March 12, 2026

Anthony Sims’ Conviction Overturned After 25 Years of Wrongful Imprisonment

Yesterday, the Appellate Division, Second Department vacated Anthony Sims’ conviction for the 1998 murder of a Chinese restaurant worker based on new evidence that police framed Sims and that another man, Julius Graves, committed the crime. Sims spent nearly 25 years in prison before being paroled in November 2022.

The Appellate Division overturned Sims’ conviction based on testimony from two key witnesses at a post-conviction hearing in 2022. The first witness, a former neighbor of Graves, testified at the hearing “that she saw Graves ‘running out [of] the Chinese restaurant with a long gun’ and that Graves had threatened to ‘shut [her] up’ shortly after [Sims’] arrest.” The second witness, the court noted, “recanted the critical aspects of her trial testimony,” admitting she had “felt pressured to ‘fill in’ gaps with information that was told to her” by detectives who had “separated her from her four-year-old son during questioning.” 

The Appellate Division found that this new evidence invalidated Sims’ conviction and that a lower court had erred in ruling otherwise. You can read the decision here and a news report here.

Tom Hoffman began representing Anthony Sims in 2020 and soon teamed up with Jonathan Hiles, followed by co-counsel Ilann Maazel and Sam Shapiro of Emery Celli Brinckerhoff Abady Ward & Maazel. 

Hiles said, “The evidence is overwhelming that Graves murdered the restaurant worker, a hardworking immigrant, for flirting innocently with his fiancée and then conspired with his family and confederates to evade justice by framing Anthony. NYPD detectives, in turn, pressured witnesses to lie against Anthony and, after charging him, hid smoking-gun evidence of Graves' guilt.”

Maazel said, “The police labeled Anthony as the perp the day after the murder based on a tip from one of Julius Graves’ relatives. And then it was tunnel vision.” He added, “It’s a great day for justice. Anthony is an innocent man. He has always been an innocent man. He never should have been arrested. He never should have been prosecuted. He never should have been convicted. This is vindication.”

Sims, 50, a proud father and grandfather, now works at the Ford Foundation and serves as an advocate for criminal legal reforms and as a leader of rehabilitation programs in and out of prisons. He will continue this transformative work, at last as a truly free man. In a statement Sims said:

“Today, my 28-year nightmare is finally over. The court’s decision to reverse my wrongful conviction is not just a victory for me, but also a testament to the power of unwavering support. I am eternally grateful to my incredible family, the tireless legal team, and every supporter who stood by me and never lost faith.

“While I am overjoyed to finally walk free, my relief is tempered by the profound frustration I feel toward a judicial system that took over two decades of my life. This system needs a lot of work, and my hope is that my case will serve as a stark reminder of the urgent need for reform so that no other innocent person has to endure what I have.