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November 10, 2009 |
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FREE AT LAST
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| Join us at BLT restaurant next Wed morning as some of DC's most powerful women talk about the state of women in business today: BET CEO Debra Lee, Marriott EVP Kathleen Matthews, Rand Construction founder Linda Rabbitt, Cardinal Bank DC president Kate Carr. More info. |
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| Dewey Bozella spent 26 years in prison for the 1977 murder of a 92-year old Poughkeepsie woman—that the law now says he did not commit. The 50-year-old was freed earlier this week thanks to WilmerHale’s two-and a half year pro bono campaign. Yesterday afternoon, as SCOTUS wrestled with the sentencing of juvenile criminals, we were at WilmerHale to hear his remarkable story. |
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Here’s Dewey, center, with Trena, his wife of 15 years (more on this to come), flanked by the WilmerHale pro bono team that set him free: John Hintz, Ross Firsenbaum, Shauna Friedman, Sarah Aasbo, Alyshea Austern. The team was able to persuade a New York County Court judge to vacate Dewey’s conviction after demonstrating that multiple pieces of exculpatory evidence were withheld by prosecutors during the initial trial.
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If there was ever someone who made the best of an awful situation, it’s Dewey. During his 26 years behind bars, he earned a bachelor’s and master’s; wrote and directed several plays; reigned for a time as the light heavyweight boxing champion of Sing Sing, and, most impressively, met and married the woman of his dreams, Trena, who says she always knew Dewey would one day be exonerated. Although he was by all accounts an exemplary inmate, Dewey’s requests for parole were repeatedly denied because of his refusal to accept blame for a crime he didn’t commit: “let me tell you, the parole system is horrendous.”
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After a long standing ovation, the audience of over 100 WilmerHale well-wishers lined up to meet the man of the hour. Dewey says he’s looking forward to a brighter future. In addition to spending lots of time with Trena, he tells us he wants to mentor troubled youth by helping them to stay out of gangs and pursue an education: “I’m not afraid to walk up to a Blood, or a Crip, or a Latin King; and if that’s the gift that God has given me, then I’m gonna use it.”
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| CHEERS TO NIXON PEABODY |
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We stopped by Nixon Peabody yesterday to catch up with the leader, Herb Stevens, and current MVP, Merrill Hoopengardner, of the firm’s 17-person New Markets Tax Credit (NMTC) team. They're in good spirits, having recently assisted 14 clients in securing a combined $700 million in the latest round of NMTC awards issued by Treasury. The awards, intended to stimulate private sector investment and economic development in low income communities, provide investors with tax credits equivalent to 39% of the investment in approved Community Development Entities.
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Merrill earned her MVP title through the in house pool that wagered on who would secure awards for the highest percentage of his or her clients (she went 7-for-7). The NMTC team also helps clients deploy their allocation awards: Herb tells us that the group just closed the first large-scale project to use NMTCs for financing solar panels on affordable housing projects, and that it’s working on an innovative project in California to make fiber boards out of waste from rice fields. Speaking of waste alchemy, we learned that Herb’s newly renovated kitchen countertops are made from recycled beer bottles. Cheers!
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| PAYDAY AT SHULMAN ROGERS |
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Shulman Rogers co-hosted (with Payroll Network) a roundtable at its Park Potomac offices last week. We snapped Payroll Network’s Tom Dudenhoefer, George Whitehouse, and Lizz Durante flanking Shulman Rogers' Fred Sommer and Michael Froehlich. George advises employers to make sure employees are "not checking e-mail during non-work hours because it could cause issues with wage and hour laws.” He also tells us that the DoL’s Wage and Hour Division announced it's allotting an additional $30 million to investigate and remedy Fair Labor Standards Act violations and hiring 300 more investigators.
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| Send story ideas to Patrick Dowd, patrick@bisnow.com |
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This newsletter is a journalistic news source which accepts no payment for featured interviews. It is supported by conventional advertisers clearly identified in the right hand column. You have been selected to receive it either through prior contact or professional association. If you have received it in error, please accept our apologies and unsubscribe below. © 2009, Bisnow on Business, Inc., 1323 Connecticut Ave, NW Washington, DC 20036. All rights reserved.
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