Attorney Wood recently consulted on and was a signatory (as MACDL’s representative) to an amicus brief in Commonwealth v. Sweeting-Bailey. This brief by a coalition of civil rights groups explains why gang databases are artificial racist constructs and unreliable indicators of criminal behavior. Therefore, the fact that someone has been placed in a gang database should not be a basis for reasonable suspicion that he or she has committed a crime. Read the brief here.
Racial Justice Litigation
Every attorney at Wood & Nathanson is motivated to advance racial justice. It is a central focus of what we do. We thought we would take a moment to outline some of our work in this area. We have brought litigation challenging racism in traffic stops, stop and frisk, jury selection and the school to prison pipeline. Racism pervades the criminal justice system and we will not stop challenging it.
Striking Two Blows for Freedom against Stop & Frisk and Impoundment Searches
In the past week, Wood & Nathanson has helped strike two significant blows for freedom in cases involving police arrests and searches of motorists. Wood & Nathanson alumna Attorney Claire Ward convinced the Supreme Judicial Court to rule that the police must have reasonable suspicion that a suspect is both armed and dangerous before pat frisking them. Also, Attorney Wood and a team of ACLU lawyers drafted an amicus brief that helped convince the SJC to rule for the first time that police cannot routinely impound and search the car of an arrested motorist when a sober, qualified driver is available to take possession of the car.