Vorys Receives Exceptional Service Award from ABA’s Death Penalty Representation Project

Vorys is pleased to announce that the firm has received the Exceptional Service Award from the American Bar Association (ABA) Death Penalty Representation Project.  A team of Vorys attorneys accepted the award at the ABA’s 2025 Volunteer Recognition & Awards Event in Washington D.C. on September 18, 2025.

According to the ABA, the award is presented to “pro bono law firms and individual attorneys that have shown exceptional commitment to excellence in capital defense.”

Within the past five years, Vorys has played a central role in securing new trials for David Lee Myers and Elwood Jones, two Ohio death row inmates who maintained their innocence from the time of their arrests.

Vorys has represented Myers since 1999.  In 2021, newly discovered DNA evidence definitively excluded Myers as the source of key forensic evidence.  Vorys filed a motion for a new trial and a post-conviction petition based on this and other expert findings that discredited the State’s forensic case.  In 2024, after a two-week evidentiary hearing, the court granted both the motion for a new trial and post-conviction relief.  Myers was released later that year.

Vorys has represented Jones since 2020.  The Vorys team litigated his motion for a new trial, based on withheld Brady material.  In 2022, a state court granted Jones a new trial, citing both the state’s misconduct and new forensic evidence that debunked a central theory of the prosecution.  He was released on a pretrial bond the following month.  Vorys continues to represent Jones and, in 2025, successfully defended the trial court’s ruling before the Supreme Court of Ohio, opposing the state’s attempt to block the new trial.

Since its inception, Vorys has been dedicated to providing pro bono legal services.  We strive to foster an environment that encourages all of our attorneys — from the newest associate to the most senior partner — to provide legal services to individuals and organizations that otherwise may lack access to the legal system.  To learn more about our pro bono work, click here.

About the Death Penalty Representation Project: The Death Penalty Representation Project was founded in 1986 as an arm of the ABA focusing on issues related to the defense effort in death penalty cases.  It seeks to improve the quality and availability of legal representation for persons facing possible death sentences.