The defendant was charged with murder and criminal use of a firearm on a claim that he shot and killed a man outside a Norwich rooming house. After a two-week trial, the jury was deadlocked and a mistrial was declared. Several months later, a plea bargain was reached and the defendant received a ten and […]
In this capital felony case which arose in East Lyme and inspired the book Lethal Guardian and a television movie, Mike represented Mark Despres, the alleged “hit man” hired by lawyers Haiman Long Clein and Beth Ann Carpenter to kill a purported child molester. During jury selection, Mike secured a favorable plea bargain, saving Mr. […]
In this capital felony case which gripped Connecticut and the law enforcement community, Mike represented Nency Forty, an accomplice in the tragic killing of East Hartford Police Officer Brian Aselton. Mike established her diminished role in the crime, saving her from both the death penalty and life imprisonment.
During his representation of convicted serial killer Michael Ross, Mike became the first defense attorney to brief and argue before the Connecticut Supreme Court the legal issue known as proportionately review. His work became a model for other lawyers working on death penalty cases in Connecticut.
In this appeal before the Connecticut Supreme Court, Mike teamed with famed Attorney Barry Scheck and other members of the Innocence Project on an amicus brief that persuaded the Supreme Court to require trial judges to instruct future juries on the risks inherent in certain eyewitness identifications.
In this post-conviction case which focused on the illicit relationship between Boster mobster James “Whitey” Bulger and corrupt FBI Agent John Connolly, Jr., Mike represented Frank Colantoni in an effort to overturn Mr. Colantoni’s conviction for participating in the killing of organized crime figure William “The Wild Guy” Grasso.
In this highly publicized and controversial New Haven case, Mike litigated post-conviction petitions over a nine year period, seeking to overturn Stefon Morant’s double homicide conviction on the basis of an FBI report that suggested Mr. Morant was framed. Mike also developed evidence that showed the prosecution’s key witness was improperly influenced by a police […]
In a case that drew national attention, Elson Morales and two other Bridgeport police officers were accused of using unreasonable force in the apprehension of a fleeing suspect. The Government was prepared to indict Officer Morales on a ten-year felony. After several months of negotiation, Mike secured a plea bargain that more accurately reflected the […]
The defendant was charged with first-degree assault and faced up to twenty years in prison for the alleged near-fatal stabbing of her boyfriend in a Bridgeport apartment. At trial, the defendant testified that her boyfriend was beating her over the quality of her cooking and that she acted in self-defense. Mike supported her testimony by […]
The defendant was charged with capital felony, murder, felony murder, and first and second-degree sexual assault on the claim that he and another man raped and strangled a young, mentally impaired woman. The State announced its intention to seek the death penalty. The trial, which took approximately two weeks, centered on the defendant’s mental state […]
