By Zachary Margulis-Ohnuma
Brooklyn in the late 1980s and early 1990s was ground zero for an explosion of homicides without precedent before or since. The violence was accompanied by fear, and, all too often, police misconduct that led to false convictions. So far this year, incoming Brooklyn District Attorney Ken Thompson has agreed to exonerate ten men wrongly convicted from that time. For anyone interested in this chapter of New York City history and its ongoing aftermath, there will be a terrific program at the New York City Bar Association at 42 W. 42nd Street in Manhattan on November 5, 2014 at 7 pm – “A New Look at Old Convictions in Brooklyn.” DA Thompson, New York Times columnist Jim Dwyer, and exoneree Antonio Yarbough (a Margulis-Ohnuma client), and a number of prominent defense attorneys will join in a round table discussion that promises to be lively and insightful. The program was organized by the New York City Bar Association’s Criminal Law Committee Brooklyn Conviction Review Subcommittee and co-sponsored by a number or other bar committees. It is free and open to the public but you have to register in advance here.