Ron Kuby facts for kids
Quick facts for kids
Ron Kuby
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Kuby in 2014
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| Born | July 31, 1956 Cleveland, Ohio, U.S.
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| Education | University of Kansas (BA) Cornell University (JD) |
| Occupation | Trial attorney, radio talk show host, television commentator |
| Spouse(s) | Marilyn Vasta (m. 2006) |
Ronald L. Kuby (born July 31, 1956) is an American lawyer. He is known for defending people accused of crimes. He also works to protect people's civil rights. Ron Kuby has hosted radio shows and appeared on television. He leads his own law office in Manhattan, New York City.
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Early Life and School
Ron Kuby was born in Cleveland, Ohio. His mother was a secretary and his father was a salesman. When he was 13, he joined a group called the Jewish Defense League. As a teenager, Kuby moved to Israel. However, he soon returned to the U.S. He felt disappointed by some of the views he saw there.
He went back to Cleveland and lived in a shared house for several years. In 1973, he briefly attended an alternative high school. After that, he studied at Cleveland State University for one year.
College and Early Interests
Kuby left college in 1974 and moved to St. Croix. This is an island in the U.S. Virgin Islands. He worked on a tugboat there. He also became interested in local plants and how they were used for medicine. He then moved to Maine and later to Kansas in 1975.
He finished his college degrees at the University of Kansas. He studied cultural anthropology and history. While at college, Kuby was an activist. He supported free speech and protested against apartheid in South Africa. He graduated with top honors. He even published his own research about traditional medicine in St. Croix.
Kuby earned his law degree from Cornell Law School in 1983. He was a very good student.
Personal Life
On January 23, 2006, Ron Kuby married Marilyn Vasta. She is a psychotherapist and works to protect the environment. They got married on the 20th anniversary of their first date. They have one daughter, Emma Vasta-Kuby. She is also a lawyer.
Working with William Kunstler
While in college, Ron Kuby worked with William Kunstler. Kunstler was a well-known lawyer. He had worked on many famous cases. From 1983 until Kunstler passed away in 1995, Kuby worked closely with him. They were like partners in Kunstler's law firm. Both lawyers fought for people who were poor or treated unfairly. They said they were not just colleagues but also best friends.
However, their partnership was never officially written down. Kuby was paid as an employee. He did not share in the firm's profits or losses. After Kunstler died, Kuby was not given ownership rights to the firm's files or name. Kunstler's widow, Margaret Ratner, took control of his records. Kuby tried to get rights to the firm, but a court decided against him in 1996.
Important Cases
Ron Kuby has worked on many important legal cases. He is known for being a strong defense lawyer.
Cases with William Kunstler
Kuby and Kunstler worked together on several high-profile cases. They represented:
- Gregory Lee Johnson, a protester who burned a U.S. Flag.
- Sheikh Omar Abdel-Rahman, a religious leader accused of planning serious actions.
- Colin Ferguson, the person involved in the 1993 Long Island Rail Road shooting.
- Qubilah Shabazz, the daughter of Malcolm X, who was accused of plotting to harm a religious leader.
- American soldiers who wanted to be conscientious objectors during the Gulf War. This means they did not want to fight in the war for moral reasons.
Cases After Kunstler's Passing
After William Kunstler died, Ron Kuby continued his work.
- In 1996, he won a large amount of money for Darrell Cabey. This was related to the 1984 New York City Subway shooting.
- He also won money for members of the Hells Angels motorcycle club. They had been wrongly arrested by the police.
- Kuby helped overturn a murder conviction for a homeless man. The man's candle accidentally caused a firefighter's death.
- He helped Yusef Salaam get his conviction overturned in the Central Park jogger case in 2002. Salaam later became a member of the New York City Council.
- In 2005, Kuby won money for another person who was wrongly convicted and spent eight years in prison.
High-Profile Legal Challenges
In 2006, Kuby was asked to testify in the trial of John A. Gotti. Gotti was the son of a leader in a crime group. Kuby testified that Gotti had told him he wanted to leave organized crime. This caused some tension with Curtis Sliwa, Kuby's radio co-host, as Sliwa had been involved in a case against Gotti.
In 2009, Kuby discussed defending Abduwali Muse. Muse was a Somali teenager captured during the rescue of Captain Richard Phillips from pirates. Kuby suggested Muse might have been captured unfairly.
In September 2009, Kuby represented Ahmad Wais Afzali. Afzali was an imam facing charges in a case related to national security. Kuby helped Afzali get out on bail. He also negotiated a deal where Afzali pleaded guilty to a lesser charge and was deported instead of going to prison.
In 2010, Kuby defended Raphael Golb. Golb had sent emails pretending to be other people. He was accused of various legal issues, including impersonation. Some of Golb's convictions were later dismissed by the highest court in New York State.
Helping Wrongfully Convicted Individuals
Starting in 2000, Kuby began working to free innocent prisoners. These were cases where DNA evidence was not involved.
- In 2001, he helped Anthony Faison and Charles Shepherd get released. They had spent almost 14 years in prison for a murder they did not commit. They later received a large payment.
- In 2008, Kuby helped clear Michael Clancy. Clancy was an elevator mechanic wrongly convicted of murder. He had served 13 years in prison.
- In 2013, Kuby helped Thomas Green get cleared. Green had been wrongly convicted in a serious case. He was released after five years. Sadly, he died two weeks later from untreated cancer.
- In 2013, Kuby took on the case of Johnny Hincapie. Hincapie was wrongly convicted in a famous subway murder case. He was cleared after 25 years in prison.
In 2015, Kuby helped Shabaka Shakur get cleared. Shakur had served 27 years for two murders he did not commit. The evidence against Shakur mainly came from a confession. Kuby believed the detective involved had not handled the evidence correctly. The judge who cleared Shakur found it likely that the confession was made up.
More exonerations followed in other cases involving the same detective.
- Jabbar Washington was freed in July 2017 after 20 years in prison.
- Sundhe Moses was cleared in January 2018 after almost 20 years in prison.
- In October 2020, Gerard Domond was cleared. He had spent 27 years in prison because important evidence was not shared.
- On July 15, 2022, charges were dropped against three men, Thomas Malik, Vincent Ellerbe, and James Irons. They had served over two decades in prison for a famous "Money Train" murder case.
- In January 2023, Kareem Mayo's murder conviction was overturned. He had served 23 years in prison.
Kuby also continues to represent political activists.
- He represented Patricia Okoumou. She famously climbed the Statue of Liberty in 2018 to protest government policies.
- Kuby also represented environmental lawyer Steven Donziger in his 2021 trial. This trial was about legal issues with a large company.
Radio and Television Work
From 1999 to 2007, Ron Kuby and Curtis Sliwa hosted a daily radio show. It was called Curtis and Kuby in the Morning on WABC (AM) in New York City. After eight years, the show was replaced. Kuby and Sliwa also had a short TV show on MSNBC.
Kuby started broadcasting on Air America Radio in 2008. He had his own show called Doing Time with Ron Kuby. His show was later removed from the schedule.
On January 2, 2014, Curtis and Kuby returned to WABC. Kuby left WABC in May 2017.
Kuby often appears as a commentator on Court TV. He has also been on the Discovery Channel show Oddities, giving legal advice. In 2008, he discussed how the media can sometimes make people seem guilty before a trial.
In 2012, Kuby was featured in a New York Times report. It showed his daily routine as a prominent New Yorker.
