Pro Bono

A federal death row inmate in successful post-conviction proceedings to vacate the death sentence due to multiple constitutional errors. Despite the client’s mental illness, he was improperly permitted to defend himself on a capital murder charge and sentenced to death based on the faulty testimony of a now-discredited psychiatric expert whose methodology has been rejected as unreliable, unscientific, and unethical “junk science” by the American Psychiatric Association, the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals, and numerous other organizations. Due to his mental condition, the client was unable to adequately defend his innocence. After over a decade of post-conviction litigation, in April 2021 the United States District Court in Waco, Texas vacated the capital conviction and death sentence. The decision represents one of the first applications of the Supreme Court’s landmark ruling in U.S. v Davis, which invalidated the residual clause of the Armed Career Criminal Act, a statute that imposed additional punishment on persons with multiple prior convictions based on an unconstitutionally vague and discriminatory definition of “violent felonies.” Peter’s work on this matter was featured in the 2009 American Lawyer Pro Bono 100 project and nominated for the American Bar Association’s Death Penalty Representation Project’s Exceptional Service Award.

An unmarried woman who was fired because she chose to live with her boyfriend in violation North Carolina’s anti-cohabitation law. The law was declared unconstitutional because it violated the liberty rights established by the Supreme Court’s landmark decision, Lawrence v. Texas. As one of the first applications of Lawrence, Peter’s work was covered by The New York Times, BBC, CNN, Colbert Report and other international news outlets.

Working with Kids in Need of Defense (“KIND”), secured Special Immigration Juvenile Status in the U.S. for 3 children who entered the US immigration system without parents or guardians.

Assisted a low-income immigrant victim of domestic violence with minimal English-speaking abilities obtain legal status under the Violence Against Women Act.

Secured asylum for a woman facing severe political persecution in her home land of Moldova.

Peter Isajiw