Carlton Fields attorneys have a strong commitment to performing pro bono work in a wide variety of areas, including Children’s Advocacy, Civil Rights, Community and Non-profit Organizations, Elder Law, Indigent Advocacy, Conservation Law, Patent Law, and Prisoners’ Rights. Please click on any of these links or scroll down to review some of our representative pro bono matters.
Children's Advocacy
Guardian Ad Litem Projects
Daniel Hernandez has assisted with the Guardian ad Litem program. He represented the guardian assigned to two children who were adjudicated dependent by the Department of Children and Families. His role was to ensure that the guardians, and ultimately the children, are well represented during the various hearings that make up a dependency proceeding. The overall goal of the Guardian ad Litem program is to permanently place the dependent children in stable homes.
Martha Chumbler also provided assistance to children whose interests would otherwise not be represented. Through the Guardian ad Litem office, she assisted in a matter involving allegations of child abuse arising from the mother’s Munchausen’s by Proxy Syndrome. Ms. Chumbler also helped with a case in which a toddler was severely scalded by his mother’s boyfriend and another case involving the guardianship of a teenager.
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Civil Rights
Detainees at Guantanamo in Cuba
John Blue and Sylvia Walbolt teamed up with a number of attorneys nationwide to represent the detainees at Guantanamo Bay in Cuba. Their representation helped ensure that the detainees’ civil rights were protected.
Building a Community – Healing From Discrimination
Carlton Fields represented the Community Development Corporation (CDC) of Leesburg and Vicinity, Inc., a not-for-profit corporation formed to assist in carrying out relief ordered by United States Federal District Court Judge Wm. Terrell Hodges in a Consent Decree. The decree was issued in a class action lawsuit that alleged multiple violations of various Civil Rights Acts and violation of the Housing and Community Development Act of 1974.
The plaintiffs alleged that the City of Leesburg and other parties had discriminated against African American residents and/or property owners in planning and zoning decisions, property acquisitions and management, code enforcement actions, housing and grant application decisions. The CDC, in part, was established to provide a mechanism for development and redevelopment of the neighborhoods that were the subject of the lawsuit.
The Lawyers Committee on Civil Rights asked Sylvia Walbolt to assist the Community Development Corp. (CDC). Tom Snow, Vinnie Vaughn, David Burke, and George Barford (with assistance by other transactional attorneys, as needed) undertook the pro bono project. Carlton Fields represented the CDC, principally through its Board of Directors, as it formulated and executed redevelopment plans for the affected neighborhoods.
Florida Justice Institute
Carlton Fields' Miami office provided office space for The Florida Justice Institute and its Volunteer Lawyers Project for the Southern District of Florida. The Institute has worked closely on pro bono matters over the years with several Carlton Fields attorneys, including Reece Smith, Sylvia Walbolt, and Benjamine Reid.
The Florida Justice Institute is a public interest law firm founded in 1978 to increase the statewide availability of legal services. Once described in a Miami Herald feature article as “lawyers of ‘last resort’,” the Institute has long represented the under-represented and unrepresented such as prisoners, the elderly, the poor, the handicapped, and the disabled throughout Florida through direct representation, pro bono programs, and leveraging financial resources. The Florida Justice Institute administers the Volunteer Lawyers’ Project (VLP), a project created by the U.S. District Court for the South District of Florida to represent pro se civil litigants.
Compensation for Wrongful Incarceration
Carlton Fields devoted hundreds of hours to the representation of Alan Jerome Crotzer, who was released from prison after serving 24+ years for a crime he did not commit. John Blue, Nancy Linnan, and Rheb Harbison worked with the legislature to seek compensation for Mr. Crotzer's wrongful incarceration. On April 10, 2008, Governor Charlie Crist signed into effect a bill that resulted in Mr. Crotzer receiving $1.25 million and community college tuition.
Honduran Death Squad Leader Ordered to Pay $47 Million
Carlton Fields attorney Benjamine Reid, along with attorneys from the Center for Justice and Accountability, represented torture victims in a case against Honduran Colonel Juan Lopez Grijalba. Judge Joan Lenard, a federal judge in Miami, held that Lopez Grijalba was legally responsible for torture, extrajudicial killings and disappearances in Honduras. Judge Lenard stated that his conduct was "highly egregious." During the 1980’s, Honduran Armed Forces, under the command of Lopez Grijalba, tortured and murdered innocent civilians. Lopez Grijalba also controlled a death squad that was responsible for widespread human rights abuses in Honduras as part of a systematic program of disappearances and political murder.
