Milbank, Tweed, Hadley & McCloy took its first death penalty case in 2007. Although there are plenty of people on death row, the firm was waiting to find the right case. “We wanted a colorable claim of innocence,” says Milbank partner Sean Murphy, who is leading this pro bono team. Murphy, a securities litigator, explains that a case involving an innocent man would likely attract more support and interest within the firm. “Whether you’re in favor of the death penalty or not, you don’t want innocent people in jail.”
Milbank’s client is John Francis Wille, who has been incarcerated at Louisiana’s Angola prison since his 1985 conviction for the murder of Nichole Lopatta. Murphy maintains that Wille’s conviction was based on a false confession, and that Wille’s defense lawyers were incompetent.
Milbank entered the case at a point when proceedings had been on “hiatus” for more than five years, according to Murphy. Before Milbank got involved, a state court appeal had failed, and a postconviction petition for relief filed with a state trial court had lain dormant, without a ruling, for years. (That petition was filed by the Loyola Death Penalty Resource Center in Louisiana, which continues to work with Milbank on Wille’s case.)
