06/24/2026
Today my client Gervase came by the office. Gervase was serving a life sentence for a crime that he did not commit (in my opinion) and that a jury would not have found he committed if they had heard new evidence not available at the time of the trial (per an excellent judges ruling).
The main thing to know about the case is it was a case the police wanted to solve built on the word of a suspect witness and there was new evidence the state presented false information to the jury about Gervase’s link to the crime. In Florida, and in America, there are a lot more people than there should be locked up for a lot longer than they should be. I am happy to spend my professional time trying to make some difference in that for some people.
After an evidentiary hearing the judge granted our postconviction motion and Gervase was released from his life sentence earlier this week. He was in prison since 1994 and was not ever going to get out.
Gervase’s son Ackquille is the rapper with the professional name Bobby Schmurda. One of his hit songs you may have heard contains the line “my daddy locked up in the dog pound”. Well this is the daddy in question and he is no longer locked up in the dog pound.