Carlton Fields represented the sister and son of Manfredo Velasquez, a university student leader who was detained and murdered at Lopez Grijalba’s direction. The judge awarded them a total of $5 million in compensatory damages and $6 million in punitive damages. Also represented were Oscar and Gloria Reyes, who testified at trial that they were subject to beatings, continuous electrical shocks and a mock execution. They were each awarded $6 million in compensatory and $7 million in punitive damages. Two sisters of Hans Madisson, a university student who was brutally abducted and murdered by Honduran troops acting according to orders issued by Lopez Grijalba, were also awarded $2 million each in compensatory and $3 million each in punitive damages.
This trial victory represented a significant step towards accountability of human rights violators. Judge Lenard’s ruling was also a powerful condemnation of the Honduran leader’s horrific actions.
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Community and Non-Profit Organizations
Many Carlton Fields attorneys spend their pro bono time assisting community, civic, and non-profit organizations with legal matters, including general transactional, corporate and tax representation. Such legal representation allows these organizations to carry out their missions to benefit the needy citizens of our state. Examples include:
Florida Community Loan Fund, Inc.
The Florida Community Loan Fund, Inc. (“Loan Fund”) is a tax exempt, non-profit lender that specializes in making loans to other non-profit organizations in the state of Florida to support affordable housing, economic development, and essential social services. The Loan Fund has offices in Jacksonville, Orlando, and Tampa. Carlton Fields attorney David Punzak represented the Loan Fund for nearly a decade, principally in loan transactions from the Loan Fund to other non-profit organizations, but also as corporate counsel. As a result of that longstanding relationship, the Loan Fund nominated Mr. Punzak for the American Bar Association 2006 National Public Service Award that he received from the Pro Bono Committee of the Business Law Section.
Community Development Corporation for Leesburg & Vicinity
Carlton Fields attorney Vinnie Vaughn worked with the Community Development Corporation for Leesburg & Vicinity, a non-profit corporation organized to work within the community of Leesburg, Florida, to develop opportunities for minority businesses, to provide low income housing opportunities, to strengthen the local minority community in Leesburg and to provide a better life for minorities within that community. Specifically, Ms. Vaughn assisted the CDC with its contract for sale of 10 lots in the re-platted subdivision of Heritage Estates. With the CDC’s help, the homes will be sold to local first-time home buyers. Ms. Vaughn further assisted the CDC in the purchase of a parcel adjacent to Heritage estates, which the CDC marketed in the same manner. Ms. Vaughn provided real estate development services, employment law services and general advice to the CDC. Carlton Fields also supported their various projects and activities and lended corporate advice and support to the Board and to the Executive Director of the CDC.
U.S. Green Building Council – Florida Gulf Coast Chapter
Nicole Kibert represented the U.S Green Building Council – Florida Gulf Coast Chapter in general corporate matters and provided support for local government advocacy and drafting as needed. The chapter promotes green building in the Gulf Coast region.
Reach for the Stars to Benefit Individuals with Cystic Fibrosis
Carlton Fields acted as counsel for Reach for the Stars to Benefit Individuals with Cystic Fibrosis, which is a 501(c)(3) organization that provides financial assistance to families afflicted by cystic fibrosis.
Hillsborough Education Foundation
George Meyer assisted the Hillsborough Education Foundation with drafting and negotiating various construction contracts for the renovation and expansion of its Nature’s Classroom Project. Nature’s Classroom is an outdoor environmental education program located on 365 acres of land along the Hillsborough River which has served more than 270,000 Hillsborough County Public School Students since 1969.
