Exceptional outcomes we’ve secured for our clients
In 2018, Mike began representing Luis Galarza on his second habeas corpus petition, and lawyer and client remained together as Mike’s career developed and he changed law firms. In 1999, Mr. Galarza was wrongfully charged and convicted of shooting and killing two people in a drug-related robbery. There was no physical evidence tying him to the crime, and the prosecution case relied on jailhouse informants whose interests in testifying were not disclosed to Galarza’s defense counsel.
Adele joined Mike in working on Mr. Galarza’s case in 2023, and they tried the habeas corpus case together in 2023, presenting exculpatory evidence that was previously undisclosed by the State, as well as recantations of witnesses from the original trial and newly discovered DNA evidence from the crime scene that was not from Mr. Galarza or the victims.
After five days of evidence and arguments, and after the petitioner’s post-trial brief was filed, Mike obtained additional evidence that shows the trial prosecutor had actual knowledge that one of his key witnesses admitted to lying to a federal grand jury and that the trial prosecutor had withheld this information from Mr. Galarza, despite his lawyers asking for this type of evidence. In light of the evidence presented at the habeas trial and during post-trial discussions, the State concluded that it had lost faith in Mr. Galarza’s conviction and agreed that the habeas corpus petition should be granted, and the convictions reversed.
Back in the criminal trial court, Mike and Adele continued the fight to free Mr. Galarza from this wrongful conviction. Mr. Galarza was released by the trial court to house arrest in late 2023, and, shortly before a hearing where the trial judge would consider what the trial prosecutor had to say, the prosecution decided to drop all charges against Mr. Galarza in April 2024.
Luis Galarza, The National Registry of Exonerations.
Mike and Adele represented Tyquan Turner in the habeas court where Mr. Turner’s 70-year sentence for felony murder and other crimes related to a 2013 Hartford shooting was vacated in 2024 based upon Mr. Turner’s lawyer’s failure to adequately challenge the State’s misleading presentation of supposed cell phone evidence against Mr. Turner.
In 2024, Mike and Marisa Halm, Counsel, represented a Hartford man charged with murder for a 2021 shooting death in Hartford. The case was tried to a jury, and Mike and Marisa presented a defense that questioned the adequacy and integrity of the police investigation into the shooting. The jury acquitted Mike and Marisa’s client in October 2024.
In 2023, Mike prevailed on a petition for writ of habeas corpus on behalf of Michael Mark, who was serving a 48-year sentence for a 2010 Waterbury homicide. The conviction was reversed because trial counsel had a conflict of interest based upon her concurrent representation of Mr. Mark and another individual who had committed a crime in Waterbury on the same night with similarities to the crime that Mr. Mark was charged with.
The State did not appeal and Mike negotiated an agreement giving Mr. Mark a new sentence decades shorter than he originally received.
Mike was extremely pleased and proud to have successfully reversed the 60-year sentence imposed on 14-year-old Keith Belcher in 1997. In 2022, the Connecticut Supreme Court officially rejected the theory of teenage “super-predator,” holding that it was unconstitutional for the judge to rely on that false, fake and racist theory when sentencing Mr. Belcher.
The overt rejection of historically based racist thinking is a notable moment in Connecticut judicial history. Mike then represented Mr. Belcher at his resentencing, where a superior court judge released Mr. Belcher decades earlier than his original sentence. Mike received the Connecticut Law Tribune’s “Giant Slayer” award for his work on the Belcher appeal.
There’s no time to waste when your freedom, reputation, and future are at stake. With unmatched experience, compassionate advocacy, and a history of proven results, Brown & Patterson is ready to stand and fight for you.
