NEIP joins the NAACP in fighting racism and Islamophobia in Anthony Dew case

We've partnered with NAACP's Legal Defense Fund to file an amicus brief to the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court in Commonwealth v. Dew, calling on the Court to reverse the conviction of Anthony Dew, a Black man of Muslim faith, whose court-appointed attorney, Richard Doyle, engaged in a pervasive pattern of publicly expressing anti-Black racism and religious bigotry against Muslim people. The Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court will be hearing arguments on Wednesday, February 8.

“It offends our system of justice to allow a conviction to stand when a Black person who is a practicing Muslim is represented by a person who was openly biased against Black and Muslim people,” said LDF Assistant Counsel Adam Murphy. “Where counsel’s racial and religious animus is so plainly and publicly stated, failing to provide a remedy is pernicious not only because it deprives Mr. Dew of his rights, but also because it undermines the credibility, reliability, and integrity of the legal system, and sends the clear message that ours is a system of justice for some but not for all.”