Cristin Conley Keane has assisted several charitable organizations. She provided general corporate and tax representation to the Children’s AIDS Foundation of Tampa Bay Inc., which is an organization dedicated to assisting pediatric HIV and AIDS patients and their families in dealing with HIV/AIDS. Ms. Keane also represented Angel of Hope Memorial Garden, Tampa Bay, Inc., which is creating a garden in Tampa dedicated to the memory of children who have died. She assisted this organization with the formation and organization of the corporation, application for recognition of tax exemption, and state and local charitable organization issues such as charitable solicitation registrations and sales tax exemption certificate application. Ms. Keane provided similar representation for Kids For Life, Inc., an organization dedicated to assisting the families of pediatric organ donors. For One Here . . . One There, Inc., an organization that raises funds in the U.S. to pay for the costs of education for children in sub-Saharan Africa , Ms. Keane provided corporate and tax counsel regarding the application for recognition of tax exemption. Ms. Keane has also represented The Terri Schindler Schiavo Foundation, Inc., which is an organization promoting awareness of Terri Schiavo’s situation and the state of guardianship laws. Her representation included formation and organization of the corporation, state and local charitable organization issues such as charitable solicitation registrations, and general corporate and tax counsel. Ms. Keane provided corporate representation for Florida Cleft Palate-Craniofacial Association, Incorporates, which promotes education related to cleft-palate and craniofacial health issues among medical practitioners and the public, as well as for New Beginning Christian Church, Inc., a Christian church. Ms. Keane has also provided corporate legal assistance to We Feed the Hungry, which provides one hot meal a week to the needy in St. Petersburg.
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Elder Law
Defending an Elderly Woman Against a Fraudulent Roofing Company
In court on another matter, a Firm associate witnessed a hearing in which a roofing contractor was attempting to foreclose on a lien against the home of an elderly woman. In tears, she told the Court that she had not authorized $554.00 in additional work performed by the contractor and, as a former county school cook living on an $800 monthly pension, had no funds with which to pay the bill. The judge denied the company’s Motion for Summary Judgment, but told the woman she needed to retain counsel before trial.
Our attorney passed her a note offering his services free of charge. He soon learned that she had a contract with the company for roof work to be performed for $2,990.00. She had obtained a second mortgage on her house to cover the bill. Although the contract authorized the company to do additional work on a “time and materials” basis, it stipulated that the final price would not exceed $2,990.00. This provision was critical, because $2,990.00 was the maximum she could borrow, and she had no additional funds. Our attorney filed a Notice of Appearance in the case. He also filed a Motion to Amend her Answer and to add various counterclaims against the contractor. These included fraud, deceptive and unfair trade practices, violations of the Fair Debt Collection Act (since the contractor threatened to take her home), the filing of a fraudulent lien, rescission of the contract, and potential infliction of emotional distress. He also served numerous discovery requests on the contractor asking them to provide, among other things, a list of all other clients who they had threatened with foreclosure over disputed bills.
Our attorney went on to meet at length with opposing counsel, explaining the counterclaim he believed his client could file, and the significant financial exposure the contractor faced should this matter proceed to trial. Following this discussion, the contractor offered to drop the suit against the client entirely with no payment whatsoever by her. The woman was elated with the result.
After the matter was concluded, our attorney contacted Bay Area Legal Services, volunteering to establish a construction law referral network for Bay Area and offering Carlton Fields’ services to Bay Area and its clientele.
The Case of the Missing Roof Repairs
Sarah Cortvriend represented an elderly Vero Beach couple, the Glovers, who had paid a deposit for roof repairs that were never completed. This couple is of limited means, poor health, and they are raising their five-year old granddaughter. Ms. Cortvriend attended a mediation and pre-trial conference, and obtained a default judgment when the defendant never appeared. Through Ms. Cortvriend's hard work and persistence, the Glovers received a full refund of their deposit plus interest.
Elder Law Manual
Mike Virgadamo assisted Pasco County Legal Services in creating a comprehensive manual entitled, Representing the Elderly in Florida. This manual included various issues related to elder law, covering topics from Social Security to Medicare to estate planning.
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Indigent Advocacy
Legal Aid to 2004 Hurricane Victims
Carlton Fields attorneys, in conjunction with The Florida Bar Young Lawyers Division “One Day Can Make A Difference” Challenge, assisted hurricane victims who had legal questions related to the destruction caused by four devastating hurricanes that hit Florida. Firm attorneys met with hurricane victims at FEMA disaster assistance centers in Vero Beach and Port St. Lucie to provide in-person general legal advice.
In addition, Kathleen S. McLeroy provided free legal advice for employees of Fawcett Memorial Hospital in Port Charlotte, Florida, and was instrumental in directing an anonymous donation to a deserving hurricane victim. The hospital posted Carlton Fields’ telephone number for its employees and the firm received more than 30 calls on issues such as how to apply for FEMA aid and landlord tenant disagreements.
Bay Area Volunteer Lawyers Program Conflict Program
Nearly two hundred low-income clients are turned away by Bay Area Legal Services every year because the opposing party in the dispute has already had an appointment with a legal services staff attorney, thereby creating a conflict of interest. Since 1994, Carlton Fields’ attorneys have conducted intake interviews for Bay Area Legal Services in cases where Bay Area has a conflict of interest, and have provided legal assistance to hundreds of indigent clients who would not otherwise receive free legal services due to a conflict of interest with BALS.
