WELSH & RECKER SECURES RELEASE OF PRO BONO CLIENT FOLLOWING THIRD CIRCUIT HABEAS VICTORY

Welsh & Recker is pleased to announce that on July 7, 2025, associate Abigail T. Burton and partner Bruce P. Merenstein secured the release of pro bono client Roy Moses, just three months after their victory in Mr. Moses’s habeas corpus appeal in the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit.

In April 2025, the Third Circuit held that Mr. Moses received ineffective assistance of counsel when he was sentenced for a drug conviction in the Court of Common Pleas for Philadelphia County in 2015. Following the Third Circuit’s decision, Mr. Moses’s case was sent back to the Court of Common Pleas for his resentencing. The Commonwealth recommended the same sentence originally imposed, which could have extended Mr. Moses’s incarceration to 2033. Mr. Moses’s counsel, pointing to Mr. Moses’s good character, familial support, rehabilitation, and medical circumstances, asserted that no further incarceration was warranted and requested time-served.

The court agreed with the defense and resentenced Mr. Moses to time served, resulting in Mr. Moses’s release the day after his sentencing hearing. Mr. Moses’s children, siblings, parents, extended family, and friends, many of whom were in the courtroom at Mr. Moses’s resentencing hearing, were delighted to welcome him home on July 8.