S&C client Nicole Addimando, a survivor of severe domestic violence, has been released from prison following a landmark ruling under New York’s Domestic Violence Survivors Justice Act. This 2019 law allows domestic violence survivors to apply for reduced sentences that take into account the context of their abuse. Nikki was released from Bedford Hills Correctional Facility on January 4 and returned home to her two children.
Nikki was convicted of murder in 2019 after killing her abuser and then-boyfriend in self-defense, and was sentenced to 19 years to life in prison. In the first appellate ruling under the Domestic Violence Survivors Justice Act, S&C obtained a resentencing that reduced her sentence to seven-and-a-half years. Nikki’s sentence was further reduced after S&C helped her successfully apply for conditional release and completed the Puppies Behind Bars program, which trains incarcerated individuals to raise service dogs for veterans and first responders.
S&C began representing Nikki in June 2019 and has devoted more than 4,000 hours in the case to secure her freedom. The team was led by Garrard Beeney and included Amanda Davidoff, Kamil Shields, James Browne, Timothy Weinstein, Alexander Self, Samantha Briggs and Alyx Brannan.
Nikki’s case was featured last year in a 20/20 episode, “Kill or Be Killed.” Garrard told 20/20 that Nikki’s conviction “encapsulates everything that’s wrong about the way society addresses survivors of domestic violence and certainly with the way we treat them in the criminal justice system.”