Selwyn Days' case in the spotlight: New trial granted based on false confession

Selwyn was wrongfully convicted of a double homicide in Westchester and is serving the 15th year of a 50-year-to-life sentence. EXI along with attorneys from Paul Weiss won a new trial for Selwyn in 2009 based on new alibi evidence. We then tried the case twice in 2011 with the first ending in a hung jury (9 to 3 for acquittal) and the second in a conviction. The essential evidence against Selwyn, who is intellectually impaired, was his false confession obtained after many hours of interrogation. No physical evidence linked him to the crime, and DNA on the murder weapon belonged to someone else. On September 2, 2015 in a watershed appellate decision that will help other wrongfully convicted people, the Appellate Division, 2nd Department reversed Selwyn's conviction and granted a new trial based on the lower court’s failure to allow testimony from a false confession expert who could educate the jury on the phenomenon of false confessions. The District Attorney's effort to appeal that decision was recently rejected by the Court of Appeals.  We expect that we will soon retry the case - Selwyn's fifth trial for these crimes - and win Selwyn his freedom and the justice he deserves.Read the Appellate Division decision