Washington, DC, April 23, 2015 -- Miller & Chevalier is pleased to announce that its client, Keith Mitchell, is a free man after the government dropped all charges against him and Gary Gathers. Mitchell and Gathers spent 21 years in jail following their convictions for first degree murder while armed in 1993. Both convictions were reversed by the DC Court of Appeals in October 2014 based upon that Court's finding that the government violated Mr. Gathers' and Mr. Mitchell's constitutional rights by introducing and exploiting false testimony from a homicide detective. In the course of establishing the government's constitutional violations, Mr. Gathers and Mr. Mitchell introduced substantial evidence of their own innocence, including a corroborated recantation of the testimony of the government's lone eyewitness and testimony and documents showing that other men -- not Mr. Gathers or Mr. Mitchell -- had the motive and intent to kill Ballard. In its opinion, the Court of Appeals noted that the government may have further violated Mr. Gathers' and Mr. Mitchell's constitutional rights by withholding evidence showing that the other men had threatened to kill Ballard.

Mr. Gathers has been represented throughout the post-trial proceedings by Seth Rosenthal of Venable and Matthew Beville of WilmerHale. Miller & Chevalier attorney Andrew Wise assumed Mr. Mitchell's representation when his former lawyer, Amit Mehta of Zuckerman Spaeder, was confirmed to a seat on the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia in December 2014. The attorneys teamed with the Mid-Atlantic Innocence Project on the case.

About Miller & Chevalier

Founded in 1920, Miller & Chevalier is a Washington, DC law firm with a global perspective and leading practices in Tax, Employee Benefits (including ERISA), International Law and Business, White Collar and Internal Investigations, Complex Litigation, and Government Affairs. In an era of big law, Miller & Chevalier is a top-ranked firm sharply focused on targeted areas that interact with the federal government. Over the past three years, the firm's lawyers have represented more than 40 percent of the Fortune 100, one-quarter of the Fortune 500 and approximately 30 percent of the Global 100. Based in Washington, DC, a significant number of firm lawyers have held senior positions in the U.S. government and have written many of the regulations they currently help clients navigate. For more information on the firm, visit www.millerchevalier.com.

About Venable

Venable is an American Lawyer Global 100 law firm serving clients globally. Headquartered in Washington, DC, with offices in California, Delaware, Maryland, New York and Virginia, Venable LLP lawyers and legislative advisors serve the needs of our domestic and global clients in all areas of corporate and business law, complex litigation, intellectual property, regulatory, and government affairs around the globe.

About Wilmer Hale

Wilmer Cutler Pickering Hale and Dorr LLP (WilmerHale) provides legal representation across a comprehensive range of practice areas that are critical to the success of its clients. The law firm's leading Intellectual Property, Litigation/Controversy, Regulatory and Government Affairs, Securities, and Transactional Departments participate in some of the highest-profile legal and policy matters. With a staunch commitment to public service, the firm is renowned as a leader in pro bono representation. WilmerHale is 1,000 lawyers strong with 14 offices in the United States, Europe and Asia

About The Mid-Atlantic Innocence Project

The Mid-Atlantic Innocence Project (MAIP) is a non-profit organization dedicated to correcting and preventing the convictions of innocent people in the District of Columbia, Maryland, and Virginia.

CONTACTS:

Chris Till, cmtill@venable.com 202 344-4127
Brecke Latham, brecke.latham@wilmerhale.com 202-247-2492