towler was convicted of rape based on eyewitness testimony, but no physical evidence. Mr. Towler pled not guilty and, since his conviction, always has denied committing the crime, including when an admission of guilt likely would have resulted in his parole.