Top Attorney Brentford J. Ferreira
Long Beach, CA/Press/ – Brentford J. Ferreira (1948-2023) of the Law Office of Brentford Ferreira was selected for inclusion into the Top Attorneys of North America 2019-2020 edition.
Brentford J. Ferreira has been practicing law since 1984. He has a private practice serving clients in the greater Los Angeles area. He has a wealth of knowledge and experience litigating felony trials and hundreds of writs and appeals in the United States Supreme Court and all California and Federal Courts. He was in charge of the habeas corpus unit of the DA’s office for ten years. He is currently Special Counsel and Adjunct Professor to the Loyola Law School Project for the Innocent.
The Innocence Project brings habeas corpus petitions on behalf of wrongly convicted inmates. Mr. Ferreira litigates petitions on behalf of three strikes inmates incarcerated prior to the enactment of Proposition 36. He is currently litigating habeas corpus, and coram nobis petitions involving immigration consequences.
The unit processes hundreds of habeas corpus petitions each year. They litigate reference hearings in death penalty cases ordered by the Supreme Court. They file returns and conduct evidentiary hearings in Superior Court based on orders to show cause issued by the Supreme Court and the Court of Appeal in all other cases. They also prepare returns and conduct evidentiary hearings in all habeas cases initiated in Superior Court. They litigate many police misconduct cases including cases involving the Rampart Division of the Los Angeles Police Department. They also litigate all post-conviction discovery motions brought in capital cases pursuant to Penal Code section 1054.9.
Mr. Ferreira was in charge of re-evaluating three strikes cases in habeas petitions brought by the Mills Legal Clinic of Stanford Law School, the Post Conviction Assistance Center for Los Angeles County, and the Los Angeles County Public Defenders and Alternate Public Defenders offices. Thirty six inmates had their three strikes sentences reduced to two strike sentences and were released prior to the passage of Proposition 36.
Mr. Ferreira also supervised and reviewed the work of other appellate deputies in the Court of Appeal, the California Supreme Court, and the United States Supreme Court. In my individual capacity he continues to litigate complex and difficult cases.
In 2012, Mr. Ferreira was the first prosecutor to receive the Johnnie Cochran Ethics Award from the Criminal Courts Bar Association for releasing an innocent man from state prison, Francisco Carrillo. He had been imprisoned for twenty years for a murder that he reinvestigated and determined after an evidentiary hearing that he had not committed. 
Mr. Ferreira received his J.D. – Juris Doctor from Loyola Law School, Loyola Marymount University (1983) and obtain his B.A.- Bachelor of Arts from Cornell University (1975). He is a member of the State Bar of California, California District Attorneys Association and Chairman of the California District Attorneys Association – Forensic Sciences Committee. Mr. Ferreira has had many speaking engagements involving criminal law. He is also a published author of the California Criminal Jury Instruction Handbook, 2015, Thompson Publishing Group/West and the California Criminal Law. Procedure, and Practice: Misdemeanor Appeals and Lineups & Identifications, 2014, California Continuing Education of the Bar (CEB).
The Top Attorneys of North America, a New York based publication, distinguishes and profiles leading attorneys who have reached a recognizable degree of success and leadership in their field. The directory is valued for promoting awareness of the accomplishments within the North American legal community.
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