Public Defender Program
John Blue, Allison Kahn, Henry Gyden, Cristina Alonso, and Kelly Bittick have worked on Public Defender cases before the Second District Court of Appeal. The Public Defender program allows private attorneys to volunteer and assist the understaffed Public Defender’s Office provide legal counsel to indigent persons accused of crimes. Nancy Ciampa worked on the Public Defender Program in Hansen v. State, where she received a defendant's 7 1/2 year conviction reversed.
Florida Legal Services Class Action
In Edmonds et al v. Alan Levine, Neil Kodsi served as co-counsel with Florida Legal Services and others in representing a Class of approximately 6,000 Medicaid recipients who were being denied access to certain medications by the State of Florida. After a three day hearing which took place in September 2005 and extensive briefing, Judge Klein (U.S. District for the S.D. Fla.) granted our motion for summary judgment and issued a permanent injunction requiring the State of Florida to reimburse Medicaid patients for the medication at issue in the case. This is a major victory for the class of over 6,000 Medicaid recipients who were unable to afford and thus unable to obtain this medication until the ruling by the Court. This case is enormously important to low income medicaid recipients across the country and the precedent it established will ultimately affect access to many critical drugs.
Conservation
Tampa Bay Conservancy
Nicole Kibert served as counsel to the Tampa Bay Conservancy, a land trust working in the Tampa Bay area to conserve land in perpetuity. With the help of Sandra Porter and Laurel Lockett, Ms. Kibert assisted the Conservancy in a land donation transaction. This representation resulted in the permanent preservation in December 2005 of a 60-acre site with about a 1/2-mile of Alafia River shoreline named the Myron and Helen Gibbons Nature. The site is a beautiful mix of upland and wetland with Bell Creek meandering through oak & pinewoods and mixed hardwood and cypress wetlands before it's confluence with the Alafia River. Ms. Kibert and Rob Freedman also negotiated and drafted a Conservation Easement for the Tampa Bay Conservancy and continue to work with the organization as new projects arise.
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Patent Law
“Fundamental Questions of Patent Law and the Right of the Public” IEEE-USA Amicus Curiae Brief Before U.S. Supreme Court in Festo Patent Case
On behalf of the Institute for Electrical and Electronics Engineering United States of America (IEEE-USA), Carlton Fields filed an Amicus Curiae brief before the United States Supreme Court in Festo Corporation v. Shotketsu Kinzoku Kogyo Kabushiki Co., Ltd. Festo involved fundamental questions of patent law and the right of the public to practice unpatented inventions. Festo may well be one of the most significant patent cases heard by the Supreme Court in decades.
The Justices accorded the brief prominent attention in oral arguments before the Court. Justice Sandra Day O’Connor asked both sides to compare and contrast their position with that of IEEE-USA’s, while other justices quizzed the parties on IEEE-USA’s proposed “foreseeable bar” standard. In the end, the Court’s decision largely tracked the reasoning advanced in Carlton Fields’ amicus brief.
Carlton Fields shareholder Andy Greenberg served as counsel of record and worked with a team of ten Carlton Fields lawyers and legal assistants, including Matt Conigliaro, Doug McDonald, Joe Lang, and Chris Smart. “We saw this as an important question before the Supreme Court affecting not only patent owners and inventors, but everybody who benefits from innovation in the United States,” Former President and CEO Thomas Snow said. “We were pleased to help present the position of IEEE-USA to the Court.”
IEEE-USA is a global organization that promotes the career and technology policy interests of its members including nearly 230,000 engineers in the United States. IEEE-USA seeks to advance global prosperity by fostering technological innovation, assisting members’ careers and promoting the engineering community worldwide. The IEEE-USA promotes the engineering process of creating, developing, integrating, sharing and applying knowledge about electronics and information technologies and sciences.
Carlton Fields filed another Amicus Curiae brief on behalf of IEEE-USA with the U.S. Supreme Court in Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Studios, Inc., et al. v. Grokster, Ltd., et al, a case that preserved protections for technical innovation on the Internet.
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Prisoner's Rights
Florida Innocence Initiative, Inc.
