Noteworthy Cases

United States Supreme Court cases

Mr. Rudin won, by a unanimous, 9-0 vote, the leading decision in the United States Supreme Court restricting the power of federal magistrate judges to preside at federal criminal trials, specifically, the jury selection phase of the trial. See Gomez v. United States, 490 U.S. 858, 109 S. Ct. 2237 (1989).
Mr. Rudin also briefed and argued a second case involving the powers of federal magistrate judges, which the Supreme Court decided 5-4. See Peretz v. United States, 501 U.S. 923, 111 S. Ct. 2661 (1991).
In Rodriguez v. United States, 480 U.S. 522, 107 S. Ct. 1391 (1987), also in the Supreme Court, Mr. Rudin won a summary reversal of the United States Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit in a case involving the discretion of a federal court not to impose a mandatory minimum sentence upon a repeat offender.
Mr. Rudin has written several briefs on issues of national significance on behalf of the National Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers (NACDL).

Civil rights litigation: wrongful conviction and police misconduct lawsuits

Mr. Rudin has won the largest damage award in New York State history for a wrongful conviction: a $5 million settlement in 2003 for Alberto Ramos, who spent seven years in prison on a false Bronx rape conviction.
In 2008, he won settlements of $3.5 million for Shih Wei Su and $3.1 million for Sami Leka (along with co-counsel, McDermott Will & Emery), each of whom had served 12 years on false murder convictions.
Mr. Rudin has won $685,000 and $250,000 settlements from New York City in false arrest and police brutality lawsuits and in 1998 won a $180,000 settlement on behalf of a New York City firefighter who was falsely arrested.

Other appellate highlights

Zahrey v. Coffey, 221 F.3d 342 (2d Cir. 2000) is the leading decision in the Second Circuit holding that a prosecutor does not have immunity, and may be sued, under federal civil rights law for misconduct in investigating a criminal case.
Ramos v. City of New York, 285 A.D.2d 284, 729 N.Y.S.2d 678 (1st Dept. 2001), is the first state appellate court decision holding that a wrongfully-convicted criminal defendant may sue New York City for monetary damages for the unlawful policies of a New York District Attorney’s office.
People v. Fleurant, 37 A.D.3d 492, 828 N.Y.S.2d 912 (2d Dept. 2007) (Appellate Division reverses murder conviction and dismisses indictment for insufficient evidence)
People v. Hausman, 285 A.D.2d 352, 727 N.Y.S.2d 109 (1st Dept. 2001) (Appellate Division reverses murder conviction for error in jury selection);
People v. Bond, 95 N.Y.2d 840, 713 N.Y.S.2d 514 (2000) (murder conviction reversed by Court of Appeals due to prosecutor’s withholding of favorable evidence [“Brady” material]);
People v. Ramos, 201 A.D.2d 78, 614 N.Y.S.2d 977 (1st Dept. 1994) (rape conviction reversed for prosecutor’s misconduct in withholding exculpatory evidence);
People v. Beauchamp, 74 N.Y.2d 639, 541 N.Y.S.2d 971 (1989) (Court of Appeals reverses rape conviction and dismisses indictment as defective);
People v. Rosario, 127 A.D.2d 209, 514 N.Y.S.2d 362 (1st Dept. 1987) (murder conviction reversed due to unfair trial).
United States v. Derek Turner, 258 Fed. Appx. 360, 2007 WL 4426588 (2d Cir., Dec. 17, 2007) (unlawful sentence in securities fraud case is overturned for government's violation of the defendant's plea agreement); United States v. Quiroz, 13 F.3d 505 (2d Cir. 1993) (narcotics conviction reversed due to Miranda violation).

Highlights of criminal trial practice

Mr. Rudin has successfully represented clients in the state and federal courts investigated for or charged with complex white-collar and violent crimes, including:

Securities fraud
Immigration fraud
Tax evasion
Money laundering
Other business-related offenses
International or large-scale narcotics distribution
Homicide
Sex crimes
Police corruption
Immigration fraud
Customs fraud

In white-collar cases, his recent clients have included:

The CEO of a major telecommunications company charged with money laundering
The president of a large managed care company that is under investigation for financial irregularities
A hedge fund manager charged with securities violations
A real estate executive under investigation for mortgage fraud

In recent trials, Mr. Rudin won acquittals of a murder defendant for self-defense, a business client charged with committing a rape at a well-known nightclub, and a police detective charged with murder, drug distribution, and other alleged corruption.

Highlights of post-conviction practice

Mr. Rudin succeeded in freeing four men serving lengthy sentences of up to 90 years in prison who were wrongfully convicted in the Bronx Day-Care Center sexual abuse scandal of the mid-1980s.
In Grady v. Artuz, 931 F. Supp. 1048 (S.D.N.Y. 1996), Mr. Rudin obtained the release of his client, a prominent minister and civil rights leader in Westchester who had been imprisoned 10 years, after showing his client’s previous representation on appeal had been constitutionally ineffective.
In People v. Ramos, 201 A.D.2d 78, 614 N.Y.S.2d 977 (1st Dept. 1994), Mr. Rudin, after re-investigating his client's rape conviction, won his client's freedom after 7 years in prison by proving that the prosecutor had suppressed exculpatory evidence showing his client's innocence (and later recovered $5 million in compensatory damages from the City of New York).
In the Brian Bond case, Mr. Rudin established at an evidentiary hearing, based upon his re-investigation of the case, that the prosecution had failed to disclose its chief eyewitness’s initial statements to the police that she had not even seen the crime, a murder.
In a sex crime case in Steuben County near Elmira, New York, Mr. Rudin’s re-investigation exposed that trial counsel had been ineffective. Mr. Rudin was able to negotiate a plea to a lesser charge and his client’s immediate release in 2005 after having served just one-third of his sentence.