Philadelphia Court-Appointed Lawyers Filed No-Merit Letters in Overturned Conviction Cases

Philadelphia court-appointed lawyers filed no-merit letters in dozens of homicide cases that were later overturned, according to a Philadelphia Inquirer and ProPublica review of 250 reversed convictions since 2018. The review examined invoices from 83 homicide Post Conviction Relief Act cases in which lawyers filed no-merit letters in 2023, 2024, and 2025.

In about three-quarters of those cases, attorneys did not speak with their clients, contact trial counsel, or obtain police or prosecution files.

Homicide cases are among the most serious matters assigned to court-appointed counsel. Records show some attorneys rejected claims within days or weeks of appointment and submitted filings that contained factual errors, including references to the wrong defendant.

Lawyers filed no-merit letters even when co-defendants had already been exonerated or when detectives involved in the original cases had faced arrests for witness assault or evidence tampering.

Robert Dunham, a lawyer who has trained attorneys on death-penalty appeals, said appointed counsel should reinvestigate entire cases rather than limit review to issues raised by clients. He noted that many clients lack the ability to conduct factual investigations while incarcerated.

Stephen T. O’Hanlon, who filed no-merit letters in nine cases later overturned, said he followed ethical rules and that judges and prosecutors agreed with his filings at the time. O’Hanlon stated he exchanged letters with Milique Wagner and sent an investigator to interview witnesses.

Milique Wagner spent more than a decade in prison after his 2013 murder conviction. Court records show his appointed lawyer did not contact an informant who later confessed or examine a detective later removed for paying a witness. Wagner remained in prison until prosecutors acknowledged hidden evidence.

He accepted a plea to third-degree murder and was released. Judge Barbara McDermott, who oversaw many PCRA cases before retiring, said the system is working as intended and that no-merit letters help end pointless challenges. She stated that finality in cases is necessary.