This organization screens and assists Florida prisoners attempting to prove their innocence by DNA testing. The prisoners assisted by the Florida Innocence Initiative are typically those for whom DNA evidence was unavailable at the time of their conviction. This project was made possible as the result of legislation and rules of criminal procedure adopted in 2001 that required the state to maintain DNA evidence for a period of two years. Although these provisions were extended for an additional period of time, these provisions requiring the preservation of evidence sunset this year. Because there remain a number of prisoners that have not had an opportunity to be tested, the Florida Innocence Initiative, Inc. sought the assistance of Carlton Fields to petition the Florida Supreme Court for emergency relief from the deadline while seeking a political solution. Carlton Fields attorneys John Blue, Sylvia Walbolt, and Nancy Henry, along with Jennifer Greenberg of the Florida Innocence Initiative, Inc., drafted the emergency petition. John Blue attended the Florida Bar Criminal Rules Committee meeting to seek a rule amendment to allow the continuation of DNA testing.
Death Sentences
Carlton Fields represented Ronnie Lee Jones in his post-conviction and habeas proceedings before the Florida Supreme Court. In Case Nos. 91,014 & 93,300, the Florida Supreme Court unanimously reversed his convictions and vacated his death sentences.
The Court did so after setting forth the critical facts of the case, which include the Court’s 1985 remand order directing that an evidentiary hearing be held to analyze Jones’ competency at his 1981 trial. Specifically, the Court ruled that Mr. Jones’ competency to stand trial could be meaningfully determined because, after the Supreme Court ordered a competency hearing in 1985 based on extensive evidence of organic brain damage and mental impairment, the circuit court and the State waited 12 years before holding that hearing. The Court observed that the 12-year delay was excessive, and made it impossible for Mr. Jones to receive a meaningful competency determination.
The attorneys representing Mr. Jones conducted a four-day post-conviction hearing in the circuit court and prepared, briefed and argued the case on appeal to the Supreme Court. Sylvia Walbolt, Chris Coutroulis and Bob Ciotti led the effort, supported by a team of attorneys including Joe Lang, Kelly Bittick, Matt Allen, Don Schmidt, legal assistants and secretaries, all of whom likewise volunteered their time and efforts to have Mr. Jones’s conviction reversed.
Fighting for Prison Reform in Osterback v. Moore
In September 2001, Carlton Fields agreed to assist the Florida Institute of Justice in a class action filed on behalf of prisoners assigned to Florida’s “Close Management” system. By all accounts, Close Management inmates were extremely isolated and deprived – locked around the clock in small barren cells behind thick doors with tiny windows and food slots through which all meals were passed. Denied radio, television and newspapers, prisoners were allowed a Bible and an occasional book. Outside visits and telephone access were restricted to virtual non-existence. No self-improvement or educational programs were available, though many inmates were illiterate.
Day rooms on Close Management units were empty, with common area television sets stripped from the walls. Prisoners emerged three times a week to shower an adjacent cell and exercise in an empty dog-cage under the blazing sun. They were never permitted to walk freely; never left their cells without handcuffs, waste chains and shackles. Conditions such as these are known to cause psychosis in healthy people, and can be devastating for those with mental illness. Many Close Management prisoners displayed symptoms of serious emotional disturbance, including frequent self-mutilation and attempted suicide.
Prior to their release from prison, Close Management prisoners were provided with no pre-release counseling or progressive relaxation of restrictions. They were routinely released to the street ill equipped to function, if not guaranteed to recidivate. Osterback v. Moore began as a pro se challenge to these conditions at one prison. The Florida Justice Institute and Florida International Legal Service entered appearances as co-counsel for the prisoners and expanded the lawsuit into a class action challenging conditions in Close Management Systems across the state. When litigation began, there were approximately fifteen such units.
Carlton Fields attorneys throughout the state defended depositions, provided legal research and prepared motions, memoranda and support for trial preparation. The case was scheduled for trial in October 2001. During the final days of discovery, the Florida Department of Corrections (FDOC) offered to settle the suit – addressing almost all of Plaintiffs’ concerns about classification, exercise, activities, possessions, interactions, visitation, mental health care and on-site monitoring by Plaintiffs’ counsel. After negotiation, the Plaintiffs accepted the FDOC’s revised Offer of Judgment that reformed the CM system.
Testing Exculpatory DNA Evidence
Carlton Fields represented Mr. William Kelley, a Florida death row inmate, on a pro bono basis, in an effort to have potentially exculpatory DNA evidence tested to prove Mr. Kelley’s innocence. Carlton Fields joined the Innocence Project, James Lohman, and Professor Lawrence Tribe in the effort to obtain DNA testing that was not available at the time Mr. Kelley was convicted.
