Parole at last for pro bono clients imprisoned based on non-unanimous verdicts

John Rowell and Sean Smith have three things in common: Both were serving long sentences in Louisiana penitentiaries. Both remained behind bars even after the US Supreme Court ruled that the non-unanimous verdicts that convicted them were “no verdict at all.” And both are free today, thanks to the efforts of White & Case and The Promise of Justice Initiative’s non-unanimous jury project.

Unconstitutional verdicts

By the time the project brought the cases to White & Case’s attention, Rowell had been incarcerated for 25 years of a 50-year sentence for the attempted murder of a police officer, having always avowed that he had been falsely identified and was at home at the time of the shooting. Smith had served more than 13 years of a 30-year sentence for possession of methylene-dioxy-methamphetamine (MDMA) with intent to distribute—his extreme penalty was augmented because his single prior conviction (also nonviolent) greatly increased the mandatory sentence under Louisiana’s habitual offender law.

In April 2020 the Supreme Court ruled in Ramos v. Louisiana that the Constitution requires guilty verdicts in criminal trials to be unanimous, calling into question hundreds of convictions in Louisiana and Oregon, the only two states that did not already require unanimous verdicts.

Having been convicted by non-unanimous juries, Rowell and Smith might then have been freed but for a subsequent Supreme Court decision that the ruling does not apply retroactively under federal law for individuals who have exhausted their appeals, as both Rowell and Smith had.

Successful parole hearings

With relief under federal law foreclosed and justice under Louisiana law improbable, the White & Case team, which included New York associates Tola Oyeyemi, supervised by partner Andrew Hammond, and Hannah Rubashkin, supervised by partner John Reiss, focused on gaining parole for both men. Aided by a local lawyer, White & Case worked with Rowell and Smith—and with their family members who would speak on their behalf at the hearings—to explain the process and prepare them for the questions each would face. Oyeyemi, who played a key role in preparing Rowell, spoke in his support at the hearing.

Rowell’s case was the tougher of the two. While winning parole in Louisiana typically requires persuading just two members of a three-member panel, parole for those convicted of a crime in which a police officer was the victim requires a unanimous vote from a special five-member panel. With help from White & Case—and despite vigorous, in-person objections from the parish district attorney—Rowell won over all five members of the panel, securing his May 2022 release.

At Smith’s hearing, Rubashkin spoke on his behalf. Her endorsement of Smith’s character and potential, along with Smith’s well-prepared responses and the highly visible support of his family, brought Smith home in March 2022.