RaquinMercer LLC In The News

January 15, 2024

Prosecutors put their faith in complex scientific evidence gathered painstakingly from burial sites and garbage cans.

After 13 years of dead ends and blown leads, the Gilgo Beach murder investigation finally turned on pizza crusts that Rex Heuermann had tossed in a trash can in Midtown Manhattan.

TDR News – November 30, 2023

A practicing lawyer since 1995, Stephen B. Mercer has more than two decades of experience and specific expertise on the use of scientific evidence in criminal…

The Washington Post – By Dan Norse and Nicole Asbury – July 23, 2023

A new trial was ordered for John Vigna, 56, who taught at a Montgomery County elementary school for more than 20 years

…“Trial counsel failed to investigate and prepare Vigna’s defense,” Vigna’s new attorneys, Isabelle Raquin and Steve Mercer, added in court papers, “committed unforced errors which applied to all alleged victims, failed to individually challenge each alleged victim’s motives, and did not exploit their specific weaknesses.”

TDR News – April 8th, 2022

In 2014, Isabelle Raquin began working with the Montgomery County Adult Drug Court Program, a voluntary treatment program designed to reduced recidivism for adult offenders suffering from drug and alcohol dependence. Three years later, Raquin started her private practice, RaquinMercer LLC, and the Drug Court program asked her to continue working with the program in an attorney liaison position…

Perspectives On Justice – January 2021

Steve Mercer interviewed by Judge Alexander Williams, Jr. on Post Conviction – Expungement, Pardons, Commuting Sentences.

RaquinMercer LLC – December 2020

RaquinMercer is pleased to announce its newest association: the Honorable Gary E. Bair, recently retired from the Circuit Court for Montgomery County Maryland, is joining RaquinMercer as Of Counsel.

LCI News – November 2020

Isabelle Discusses Election Results on French National Media

DC Bar Magazine – October 2018

“To Catch A Criminal   Amateur genealogists use popular genealogy websites such as MyHeritage, 23andMe, and Ancestry to sleuth out familial DNA matches, unearthing connections to long-lost…”

NBC News: Think – May 22, 2018

“Your DNA is the Next Big Privacy Battleground Are we on the verge of another Cambridge Analytica-type meltdown? Lawyer Stephen Mercer thinks so…”

KUOW.ORG 94.9 – May 3, 2018

“The Golden State Killer’s arrest last week brought closure to victims and community members affected by a ten year spree of rapes and murder. The trail went cold in 1986…”

Pro Publica – May 2, 2018

“Owens’ steadfastness “paid a large dividend here,” Mercer said. “He was willing to go to trial and risk it all and only settled when there was a number that speaks loudly to his…”

Vox: Today, Explained – May 1, 2018

“Sean Rameswaram talks with Steve Mercer about the DNA familial searching in the Golden State Killer case opening Pandora’s box.”

NPR: The Two-Way – April 27, 2018

“As they sought a breakthrough in the cold case of the man known as the Golden State Killer…”

Winston-Salem Journal – April 27, 2018

“SACRAMENTO, Calif. — Investigators who used a genealogical website to find the ex-policeman they believe is a shadowy serial killer and rapist who terrified…”

The Atlantic – September 7, 2017

“Having been convicted really defines who you are—it becomes itself a prison,” Mercer said. “Once out, with a conviction still on your shoulders, having maintained your innocence…”

CBS: 60 Minutes – March 23, 2007

“…Stephen Mercer disagrees. “Of course they’re gonna come up with analogies that seem to do away with any sense of wrongdoing or any sense of violation of privacy…”

The Washington Post – December 25, 2015

“Juvenile courts have become real-life Scrooges to young adults trying to turn their lives around after troubled childhoods. The courts are imposing unnecessary…”

New York Times – January 27,2017

“The leads have dried up in the killing of a young woman in Queens during a jog last summer. Tips about potential suspects have gone nowhere…”

The Washington Post – May 29,2015

“The FBI has notified crime labs across the country that it has discovered errors in data used by forensic scientists in thousands of cases to calculate the chances that DNA…”

Los Angeles Times – October 25, 2015

“The Controversial DNA Search that helped nab the “Grim Sleeper.” He roamed the streets of Sacramento for six years, raping women as they walked to work or headed home…”

AZCentral – September 15, 2016

“How Forensic Genealogy Led to an Arrest in the Phoenix ‘Canal Killer’ Case The man accused in Phoenix’s “Canal Killer” case may have his ancestors to blame for his 2015 arrest…”

The Takeaway – September 15, 2016

“The Controversial DNA Search that helped nab the “Grim Sleeper.” He roamed the streets of Sacramento for six years, raping women as they walked to work or headed home from…”