A team of Jones Day attorneys recruited by the Mid-Atlantic Innocence Project helped a seventeen-year old boy from Ghana who had been forced into involuntary servitude have his sentence vacated July 30th after being held for months for a crime he could not legally be charged for.

The boy, whose name is sealed, was charged with contributing to the delinquency of a minor when he began a relationship with the fifteen-year old daughter of the man with whom he was living.

The boy, who was orphaned in Ghana when he was eight, was deserted by his aunt last year when she left Ghana for Germany. Left without a home or money, he was lured to the United States by a man promising a home, an education, and help obtaining a visa. However, when he arrived at the man's Virginia home, the teenager was forced into a long period of involuntary servitude. The boy tried to leave his captivity, but was told he would be deported back to Ghana if he fled.

After the teenager's relationship with the young girl was reported to police, they came to the house and arrested the boy. The girl's father provided police with forged documents that suggested he was 21, and the boy was arrested for contributing to the delinquency of a minor. To be convicted of that crime, it is necessary to be 18 years old. The boy really was 17 at the time, which he told both police and his attorney. However, he was unable to prove his age and, at the suggestion of his attorney, plead guilty to the crime.

After spending a couple of months in prison, the boy found legal help from the Legal Assistance Foundation of Chicago. LAF Chicago contacted the Mid-Atlantic Innocence Project requesting help finding pro-bono legal representation in Virginia. MAIP recruited attorneys from Jones Day to help take on his case. LAF Chicago helped the boy obtain official records of entry from the U.S. government, a replacement birth certificate, and a copy of his original passport.

Jones Day used those documents in the Juvenile and Domestic Relations District Court of Prince William County to file a write of error coram vobis, which is designed to correct errors of fact that affect that validity of a judgment. Although the Commonwealth of Virginia opposed the position, the Juvenile and Domestic Relations District Court granted the coram vobis petition and vacated the boy's conviction. He was released on July 30.

The Mid-Atlantic Innocence Project wishes the young man the best of luck and congratulates the Legal Assistance Foundation of Chicago and the Jones Day attorneys on a job well done.

Technorati Tags: MAIP, Mid-Atlantic Innocence Project, Exonerate, Exoneration, Involuntary Servitude

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