Mr. Kelley was convicted in 1984 for the 1966 murder of Charles Von Maxcy, a wealthy Florida citrus grower. Von Maxcy was allegedly killed at the behest of James Sweet, a reputed associate of Boston’s criminal underground who had an affair with Von Maxcy’s wife. Sweet was tried and convicted for Von Maxcy’s murder in the late 1960’s, but the conviction was reversed on appeal.
In 1981, Massachusetts authorities began investigating Sweet for unrelated criminal activities. Perceiving himself to be in danger of prosecution, Sweet offered to testify against the individuals who allegedly carried out the Von Maxcy murder-for-hire, including Mr. Kelley. Mr. Kelley maintains his innocence and has fought vigorously to overturn his conviction, but lacked the financial resources to hire private counsel.
The ABA Death Penalty Representation Project asked Carlton Fields to assist Mr. Kelley in filing a motion to have potentially exculpatory DNA evidence tested pursuant to Florida Rule of Criminal Procedure 3.853. Shareholders Kevin Napper and Gary Sasso, and particularly Associate Mac McCoy, lead a team of volunteer lawyers to assist Mr. Kelley, including Charles Rosenberg, Michael Walls, Niall McLachlan, Johanna Clark, Dianne Triplett, Karen Persis, Philip Bubb, and Scott Pence. Members of Carlton Fields’ Appellate Practice Group also assisted in the effort. Mr. Kelley’s motion was prepared and filed in January 2006.
Florida Institutional Legal Services
Carlton Fields assisted several Florida legal aid organizations in a federal class action lawsuit against Florida’s Department of Corrections alleging that DOC guards inappropriately use chemical agents (e.g. pepper spray) in non-emergency situations on inmates in close management cells. Thirty-four Carlton Fields’ attorneys and paralegals reviewed more than 1,000 hours of video contained on 244 tapes that captured hundreds of instances of DOC guards spraying inmates with chemical agents at the Charlotte Correctional Institution.
Criminal Appeals for Indigent Prisoners
Joe Lang, Christine Davis and John Blue were appointed by the Florida Supreme Court to represent Erick Richardson, a state prisoner, in a case certified as the result of conflict between the District Courts of Appeal. John Blue assisted in the briefing, and preparation for oral argument. John Blue also attended the oral argument on behalf of Mr. Richardson.
Chrissy Davis and John Blue were also appointed by the Florida Supreme Court to represent Samuel A. Coppola, an indigent state prisoner on appeal from a conflict case. Ms. Davis took the lead in writing the initial brief, with supervision from John Blue.
John Blue and Alina Alonso represented David Denmark, an indigent state prisoner in a criminal appeal.
Volunteer Lawyer’s Project
Several Carlton Fields attorneys, including Adam Steinberg, Kristy Johnson, and Angela Puentes-Leon, have represented indigent inmates in federal civil rights matters. In one such case, Ms. Johnson represented a prisoner in his suit against two corrections officers for failing to promptly take him to the infirmary when he was suffering a severe asthma attack. Mr. Steinberg has also represented a personal injury plaintiff in an administrative hearing.
The Daniel Colwell Case – Protecting the Mentally Ill from the Death Penalty
A team of Carlton Fields attorneys, along with representatives from the Georgia Resource Center, represented Daniel Colwell in a death penalty case. Mr. Colwell suffered from mental illness, specifically schizophrenia and bipolar disorder. Mr. Colwell murdered an elderly couple in a store parking lot and then turned himself in hoping to get the death penalty. He was tried, convicted and sentenced to death. His conviction and death sentence raised significant constitutional and other legal issues.
While he was on death row, Carlton Fields was brought onto the team to challenge his conviction. Mr. Colwell was indecisive about whether he wanted the legal team to do anything to save him and he threatened to fire his lawyers. The legal team developed the challenges to the death penalty and prepared pleadings to obtain an order requiring the prison to give him medication for his mental disorder. Unfortunately, Mr. Colwell died before the evidentiary hearing on his case. Several Carlton Fields attorneys and paralegals contributed to the case, including Joe Lang, Sylvia Walbolt, Kevin Napper, Kelly Bittick, Matt Allen, Ellen Lyons, and Ed Page.
Public Defender Project
David Cannella was appointed as a Special Assistant Public Defender for the SVP case.
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