Litigation
Jul. 30, 2002
Group Honors Star for Three Decades in Criminal Defense
On the heels of a victory on behalf of a death row inmate, Douglas R. Young, a partner at San Francisco's Farella Braun & Martel, recently received the Criminal Justice Achievement Award.
Young, 54, accepted the award, presented by the Criminal Trial Lawyers Association of Northern California, at a luncheon June 6 in San Francisco.
The honor recognized his nearly three decades of advocacy on behalf of the accused.
Young finds criminal law especially appealing because a person's freedom hangs in the balance.
"There's a lot at stake," Young says. "There's an opportunity to be a hero to somebody and their family."
In February, Young successfully appealed a lower court's decision to impose the death penalty on his client, David Luther Ghent, convicted of stabbing a woman 21 times in her home in 1978. Ghent v. Woodford, 279 F.3d 1121 (9th Cir. February 2002).
Eron Yehuda
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