Fighting for Transparency in the Prosecutorial Misconduct Complaint Process in New York
Civil Rights Corps v. LaSalle (previously CRC v. Pestana)
In response to the filing of the first Accountability NY complaints in 2021, NYC Corporate Counsel sent a letter to the Grievance Committees claiming that the professors had engaged in “misuse and indeed abuse of the grievance process” that “should not be countenanced.”
In November 2021, we filed a federal lawsuit (then called CRC v. Pestana) and won a big victory for transparency in June 2022, when the court granted our motion for partial summary judgment. The Southern District of New York court ruled, “The First Amendment prohibits a state from banning complainants from publishing their own attorney grievance complaints” and “[NYC corporation counsel] purported to enforce Section 90(10) while clearly acting outside the law’s bounds.”
With that ruling in hand, in 2022 and 2023, Accountability NY filed and published dozens more complaints alleging prosecutorial misconduct in Brooklyn, Manhattan, the Bronx, Long Island and other places. The website AccountabilityNY.org currently holds 50 ethics complaints alleging misconduct by prosecutors.
In July 2024, we won another landmark ruling in the lawsuit (now titled CRC v. LaSalle) when the federal judge ruled that we have a presumptive First Amendment right to know what the Grievance Committee and courts decided with the first group of complaints. The state is appealing the federal court’s ruling.
Media Coverage:
Law profs prevail over backlash to publishing prosecutor misconduct cases | Reuters | June 22, 2022
They Publicized Prosecutors’ Misconduct. The Blowback Was Swift | New York Times | Nov 10, 2021
Partners:
Cynthia Godsoe, Professor of Law, Brooklyn Law School
Daniel S. Medwed, University Distinguished Professor of Law and Criminal Justice, Northeastern University School of Law
Justin Murray, Associate Professor of Law, New York Law School
Nicole Smith Futrell, Professor of Law, CUNY School of Law
Steven Zeidman, Professor of Law, CUNY School of Law
Filings:
Summary Judgment (June 13, 2022)
Complaint (Jan 25, 2022)
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Holland v. Otero. On January 29, 2025, Civil Rights Corps filed a lawsuit against 6 Houston Police Department officers on behalf of Houston resident Terrence Holland. Mr. Holland has multiple physical, cognitive, and psychological disabilities, including PTSD, hearing impairments, and a traumatic brain injury. The complaint alleges that defendant HPD officers used overwhelming and excessive force on Mr. Holland when they repeatedly hit, kicked, punched, and tased him during a minor traffic stop.
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McWashington v. Rodgers. Mr. McWashington, a Black man, was pulled over for slow rolling through stop signs in Houston. Our lawsuit alleges that, despite the fact that Mr. McWashington complied with commands to get out of the car – at one point laying on the ground with visibly empty hands – Houston Police Department officers released an out-of-control K9 on him, which mauled and harmed him grievously.
Harrington v. Lancaster. In January 2024, Civil Rights Corps filed a federal lawsuit against three members of the Harris County Constables, Precinct 2 on behalf of Harris County resident Tyler Harrington. The complaint alleges that officers James Lancaster, Nathaniel Cano, and Jared Lindsay conducted a warrantless no-knock entry into Mr. Harrington’s home in the middle of the night and held him at gunpoint. The complaint raises several claims against the defendants, including violations of the Fourth Amendment for unlawful entry, unlawful search, unlawful seizure, and excessive force.
Lewis v. District of Columbia. Our lawsuit alleges that, on two separate occasions, Malaika Lewis and her minor daughter, N.L., were subjected to horrendous treatment at the hands of police officers. After Ms. Lewis contacted police for help locating her older daughter, the lawsuit alleges that police officers separated Ms. Lewis from her younger daughter, N.L., for hours while attempting to illegally search her apartment based on one officer's unfounded hunch that she was somehow hiding a boyfriend who had committed an unspecified crime.
Ramos v Erwin. In 2023, Civil Rights Corps filed a lawsuit against 5 Houston Police Department officers on behalf of Houston resident Alberto Ramos. The complaint alleges that defendant HPD officers racially profiled, hogtied, and arrested Mr. Ramos without probable cause.
Thomas v. Bruss. In February 2023, Civil Rights Corps brought suit on behalf of Kerry Lee Thomas against three then-deputies of the Harris County Constables’ Office, Precinct 1. In February 2023, Civil Rights Corps Attorney Shirley LaVarco and Deputy Director Brittany Francis brought suit on behalf of Kerry Lee Thomas against three then-deputies of the Harris County Constables’ Office, Precinct 1. The lawsuit alleges that Defendants subjected Mr. Thomas to a brutal K-9 attack while he lay prone on the ground with his arms outstretched. Shortly thereafter, the K-9’s handler, then-Sergeant Robert Johnson cracked gruesome jokes about the attack, namely that his dog was “full” and “satisfied” after tearing the flesh from Mr. Thomas’s right arm. Mr. Thomas further alleges that deputies Eric M. Bruss and Wayne Schultz not only failed to intervene, but also helped cover up the attack by falsifying records and reports. In addition, Mr. Thomas’s lawsuit cites important historical evidence that modern day police K-9 units have their roots in chattel slavery and anti-Black terror. That evidence is summarized as follows: Mr. Thomas is far from the first Black man to be brutalized in this way. Even before the proliferation of modern “K-9 units,” dogs have long been used to terrorize Black people. Throughout the United States, and especially in the South, dogs were bred and groomed to maul enslaved Black people for running away or otherwise angering their enslavers. Historians have drawn a straight line from this gruesome antebellum practice to the modern use of attack dogs by policing agencies like the Harris County Constable. On August 15, 2023 U.S. District Court Judge Lee H. Rosenthal denied Defendants’ motion to dismiss. In a powerful opinion, the Court underscored its concern about the misconduct alleged here: “The court does not understand the reason for commanding a police dog to bite and severely injure a suspect, the subject of a noise complaint, who had been compliant, prone, and visibly unarmed for four minutes." The court also denied the bystander officers' claim of qualified immunity, finding that Mr. Thomas plausibly alleged that Bruss and Schultz had sufficient notice of the constitutional violations underfoot but nonetheless failed to intervene, despite ample opportunity.