Mary McKelvey and David Schultz and their team received a rare initial victory in a state habeas death penalty case. The case was complicated by the fact that the allegations of ineffective assistance involve an attorney who is a sitting judge in the jurisdiction where the hearing took place. The court found that our team had made a requisite showing of ineffective assistance of counsel in jury selection, investigation, preparation, presentation of mitigating evidence and expert opinions involving petitioners' personal, family, social and psychological background. Michael Bramit was tried in 1997, and was charged with an attempted robbery and fatal shooting of Jose Fierros, who was soliciting prostitutes. Bramit was charged with capital murder, found guilty and received the death penalty. The Special Operations and Appellate Prosecution Unit of the Riverside District Attorney’s office filed its Return, and the Polsinelli team is currently working on its Traverse. It is anticipated a final decision will be issued this year.

By being part of the Family Drug Court's team for over 20 years, Polsinelli attorneys have helped to guide families through a difficult and emotional process towards positive change. The Family Drug Court serves families that have been referred there, primarily for allegations of child neglect, and typically related to parental drug use and addiction. The goal of the Family Drug Court is to help parents treat and overcome substance abuse issues so families can be reunified and the cycle of abuse can end. The Family Drug Court differs from other courts in that it provides holistic services to families and serves a maximum of 110 families at a time. Each family has a team of professionals supporting them, including attorneys, Guardian ad Litems, a juvenile office attorney, the Program Coordinator, social workers, drug treatment professionals, and mental health providers. 

Polsinelli is proud to be a key partner in this program. Over 20 years ago, Polsinelli, stepped up to help these families by providing two full time attorneys who represent indigent parents pro bono in the Family Drug Court and Juvenile Court. Today Polsinelli attorneys, Marina Bell and Teresa Anderson, work with parents every day to achieve the best possible outcome in difficult situations for these families as part of the Family Drug Court Program case team.

After years of working on a complex criminal pro bono case that gained national attention for its constitutionality issues relating to juvenile offenders, Jennifer Eng received the news that she and others had been working towards. Her client is finally going to be released from prison after serving 26 years of a 241-year sentence. Bobby Bostic was 16 years old when he committed armed robbery against a group of people in 1995 and was charged with 18 felonies. Bostic’s sentence was one of the longest sentences of any juvenile offender in the state, including those convicted of homicide, and he would not be eligible for parole until he was 112 years old. Bostic and his legal team continued to fight against his lengthy sentence through the legal system. He issued multiple appeals and lost them all, including a rejection by the Missouri Supreme Court that his de facto life sentence did not qualify under Supreme Court’s finding in Graham v. Florida that it is unconstitutional to sentence a juvenile to life without parole for non-homicide cases. After his appeals were exhausted, Jennifer Eng and a former Polsinelli colleague began working with the ACLU to help Bostic petition for clemency and prepare for a new opportunity available under a recently-enacted Missouri law.

Jennifer and others worked with the ACLU team to prepare Bobby for his parole hearing provided by SB 16. The parole board recently issued its decision and granted him a release date of November 9, 2022, more than 26 years after he was sent to prison. Although his legal team guided and prepared him during the complex process, Jennifer credits Bostic’s positive outlook, faith in the process and hard work with his success. “Bobby is the one who really did the hard work during his years in prison,” she says. “Without any promise of release, he continued to show up and work each day to improve his circumstances while facing significant barriers and challenges along the way. Bobby has a lot to contribute to the community and I’m grateful that we were able to demonstrate that to the Missouri Legislature and the parole board and facilitate his release.”