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| July/August 2025 | BAEC Bulletin
BAEC Bulletin | July/August 2025 |
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IN THE PUBLIC SERVICE: LEGAL AID BUREAU OF BUFFALO BY ERIN A. TRESMOND, CHIEF ATTORNEY APPEALS AND POST-CONVICTION UNIT, THE LEGAL AID BUREAU OF BUFFALO, INC. The Last Defense: How
At the Legal Aid Bureau of Buffalo, appellate representation is not treated as an afterthought to trial work. Rather, is a discipline all its own, where precision, depth, and principle converge. The APCU attorneys bring to their work a collective wealth of experience measured not only in years, but in victories hard-won and injustices righted. As appellate counsel, we are heirs to an ancient tradition. A tradition born in the shadow of Socrates’s death and carried forward by Plato’s pen, a tradition that passed like fire through the minds of the Framers of the Constitution. Appellate representation is not simply a service; it is a vital feature of the American landscape. No verdict is beyond question, and no person is beneath dignity. The Legal Aid Bureau of Buffalo honors this heritage not only in word, but in action.
to light. In these motions, as in appeals, justice often arrives not in thunder, but in the quiet insistence that truth still matters. When Athens silenced Socrates, it was not simply a man they condemned, but the very notion that truth could stand above the passions of the moment. His death remains a haunting lesson: justice, left untended, can be twisted by fear, by pride, or by haste. It is not enough to place faith in the trial alone, for the trial, like the people who govern it, can falter. This is why the promise of a Republic must extend beyond verdicts, into the corridors of appellate justice. In the United States, that promise is enshrined in the Sixth Amendment: a radical commitment born out of the Age of Enlightenment that even the accused shall not stand alone. It is a constitutional recognition that power must be held in check not only at the ballot box, but at the defense table. It is there, often against overwhelming odds, that defenders speak on behalf of the voiceless, not to excuse guilt but to ensure fairness and the application of logic and reason to the enforcement of our nation’s laws. Without meaningful appellate review, that promise becomes brittle; a parchment ideal, rather than a lived reality. Criminal appeals are not simply a procedural afterthought. They are the ballast of the legal system. Appellate decisions correct errors, expose abuses, and refine the law for generations to come. When an indigent person is convicted in error whether due to ineffective counsel, prosecutorial overreach, misapplied law, or bias, the consequences ripple outward: families suffer, communities are wounded, and the public’s faith in justice frays. The Appeals and Post-Conviction Unit does not merely represent clients; it defends the integrity of the system itself. It ensures that no conviction stands unchallenged when justice demands a second look. APCU helps fulfill the deeper purpose of our constitutional republic: not merely to govern, but to govern rightly and to govern with virtue. Socrates had no appeal. Today, the American republic he helped inspire offers one. That offering, rooted in the Constitution — practiced in the courtroom, and carried out by public defenders — is not a luxury nor a ceremonial afterthought. It is a moral obligation.
Appellate Justice Upholds the Soul of Our Republic In the golden dusk of ancient Athens, beneath the weathered colonnades of the Agora, the world lost a man whose only crime was to awaken the minds of others. Socrates, the stonemason, the soldier, and the teacher, stood before
five hundred jurors, accused not of treason or theft, but of impiety and corrupting the youth. His true offense was more profound: he taught men to think. He dared to ask whether the powerful were wise and whether the state could withstand the scrutiny of reason. For that, they sentenced him to die. With a cup of hemlock in hand and serenity in his gaze, he was wrongfully executed. He was not convicted as a criminal, but as a martyr to the cause of logic, reason, and conscience. His pupil Plato bore witness to the moment Athens betrayed its soul in the execution room. In that silence that followed the verdict, Plato began his lifelong appeal in the court of posterity. In dialogues and doctrines, he labored to restore the truth his master embodied in dialogues and doctrines. This is the work of appellate justice: not merely to contest a judgment, but to preserve the integrity of civilization itself. Across Western New York, the echoes of justice and injustice still sound for those convicted of crimes. In the days and years after the gavel falls, the Appeals and Post-Conviction Unit (APCU) of the Legal Aid Bureau of Buffalo takes up its solemn charge. Our seventeen attorneys, two legal assistants, paralegal, and investigator are tasked with providing high-quality appellate representation to those who cannot afford it. We serve clients in Erie, Genesee, Cattaraugus, Orleans, Niagara, Chautauqua, and Ontario Counties on appeal to the Appellate Division, Fourth Department. APCU also represents clients in CPL § 440.10 motions, which are motions to vacate a conviction when new evidence, illegalities, or constitutional violations come
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