If not for John Henry Browne, David Kunze might still be serving a life sentence for Aggravated Murder at the Walla Walla penitentiary. He was freed on March 22, 2001.

David was convicted in 1997 after a judge ruled that a prosecution witness could tell the jury he thought an earprint at a murder scene matched the outline of David's ear. He was sentenced to life imprisonment without possibility of parole.

David then asked John Henry Browne to handle his appeal. In the first earprint case in American legal history, John Henry Browne persuaded the Court of Appeals to reverse David's conviction and to grant him a new trial--this time without the earprint. See State v. David Kunze, 97 Wn. App. 832, 988 P.2d 977 (Div. II, 1999).

Weeks into David's second trial, prosecutorial misconduct forced a mistrial.

When the lawyers interviewed the jurors afterwards, all reported that they would have declared David "Not Guilty." Prosecutors had little choice but to ask that all charges be dismissed. The court did just that.

Other recent victories include State v. Joshua Hanson (May 2001, Div. II) (exceptionally low sentence affirmed); State v. Justin Jennings (May 2001, Div. II) (sentence vacated); In re Monte Hoisington (Feb. 2000, Div. III)
(sentence reduced to time served); State v. Allen Robinson (Sept. 1999, Div. III) (conviction reversed); In re Todd Vandervlugt (Aug. 1999, Div. I) (evidentiary hearing ordered, wherein conviction vacated); State v. Jason Soler (June 1998, Div. I) (new trial order upheld); State v. Martin Pang (July 1997, Supreme Court) (felony-murder prosecution found to violate Brazil's extradition order and U.S. extradition treaty).