Our runners up for Litigator of the Week include Gibson, Dunn & Crutcher partner John Chesley, associate Arianna Scavetti and Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher & Flom pro bono counsel Don Salzman. They persuaded Maryland’s highest court to reverse the murder convictions of David Faulkner and Jonathan Smith. With no physical evidence, the pair were convicted in 2001 of the 1987 burglary-turned-murder of Adeline Wilford based on testimony from incentivized cooperating witnesses.
Maryland’s Court of Appeals held that the prior convictions could not stand based on newly-discovered evidence of innocence showing the state suppressed exculpatory evidence that points to new alternative suspects.
