Credit: Getty Images.

I’d like to tell you a story about the bad old days of “discovery.”

Back in 2010, I represented a man named Rashad Nicholson in Albany County Court. Charged with murder, he swore his innocence to me as we spoke in visiting rooms, month after month, at Albany County jail. Then, a few days before the trial was set to begin, the assistant district attorney finally turned over witness statements, grand jury testimony, police reports and other paperwork. Buried in the middle of the stack of papers, I unearthed a statement of an eyewitness taken the night of the shooting, reporting that the suspect was a skinny, light-skinned male.

Advertisement

Article continues below this ad

Nicholson was a heavy-set, dark-skinned individual. Within a few days, he was exonerated and free after months of incarceration.

This was a foundational experience in my career as a defense attorney, and the clear unfairness of it all struck my core.

I........

© Times Union