On September 17, 2024, our pro bono client, a sex trafficking survivor, was released from prison after serving nine years of a 25-year prison sentence in connection with the unintended death of an associate of her trafficker. Jackie (whose name has been changed for her privacy) was resentenced under the Domestic Violence Survivor’s Justice Act (DVSJA) – the New York State law that permits judges to consider the impact of domestic violence when sentencing an individual who was the victim of substantial abuse that was a significant contributing factor to the conduct that resulted in their conviction.

Under the DVSJA, the maximum sentence for Jackie’s crime is only five years. Having already served over nine years, Jackie’s September 16, 2024, resentencing in the Criminal Term of the New York County Supreme Court wiped out more than 15 years that were left on her original sentence and required her immediate release. This reduction is the most significant in a determinate sentence since the DVSJA’s enactment in 2019. Now connected to numerous organizations that provide critical re-entry support and therapeutic services, Jackie has great hope for her future. 

When Jackie was 19, she was targeted and groomed by a seasoned sex trafficker who used the “boyfriend model” to lure her to New York City and trap her. After several attempts, Jackie escaped and found safety with family and friends, who insisted on returning to the place of her trafficker’s operation to recoup some of the profits from her exploitation. A fight broke out and an associate of Jackie’s trafficker lost his life. Although it was understood that the man’s death was not intentional and resulted from the use of physical restraint by another person in the group, Jackie received the harshest sentence of the eight defendants on the theory that, but for Jackie, the group would not have returned to that location, and she was therefore responsible for the fight that resulted. 

Davis Polk began working with Jackie in 2020, ultimately spending over 2,000 hours investigating her case, collecting corroborating evidence, working with experts, preparing Jackie to meet with the District Attorney’s Office and engaging in extensive advocacy. The Legal Aid Society served as co-counsel, and the Manhattan District Attorney’s Office joined in the defense’s resentencing application.

Jackie joins 16 other criminalized survivors whom Davis Polk has helped in successful DVSJA-related cases or clemency petitions since 2019, along with co-counsel from Legal Aid, the Center for Appellate Litigation, New York County Defender Services, Sanctuary for Families and Brooklyn Law School, among others. Overwhelmingly, Davis Polk has achieved these victories for survivors through collaborative, non-adversarial engagement with District Attorneys’ Offices throughout the state, leading to over a dozen DVSJA motions in which the People have ultimately joined in our applications.

The Davis Polk team was led by senior counsel Denis McInerney and counsel and Head of Pro Bono Litigation Dara Sheinfeld, who together lead Davis Polk’s extensive efforts – which include successful clemency campaigns, criminal appeals and DVSJA litigation – on behalf of criminalized survivors. The team also included associates Stephanie Hansen, Jaclyn Katz and Jessica Paduganan and legal assistants Angelica Matoske and Kristina Milberger. Legal Aid Society Associate Appellate Counsel David Crow served as co-counsel, providing critical assistance.

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