Law360 Explores How Product Liability Lawyers Won Freedom for Wrongly Convicted Man

Following the vacated murder convictions of three men in the Philadelphia area, Law360 interviewed Shook Partners John Lyons and David Haase for their work representing one of the wrongfully convicted men in Shook Hardy Mass Tort Pros Help Nix Pa. Murder Convictions. Lyons and Haase, product liability litigators who represent corporations, handled the criminal case pro bono as part of Shook’s commitment to serve those who cannot afford legal services. The firm teamed up with the Pennsylvania Innocence Project and Centurion in an attempt to right the wrong.

New DNA technology that was not available during the original trial played a key role in the outcome of the case. The partners’ experience in complex environmental and toxic tort cases proved to be invaluable to them in their life-changing bid for a man’s freedom.

Law360 noted, “Deep experience dealing with expert testimony on complex scientific evidence and local knowledge of the Philadelphia suburbs made Shook Hardy & Bacon partners John Lyons and David Haase a perfect fit for the team that recently helped vacate the decades-old convictions of three men.”

The case is Commonwealth of Pennsylvania v Derrick Chappell, CR-23-CP-0003607-1999 (Court of Common Pleas of Delaware County, March 28, 2024).