Minimal exposure negotiated for Albanian man accused of firing into a Brooklyn social club

Challenge: Our client was an undocumented immigrant from Albania who came from an upstanding family. Following an argument at a Brooklyn social club with some other patrons, he left and returned to the club with a gun, shot a bullet into the air outside the club that got lodged into a nearby apartment, and then fired several more times into the club’s interior.

The patrons were narrowly missed and they held the client at the scene until the police arrived. Significantly, the client was filmed and recorded on from a video surveillance camera during the incident. He was charged with attempted murder, criminal possession of a weapon in the second degree, and other felonies. He faced up to 20 years in prison and deportation.

Solution: The evidence against our client would cause many other lawyers and firms to pass on representing him, but D’Emilia Law was up to the challenge. We represented the defendant in the criminal proceedings and our abilities to write and file legal motions also helped present the client and some case details in a different light. For example, we demonstrated that the way in which he fired outside was accidental and inside was too erratic to constitute attempted murder.

Additionally, our reputation in Brooklyn – thanks to several years of practice there as District Attorneys – provided us with a direct line of communication to the prosecutors. We were able to effectively negotiate with the prosecution to secure an outcome that was very reasonable, considering some irrefutable facts of the case, the severity of the charges, and that our client had a prior criminal record.

Result: D’Emilia Law certainly overcame the odds, and was able to successfully reduce the most serious charge – attempted murder . Many other charges were reduced as well. The client served only minimal time – remarkable in that he was faced upwards of 20 years of upstate prison time. And, when he is released, will not face deportation.

Paul D’Emilia served as the Criminal Legal Advisor to the U.S. Embassy in Albania for the Department of Justice from 1999 until 2002 and contacts he established during that time referred this client. For someone to remember him and hold him in such high regard was flattering. But that they trusted him with the client’s life was the ultimate compliment, as it was a testament to his stellar reputation as a warrior for justice.