State of New Jersey v. Terry Oleson

N/A

OUTCOME: Not Guilty

In April of 2007, Mr. Leonard was retained to represent a Salem County man named Terry Oleson, who was suspected of murdering four prostitutes and dumping their bodies in a drainage ditch behind a stre ... tch of seedy motels on the Black Horse Pike in West Atlantic City in November of 2006. Dubbed by reporters as a serial killer and given the moniker “The Black Horse Strangler”, the Oleson case received international attention and Mr. Leonard was profiled on 48 Hours, America’s Most Wanted, Good Morning America and in print publications all over the world, including the New York Times. Mr. Leonard aggressively fought for Mr. Oleson’s release from jail, telling the Press of Atlantic City that Oleson’s bail was “a ransom”. Mr. Oleson was eventually freed from jail, and murder charges against him have never been filed. Mr. Oleson told one Philadelphia reporter, “This man right here, Jimmy Leonard, he saved my life.” Mr. Leonard would go on to successfully defend Oleson against charges filed by a prostitute who claims Oleson assaulted her and threatened to kill her after he allegedly confessed to her that he had killed the four women in West Atlantic City. Outside the courthouse after Oleson had been cleared of assault, Mr. Leonard told reporters that the woman, an admitted crack addict / prostitute, was “the personification of reasonable doubt.”