C. Vernon Mason is a former lawyer and civil rights advocate from

Tucker, Arkansas Tucker is an Unincorporated community and census-designated place (CDP) in Jefferson County, Arkansas. It is located southeast of Little Rock. It was first listed as a CDP in the 2020 census with a population of 95. History In 1871 John Wood ...

. Best known for his involvement in several high-profile New York City cases in the 1980s, including the

Bernhard Goetz On December 22, 1984, Bernhard Goetz () shot four youths on a New York City Subway train in Manhattan after they allegedly tried to rob him. All four victims survived, though one, Darrell Cabey, was paralyzed and suffered brain damage as a res ...

Howard Beach Howard Beach is a neighborhood in the southwestern portion of the New York City Borough (New York City), borough of Queens. It is bordered to the north by the Belt Parkway and Conduit Avenue in Ozone Park, Queens, Ozone Park, to the south by J ...

, and Tawana Brawley incidents, Mason has not practiced law since his 1995 disbarment. He then was the CEO of a non-profit organization. He is also an ordained minister.

Education

Mason graduated from

Morehouse College Morehouse College is a Private college, private, Historically black colleges and universities, historically black, Men's colleges in the United States, men's Liberal arts colleges in the United States, liberal arts college in Atlanta, Georgia, ...

and earned a

Master in Business Administration A Master of Business Administration (MBA) is a professional degree focused on business administration. The core courses in an MBA program cover various areas of business administration; elective courses may allow further study in a particular a ...

from

Indiana University Bloomington Indiana University Bloomington (IU Bloomington, Indiana University, IU, IUB, or Indiana) is a public university, public research university in Bloomington, Indiana, United States. It is the flagship university, flagship campus of Indiana Univer ...

. He then graduated from

Columbia Law School Columbia Law School (CLS) is the Law school in the United States, law school of Columbia University, a Private university, private Ivy League university in New York City. The school was founded in 1858 as the Columbia College Law School. The un ...

earning a

Juris Doctor A Juris Doctor, Doctor of Jurisprudence, or Doctor of Law (JD) is a graduate-entry professional degree that primarily prepares individuals to practice law. In the United States and the Philippines, it is the only qualifying law degree. Other j ...

and, later, earned the Master of Divinity, and the Doctor of Ministry degree from

New York Theological Seminary The New York Theological Seminary (NYTS) was an American private non-denominational Christian seminary in New York City. It was founded in 1900 as the Bible Teacher's College. It ceased operating as an independent seminary on July 1, 2024. Throu ...

Notable cases

In 1983 Mason and

William Kunstler William Moses Kunstler (July 7, 1919 – September 4, 1995) was an American attorney and civil rights activist, known for defending the Chicago Seven. Kunstler was an active member of the National Lawyers Guild, a board member of the American Ci ...

represented serial killer

Lemuel Smith Lemuel Warren Smith (born July 23, 1941) is an American convicted serial killer who was the first convict to kill an on-duty female corrections officer. Smith was already in prison for the murders of at least five people when he murdered prison g ...

at his trial for the murder of Donna Payant. Mason was co-counsel for Darrell Cabey, one of the four men shot by

in the famous 1984 " subway vigilante" case. Mason was one of the lawyers retained by the family of Michael Griffith, manslaughter victim in the

Howard Beach incident Michael Griffith (March 2, 1963 – December 20, 1986) was a 23-year-old black man who was killed on December 20, 1986, in Howard Beach, in Queens, New York City, in a racially motivated attack. Griffith and two other black men were set upon by ...

. In 1987 Mason, along with Alton H. Maddox and

Al Sharpton Alfred Charles Sharpton Jr. (born October 3, 1954) is an American civil rights and social justice activist, Baptists, Baptist minister, radio talk show host, and TV personality, who is also the founder of the National Action Network civil rig ...

, were advisors to Tawana Brawley, an African-American teenager who claimed to have been abducted and sexually assaulted by at least three white men, including at least one police officer and assistant district attorney Steven Pagones. However, a grand jury investigation into Brawley's allegations determined that she "had not been abducted, assaulted, raped and sodomized as had been claimed" and that "the 'unsworn public allegations against Dutchess County Assistant District Attorney Steven Pagones' were false and had no basis in fact." Pagones filed a $385 million lawsuit against Brawley and her advisors for 22 purported defamatory statements; Mason was found liable of making one defamatory statement and ordered to pay $185,000.

Disbarment

Mason was disbarred by the New York State Appellate Division, First Department, in 1995. The court cited 66 instances of professional misconduct with 20 clients over the course of 6 years as its rationale for the action, including "repeated neglect of client matters, many of which concerned criminal cases where a client's liberty was at stake; misrepresentations to clients ndrefusal to refund the unearned portion of fees". Though Mason's involvement in the Brawley case was not specifically cited, Mason would allege that the ruling was intended to punish him for the Brawley case.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Mason, C. Vernon Year of birth missing (living people) Living people 20th-century African-American lawyers 20th-century American lawyers 21st-century African-American people Disbarred New York (state) lawyers African-American Christian clergy American Christian clergy Morehouse College alumni Kelley School of Business alumni Indiana University Bloomington alumni Columbia Law School alumni New York Theological Seminary alumni People from Jefferson County, Arkansas