Danielle C. Wild, Esq.

This program is open to the public at no charge. Interested members of the community can participate by contacting Susan Hearn at [email protected].

I received a Christmas card from a former client this morning. I cherish these. I keep a box of every card and personal letter I’ve ever received from a client, and I read through them whenever I start to feel jaded.

Wishing everyone a healthy, safe, and fulfilling year!

Highlights: - As of December 14th, intake of state-ready individuals from county jails is temporarily suspended for at least 30 days - As of December 17th, visitation at the following facilities is suspended either temporarily due to their location within an "orange" zone or indefinitely because of infection rates: Attica, Auburn, Bare Hill, Cayuga, Clinton, Elmira, Greene, Groveland, Southport, Wende and Woodbourne... https://doccs.ny.gov/doccs-covid-19-report

If you have a loved one who is incarcerated in Monroe County Jail with a pre-existing condition, elderly or other medical complications please reach out to our Chief Investigator Latanya Morse. [email protected] or call our office at 753.4210

Like every other criminal defense attorney, I’m often asked How do I do what I do? Beyond the canned responses that everyone has rights that need to be protected (and they do!), that the system sometimes gets it wrong (and it does!), etc... I believe every life can be redeemed. It’s my privilege to help many clients carve that path.

We should be applauding the transparency with which the city and police department are handling this so others follow suit. When bad things happen in your agency, you need to get out in front of it and tell the community what happened, he said. You don’t cover it up.

Building public awareness & engagement is an essential part of our work to free the innocent & prevent wrongful conviction. Last #WrongfulConvictionDay we reached 42+ million people online and through 58 events held around the world. Will you help us expand our reach this year?

Having not yet done so on social media, I would be remiss to publish a generic Happy Labor Day post today without acknowledging the atrocity that was Daniel Prude’s death and the heartache the Rochester community is experiencing in the aftermath of the news break. Police brutality has long been a reality, and there needs to be a reckoningthrough large-scale reform, compensation for victims, and direct consequences to offending officers including termination and prosecu...tion, where appropriate. I have clients who have experienced police brutality first-hand. Also, there are many in law enforcement who are true to their oath to protect and serve and who have done wonderful and heroic things. Those truths are not mutually exclusive, and we need to stop treating them as if they are. Black lives matter. Black lives matter is a true statement that does not mean only black lives matter. We need to stop hijacking the statement and being so quick to quip that all lives matter or blue lives matter. Those statements are also true, but they intentionally miss the point, and the dismissiveness inherent in the quip is infuriating and hurtful. The labor movement that we celebrate today serves as just one example that massive unrest has historically propelled the social reform those in power have otherwise been reluctant to bring about. If a riot is the language of the unheard, what is it that we have failed to hear?

I won a sentencing victory today for a client! His case is being sent back to County Court for resentencing. This is exactly what we asked for on appeal (we did not challenge his conviction itself). My client took a plea deal with a promise that he'd be sentenced to 9 years probation if he successfully completed 1 year of interim probation. After he violated the terms of interim probation (no new charges), he was sentenced to the maximum of 7 years in prison plus 10 years post-release supervision. The Fourth Department agreed that the court did not conduct the requisite discretionary analysis before imposing sentence. http://www.nycourts.gov//Decis/2020/0820T1500/PDF/0477.pdf

This 2-Part program tops my list of favorite CLE presentations I've attended in recent memory. Thank you to Justice Lindley for both surveying recent, important criminal law decisions of the Fourth Department and giving us practitioners invaluable insight into the inner workings and decision making process of the court. And, of course, thank you to the Monroe County Bar Association and the Criminal Justice Section for sponsoring the program!

New York prisons are resuming visitations amid COVID. These are the rules. https://www.democratandchronicle.com//new-york/3297655001/

On June 19 at 10 a.m., our Health & Wellness Committee will be continuing the MCBA’s reopening CLE series with: Reopening III: My Struggles and Stresses in Com...ing Back. Led by Brad Kammholz, we have a fantastic panel of attorneys including Kim Duguay, Natalie Grigg, Brian Jacek, Nicole Ladner, Paul Leclair, Andrea Tomaino, and Danielle Wild to share and reflect upon their own experience on returning to work. In addition, Kara Juszczak from Tree of Hope Counseling will offer guidance on how to help employees handle the emotions of returning to work. To register, at a substantially reduced price, go here:https://www.mcba.org/calendar/register/?eventno=6958 Or contact Susan Hearn at [email protected] See more

"A state appellate court has reversed a lower court ruling in a gun case, vacated the guilty plea, and dismissed the indictment. . . . The Fourth Department agreed with [defendant's] appellate lawyer, Danielle C. Wild, who argued that [the lower court] should have suppressed the physical evidence police found in [the defendant's] car after a traffic stop. . . . 'We agree with defendant that the deputy lacked probable cause to open the door to the vehicle and search the vehicle prior to obtaining a search warrant,' the Fourth Department wrote." (Full article behind a paywall)

You can get free masks at these 21 spots on two coming days.