Simpson Thacher represented pro bono client Jeremy Puckett in connection with the successful resolution of his civil rights lawsuit against Sacramento County in connection with his wrongful conviction for a murder he did not commit and corresponding life sentence without the possibility of parole.
Simpson Thacher and the Northern California Innocence Project (NCIP) filed several habeas petitions on Mr. Puckett’s behalf, the third of which prompted the California Supreme Court to order the trial court to hold an evidentiary hearing on Mr. Puckett’s claims. After multiple hearings during fall of 2019, Simpson Thacher and NCIP secured Mr. Puckett’s release from prison on March 13, 2020 following the Superior Court’s grant of his habeas petition. Simpson Thacher and NCIP subsequently moved the Court for a ruling on Mr. Puckett’s innocence claim under a statute that required Mr. Puckett to proactively prove his innocence. Although the Sacramento District Attorney’s Office chose not to retry Mr. Puckett after his release, it opposed his request for an innocence finding. Through additional briefing and another hearing, Simpson Thacher and NCIP successfully argued to the Court that the evidence of Mr. Puckett’s innocence outweighed the fatally flawed and unreliable testimony presented by prosecutors at his trial. The Court agreed with Simpson Thacher, declaring the District Attorney’s arguments “absurd.” The Court then granted an order declaring Mr. Puckett factually innocent of the murder for which he had been wrongfully convicted and incarcerated for 19 years.
After Mr. Puckett was found factually innocent, Mr. Puckett and the Simpson Thacher team brought a civil suit against the County of Sacramento, the Sacramento County District Attorney’s Office, the Sacramento County Sheriff’s Office, and various individuals who worked on the criminal investigation into Mr. Puckett that resulted in his wrongful conviction. This civil suit alleged that the County, Sheriff’s Office, and DA’s Office committed Monell violations by failing to have any policies requiring that their employees comply with their Brady obligations to turn over all material favorable evidence to criminal defendants’ defense teams, failing to adequately train their employees about their Brady obligations, and failing to supervise their employees’ discovery practices to ensure compliance with Brady. The suit also alleged that the detectives and prosecutor who had worked on Mr. Puckett’s case had violated Brady by failing to turn over more than 700 pages of material favorable evidence to Mr. Puckett’s defense team. Mr. Puckett and the County of Sacramento recently reached a mutual agreement to resolve this action after a successful settlement conference.
The Simpson Thacher team includes Partner Steve Blake and Associates Alison Draikiwicz, Chelsea Wein, Rachel June-Graber, Samantha Jumper, Sarah Heintz and Sophia Dillon-Davidson, as well as retired partner Buzz Frahn. Summer Associates Jess Parry, Nicholas Webb, Jared Tay and Dahlia Bailey provided valuable assistance.