Joel B. Rudin in the Media

Joel B. Rudin’s successes in criminal cases and wrongful conviction lawsuits against the City of New York—showing patterns of illegal behavior by prosecutors—have been widely reported in the media. He has worked effectively, through the news media, to rehabilitate the damaged reputations of his criminal clients.

Day care center rape prosecutions

Mr. Rudin has been praised for his successful crusade to overturn the convictions of, and to free, five innocent men unjustly convicted in the Bronx during the mid-1980s during the national hysteria about alleged ritualistic sexual abuse of children at day-care centers. Legendary columnist Murray Kempton wrote in Newsday about Mr. Rudin’s success in overturning the conviction of Alberto Ramos and the other men:

“The lawyer, Joel B. Rudin, has been the most persistent and successful salvager of lives near-ruined in these harryings. He had already won freedom for three other Concourse Day Care workers after nearly three years in prison when the State Supreme Court’s Appellate Division crowned his efforts by overturning Ramos’ conviction.”

—Salvaging a Life Tarred by Scandal, Newsday, July 17, 1994, p. A35.

Just a few of the additional articles about Mr. Rudin’s efforts in the day-care center cases include:

Man Freed After Serving 7 Years for Rape, Maria Newman, The New York Times, June 3, 1992, p. B-1
After Decade, A Child Abuse Case Lives On, Julia Campbell, The New York Times, July 19, 1995, p. A-1
Minister Is Released in Child-Abuse Case, David Stout, The New York Times, July 12, 1996, p. B-1
Out on Appeal, Mary Voboril, New York Newsday, November 5, 1996, p. B-1
Conviction for Child Abuse Overturned 10 Years Later, David Stout, The New York Times, September 30, 1997, p. B-3.

Alberto Ramos conviction and civil rights lawsuit

Noted ethics Professor Stephen Gillers, former vice dean of New York University School of Law, has written a case study for a law school textbook of Mr. Rudin’s representation of Alberto Ramos in overturning his false day care center rape conviction and winning him a $5 million civil settlement. Professor Gillers describes Mr. Rudin as a:

"…persistent and careful lawyer" who developed an innovative legal strategy to hold New York City responsible for misconduct by trial prosecutors who cannot themselves be sued due to prosecutorial immunity. "Rudin is an easygoing man with a quick smile and no suggestion, other than curly gray hair, that he has crossed fifty. He has a quality common to many successful trial lawyers."

—Gillers, In the Pink Room, Legal Ethics: Law Stories (Foundation Press 2006).

A few of the numerous articles written about the Ramos civil settlement include:

City Gives $5 Million to Man Wrongly Imprisoned in Child’s Rape, Andrea Elliott, The New York Times, December 16, 2003, p. B3
Prosecutors Not Penalized, Lawyer Says: Misconduct Is Reviewed In Cases by Bronx Office, Andrea Elliott, The New York Times, December 17, 2003, B1
District Attorney May Be Sued As City Official, Michael A. Riccardi, The New York Law Journal, August 17, 2001, p. 1.

New York narcotics detective corruption trial

Influential New York Times op ed columnist Bob Herbert wrote six stories about Mr. Rudin’s successful representation of a New York City narcotics detective, Zaher Zahrey, in a federal police corruption criminal trial and in a related New York City Police Department administrative proceeding. Mr. Herbert wrote:

“Two things ultimately saved Mr. Zahrey-the fine work of a fiercely dedicated lawyer named Joel Rudin, and the intelligence and common sense of a jury that could not be swayed by the government’s deceit… But what happens to those who are falsely targeted by police and prosecutors and don’t have a Joel Rudin to fight for them?”

—Herbert, Danger from Within, The New York Times, September 14, 2000 (op ed page). See also Bob Herbert, An Inquiry Out of Control, The New York Times, April 24, 2000 (op ed page).

Detective Zahrey’s acquittal, after he spent nearly nine months in jail awaiting trial, was widely reported in the media:

Jury Acquits Detective of Drug Robberies, Matthew Purdy, The New York Times, June 28, 1997, p. 24.
When Cop and Crooks Share Hoop Dreams, Larry McShane, The Los Angeles Times, August 17, 1997
Cops Under Fire, by Larry McShane (Regnery Publishing 1999)

Following the acquittal, Mr. Rudin brought a federal civil rights lawsuit against the state and federal prosecutors and the Internal Affairs detectives who were responsible for Mr. Zahrey’s wrongful prosecution. The lawsuit was featured in New York Magazine:

A Cop's Tale, Craig Horowitz, July 16, 2001, p. 33.

United States Supreme Court arguments

Behind the Headlines: A Lawyer’s U.S. Supreme Court Countdown, Daniel Wise, The New York Law Journal, April 29, 1991.

Other noteworthy media appearances

City Will Pay $3.5 Million To a Man Jailed 12 Years, Corey Kilgannon, The New York Times, October 18, 2008, p. A21
Prosecutor Misconduct At a Cost of $3.5 Million, Jim Dwyer, The New York Times, October 22, 2008, p. A27
Negated Murder Conviction Prompts Suit Against the City, Julia Preston, The New York Times, November 6, 2004, p. B2