Richmond attorney receives pro bono award

A Richmond commercial litigation attorney was honored for his community involvement in pro bono cases.

Williams Mullen partner Brendan D. O’Toole received the 2022 Criminal Justice Pro Bono Award from Koch Industries in November.

The award recognized O’Toole’s work with the Virginia Redemption Project, which provides pro bono assistance to individuals incarcerated in Virginia prisons to petition for conditional pardons. Per a press release from Williams Mullen, O’Toole was invited to join the project at the invitation of Koch Industries, which encouraged its panel firms to partner with the National Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers on the project.

“I am thankful to our colleagues at Koch who introduced me to this life-changing opportunity and to Williams Mullen for providing me with the support needed to focus on this case,” O’Toole said in an interview with Virginia Lawyers Weekly.

Through this project, O’Toole worked on the case of Sincere Allah, who was sentenced to 45 years in prison shortly after his 18th birthday. This was the result of a sentencing deal made in lieu of the death penalty, which was legal at the time of Allah’s sentencing.

When O’Toole began handling Allah’s case, he had served 23 years of his 45-year sentence. O’Toole said that after receiving the case he “quickly realized in speaking with Sincere and then reviewing his entire case file that something wrong had happened along the process from a criminal justice standpoint.”

“In my view, Sincere had experienced a grave injustice,” O’Toole said. “I believed the facts demonstrated reasonable doubt. I also felt Sincere was subject to a system laden with implicit bias.”

While working on Allah’s case, O’Toole was tasked with showing Allah’s progress while incarcerated. O’Toole said Allah earned his GED while in prison, scoring in the 92nd percentile, before later taking college courses.

O’Toole further noted that an offender-led mentoring program created by Allah — called “Personal Growth” — is still used by the Virginia Department of Corrections today.

“Sincere made the most of his time in prison, making a positive impact on those around him,” O’Toole said.

In January 2022, then-Gov. Ralph Northam granted Allah a conditional pardon. To that point, Allah had spent his entire adult life behind bars. Per Williams Mullen, it was the first conditional pardon earned by the Virginia Redemption Project that launched in August 2020.

Following Allah’s release, Virginia Redemption Project Resource Counsel Katherine Jensen congratulated O’Toole on “securing this much-deserved grant.”

“As the COVID-19 pandemic continues, it is important to remember that many deserving individuals are still being held in our nation’s prisons and jails and need acts like this to receive relief,” Jensen said in a statement.

O’Toole said representing Allah was “a life-changing opportunity” and that Allah is doing “very well” today.

“He is employed and enjoying life as a free man. I talk to him a couple times a week. We are truly connected for life,” O’Toole said.

At the awards ceremony in November, O’Toole was surprised with a video from Allah, who spoke of the closeness of the pair while they worked towards this conditional pardon.

“There are many more Sincere Allahs out there who cannot find counsel. With more pro bono lawyers willing to help, we can achieve results, as we did with Sincere. You can absolutely make a difference in someone’s life. The experience will also change yours.”

— Brendan D. O’Toole

“In Sincere, I’ve found a brother,” O’Toole said, while being quick to credit Allah with the work he did while incarcerated that eventually led to the granting of his conditional pardon.

“For whatever recognition I might get, the person who did all the heavy lifting was Sincere,” O’Toole said. “He took advantage of VDOC’s programs and opportunities to better himself during his incarceration. He stayed out of trouble while in prison. He furthered his education. And he did all this while locked in a cage day-in and day-out knowing he may not taste freedom until he was an old man.”

O’Toole is continuing his pro bono work by taking on another pardon request for a man currently serving 38 years of active prison time. He said that there is still “an enormous road ahead” in the case but remains optimistic that the request will be “viewed favorably by Gov. [Glenn] Youngkin.”

Additionally, O’Toole encourages others in the legal community to respond to calls to help organizations to provide pro bono services.

“There are many more Sincere Allahs out there who cannot find counsel,” O’Toole said. “With more pro bono lawyers willing to help, we can achieve results, as we did with Sincere. You can absolutely make a difference in someone’s life. The experience will also change yours.”