Fighting Wrongful Convictions of New York Sex Crimes

Criminal Appeals Advocates is pleased to announce the publication of Overturning Sex Crime Convictions in New York, by CAA attorney Greg Salmon, Esq.

The guide is available now as a free resource for incarcerated individuals, their families, and attorneys working in post-conviction practice.

Overturning Sex Crime Convictions In New York - GREGORY SALMON.pdf

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Why This Guide Exists

Sex crime convictions carry some of the most severe consequences in the criminal justice system. Beyond lengthy prison sentences, individuals face mandatory sex offender registration under SORA, the possibility of indefinite civil confinement under Article 10 of the Mental Hygiene Law, and lifelong collateral consequences that affect housing, employment, and family relationships.

Yet every year in New York, people are convicted of sex crimes they did not commit. Others plead guilty under pressure, without fully understanding the consequences, or after receiving inadequate legal advice. Still others are convicted on the basis of forensic evidence that has since been discredited or after trials in which prosecutors withheld critical information from the defense.

New York law provides meaningful tools for challenging these convictions. But the legal landscape is complex, the procedural requirements are strict, and mistakes in the post-conviction process can permanently foreclose meritorious claims. This guide was written to make that landscape navigable.

What the Guide Covers

Across thirteen chapters, the guide walks readers through every major avenue of post-conviction relief available to individuals convicted of sex offenses in New York:

•             CPL 440.10 Motions. The primary vehicle for challenging a conviction in state court, including the statutory grounds most commonly raised in sex crime cases: prosecutorial fraud, newly discovered evidence, DNA testing, and constitutional violations.

•             Ineffective Assistance of Counsel. A detailed breakdown of New York’s “meaningful representation” standard under People v. Baldi, common attorney failures in sex crime cases (failure to retain forensic experts, investigate alibis, challenge the complainant’s credibility, or advise clients about SORA and civil commitment), and the 2021 legislative reform that resolved the longstanding procedural catch-22 for IAC claims.

•             DNA Evidence and Forensic Science. How post-conviction DNA testing works under CPL 440.30, advances in forensic technology (touch DNA, Y-STR testing, investigative genetic genealogy), the ongoing rape kit backlog in New York, and the cases of individuals like Rafael Ruiz and Leonard Mack, whose exonerations came years or decades after conviction.

•             Prosecutorial Misconduct and Brady Violations. What prosecutors are required to disclose, what happens when they don’t, and how suppressed evidence can form the basis of a successful post-conviction challenge.

•             False Confessions and Coerced Guilty Pleas. The structural pressures that lead innocent people to plead guilty, and the legal standards for challenging those pleas after the fact.

•             Challenging SORA Classification. How the risk assessment process works, how to petition for downward modification, and the constitutional challenges that courts have begun to recognize.

•             Federal Habeas Corpus. When state remedies are exhausted, the guide explains the AEDPA framework, the one-year filing deadline, the deferential standard of review, and how a credible showing of actual innocence can overcome procedural bars.

•             Recent Legal Developments (2024-2026). Including the Clean Slate Act and its exclusion of sex offenses, Governor Hochul’s veto of the Actual Innocence Bill, pending legislation on wrongful conviction compensation, evolving science on eyewitness identification and memory, and growing scrutiny of CSAAS testimony.

•             A Practical Roadmap. The final chapter provides concrete steps: key questions to evaluate your case, organizations that provide free legal assistance (the Innocence Project, the Exoneration Initiative, the Legal Aid Society Wrongful Conviction Unit, and others), guidance on evidence preservation, and what to expect from the process.

Who This Guide Is For

The guide was written for three audiences. The first is the person currently incarcerated in New York who has questions about the integrity of the process that produced their conviction, or who knows they are innocent and needs to understand what legal tools are available. The second is the family member trying to make sense of a system that can feel impenetrable from the outside. The third is the attorney who is newer to post-conviction practice and wants a practical, grounded overview of the legal framework as it applies to sex crime cases specifically.

A Note from the Author

Greg Salmon brings years of frontline criminal defense and appellate experience to this publication. His practice at CAA focuses on post-conviction advocacy, including constitutional claims, ineffective assistance of counsel, and challenges to convictions built on forensic evidence that has since been called into question. He has also authored The 2026 Guide to CPL 440 Motions and Stolen Time: How Sixteen New York Inmates Proved Their Innocence After Conviction.

“A conviction is not necessarily the end of the road,” Salmon writes in the guide’s introduction. “New York law provides several mechanisms for challenging and overturning criminal convictions, even years or decades after the original judgment.” This guide is intended to put that knowledge into the hands of the people who need it most.

This guide is for informational purposes only and does not constitute legal advice. Every case involves unique facts, procedural history, and strategic considerations that require the analysis of a qualified attorney.