A few years ago, a client of mine was accused of doing something very minor. I can't discuss details so you're just going to have to trust me that it fell somewhere between jaywalking & pickpocketing in terms of moral culpability. Prosecutors chose to charge him with a felony.1/6

The prosecution's plea offer was 1.5 to 3 years in prison. My client knew he didn't commit the felony, so he refused to plead. At trial, his public defender repeatedly argued that the language of the felony statute didn't apply here & the prosecution was misinterpreting it. 2/6

Admittedly the felony statute is a little confusing, because the NY legislature added to it over the years & never cleaned it up—not uncommon. But the prosecution's interpretation of it made very little sense. The court accepted it anyway & my client was convicted. 3/6

After trial the prosecution asked for & got the maximum sentence, even though pre-trial they'd offered the minimum if he pled. They're not really supposed to punish people for exercising their constitutional right to a trial, but they do it all the time. 4/6

I got the case on appeal & made the same argument the public defender did at trial: the felony statute just doesn't apply here. Yesterday the prosecution conceded the issue: they were wrong about the law, my client didn't commit a felony, his conviction should be overturned. 5/6

My client spent a couple years in prison because the prosecution got the law so wrong they won't even defend it on appeal, then punished him for refusing to plead guilty to a crime they now admit he didn't commit. He'll get nothing: no compensation, not even an apology. 6/6