The Colorado Court of Appeals, in a unanimous decision, has upheld a lower court decision granting a new trial to our client, James Genrich, who has been in prison for three decades following his conviction for a series of pipe bombings. During his trial, the State’s expert claimed to identify Mr. Genrich’s pliers and wire cutters as the only tools in the world that could have made tiny marks found on exploded bomb fragments. Weil, along with pro bono partner The Innocence Project, has been working on behalf of Mr. Genrich since 2016 to obtain a new trial based on newly discovered evidence: specifically, developments in science subsequent to the trial that have revealed serious flaws in the scientific validity of that key forensic evidence presented by the State at his trial. The team, on a prior appeal, successfully obtained the right to an evidentiary hearing on this issue for Mr. Genrich; and after we conducted such hearing, the trial court agreed that the toolmark evidence at the original trial would be inadmissible based on new science and that Mr. Genrich was entitled to a new trial because, without such flawed evidence and with, instead, the benefit of the new scientific evidence, a jury would likely acquit.

The Colorado Court of Appeals decision rejected the State’s appeal: It affirmed the trial court’s decision that the government’s toolmark evidence at trial was completely undermined by new science, and that the record supports the trial court’s conclusion that a jury would probably acquit Mr. Genrich without that flawed evidence. This result, after nearly a year of appellate proceedings, puts Mr. Genrich one step closer to obtaining a new trial, untainted by unreliable evidence.

After maintaining his innocence for more than 30 years, Mr. Genrich is very pleased that his grant of a new trial has been affirmed, and the team looks forward to continuing to advocate for his exoneration. The Weil team includes Greg Silbert, Brian Liegel, Corey Brady, Retired Partner Irwin Warren appearing as Special Pro Bono Counsel, and Retired Partner Ed Soto. The Innocence Project counsel includes Chris Fabricant and Tania Brief. The team is supported by Colorado counsel Kathleen Lord, of the Korey Wise Innocence Project at the University of Colorado School of Law, and Rebekka Higgs.