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Ruben Wills
Member of the New York City Council from the 28th district
In office January 1, 2011 – August 10, 2017
Preceded by	Thomas White Jr.
Succeeded by	Adrienne Adams
Personal details
Born	Ruben W. Mills (1971-08-09) August 9, 1971 (age 53)
Political party	Democratic
Spouse	Marcia Thompson
Website	Official website

Ruben W. Wills (born August 9, 1971) is a former member of the New York City Council, serving the 28th district from 2011 until he was convicted of a felony in August 2017. After serving a 2 - 6-year prison sentence, the New York Supreme Court Appellate Division, Second Department, reversed Wills' convictions and ordered a new trial. On April 22, 2021, Ruben Wills was fully exonerated and the charges were dismissed with prejudice. He is a Democrat.

Life and career

Wills is African-American and was born in Southeast Queens. He was raised in the South Jamaica Houses and attended Public School 40 and Thomas Edison High School. He and his wife, Marcia, are members of the St. Albans Congregational Church.

In 2003, Wills served as the special assistant to City Council Member Leroy Comrie, and later he served as chief of staff to State Senator Shirley Huntley. Wills also worked for the SEIU Local 1199 Union. Prior to working in government, Wills made his living operating a contracting company doing renovations for commercial and residential properties.

New York City Council

After losing the 2009 primary to Thomas White, Jr., Wills won the council seat for the 28th district in Southeast Queens the next year, after White died. He then won re-election in 2011 to complete the term, and again for his own full term in 2013. Wills renamed a street in his district in honor of White, thanks to the help of his surviving family.

As a council member, Wills mobilized his community behind several initiatives including removing sex offenders from a new homeless shelter near an elementary school, opposing the establishment of a homeless drop-in center near a high school, organizing a town hall to discuss body cameras on police officers, and stopping a juvenile prison from being constructed in South Ozone Park

In 2013, Wills went homeless to raise awareness of the plight of homeless individuals in his community. He pumped gas for tips and slept in parks, relying on soup kitchens to stay fed. The week long experiment was cut short after Wills reportedly developed pneumonia and was temporarily hospitalized when the experience became hazardous to his health. Wills later cited this experience as his motivation to push Mayor Michael Bloomberg to expand rental subsidies stripped from the city budget in 2011.

In August 2013, Councilman Wills secured 4.4 million from 15.5 billion of NYC's capital budget and spent every dollar toward Education initiatives, making him the largest benefactor of schools in the borough.

In 2016, Councilman Wills also started a, first of its kind, New York City Council fund (13 million) that purchased distressed mortgages from local communities and renegotiated favorable  loan terms which allowed foreclosed residents to stay in their homes in efforts to prevent homelessness. During this same year, Mayor Bill de Blasio signed important legislation strengthening protections for freelance workers and praised Wills for his sponsorship of a bill strengthening voter protections for pre trial detainees and misdemeanor offenders who were currently incarcerated but still had the right to participate in elections.

Criminal charges

In March 2011, Wills responded to two arrest warrants for incidents that occurred over a decade earlier. The first warrant was issued in 1998 for an incident that occurred in 1996. In November 2011, he pleaded guilty to misdemeanor criminal mischief, admitting to stealing items and damaging property in an incident that he called a business dispute. The conviction resulted in no jail time or probation, but Wills had to pay restitution totaling $3,000 and perform 3 days of community service.

The second warrant was for not appearing on scheduled court date in 2002 for an arrest in Nassau County dating back to 2000. The charge was for operating an unlicensed construction business, also a misdemeanor.

On May 7, 2014, Wills was arrested as part of a corruption investigation. The charges included multiple counts of fraud and grand larceny in connection with more than $30,000 in public funds that went missing from a charity he ran. On February 2, 2015, he was arrested again and charged with five felony counts of failing to disclose financial dealings on five separate disclosure reports filed with the city's Conflicts of Interest Board between 2012 and 2014.

The resolution of the cases from 2014 and 2015 was delayed because Wills' lawyer was removed from the latter case due to a potential conflict of interest, and because of Wills' ongoing medical problems. After his indictment in May 2014, Wills also missed nearly half of his City Council meetings and hearings.

Wills argued that the vast majority of his charges stemmed from the office of New York State Attorney General Eric Schneiderman, who is an opponent of the Southeast Queens Democratic community and largely endorsed his primary opponent, future-Congresswoman Kathleen Rice, in the 2010 Democratic primary for New York State Attorney General. Wills repeatedly called for a special prosecutor to help develop an impartial prosecution.

On July 20, 2017, a jury found Wills guilty on five of the six counts in his corruption trial. He has appealed his conviction and has not yet been sentenced, but was not on the ballot for re-election to his own seat in the primary.

Exoneration

Following Wills conviction, he was sentenced to two to six years in prison, fined $5,000, and ordered to make restitution of $32,874. Wills appealed the conviction and vehemently maintained his innocence. On August 12, 2019, Wills was released on parole.

On September 16, 2020, the New York Supreme Court Appellate Division, Second Department, reversed the convictions and ordered a new trial, stating:

“The record does not establish that the defendant was acting in bad faith in seeking to present the testimony of these witnesses at the trial,” the appellate court ruled. “The proposed testimony did not deal with a collateral issue, but, rather, went to the heart of the defendant's claim of right defense. Thus, it was error for the Supreme Court to have prospectively precluded the defendant's witnesses from testifying, and, under the facts of this case, that error cannot be deemed harmless.”

On April 22, 2021, the prosecution dismissed the charges.

References

1. "Ruben Wills - National Registry of Exonerations". www.law.umich.edu. Retrieved 2022-11-16.
2. "Members Question Whether Council Has Enough Black Leadership". Observer. 22 January 2014.
3. "Sutphin Blvd corner renamed for Tom White". Times Ledger. 2012-08-25. Retrieved 2017-03-30.
4. "Sex offenders to be out of Skyway". Queens Chronicle. 2015-07-09. Retrieved 2017-03-30.
5. "City to talk Atlantic Ave. shelter Nov 10". Queens Chronicle. 2016-10-27. Retrieved 2017-03-30.
6. "More anger than answers at town hall". Queens Chronicle. 2016-11-11. Retrieved 2017-03-30.
7. "Town hall on NYPD body cameras leads to reform debate in 2016, reveals mistrust". New York Daily News. 2016-07-27. Retrieved 2017-03-30.
8. "Juvenile facility still lacks fan base". Queens Chronicle. 2017-02-23. Retrieved 2017-03-30.
9. "Queens politician Ruben Wills goes homeless for three days to understand the experience". New York Daily News. 2013-12-17. Retrieved 2017-03-30.
10. "Pneumonia Ends Homelessness Experiment for Queens Councilman Ruben Wills". New York Daily News. 2013-12-20. Retrieved 2017-03-30.
11. "Council members demand restoration of homeless prevention funds". New York Daily News. 2014-03-16. Retrieved 2017-03-30.
12. Bockmann, Rich (2013-08-08). "Council members from county give $29M to district schools – QNS.com". qns.com. Retrieved 2022-10-13.
13. Editor, Michael Gannon (21 July 2016). "Mortgage buybacks save homes: Council". Queens Chronicle. Retrieved 2022-10-13. {{cite web}}: |last= has generic name (help)
14. EACCNY (16 May 2017). "De Blasio signs Freelance Workers Rights Bill | European American Chamber of Commerce New York [EACCNY] | Your Partner for Transatlantic Business Resources". Retrieved 2022-10-13.
15. Grace, Melissa (November 10, 2011). "Queens City Councilman Ruben Wills Pleads Guilty to Old Charges, "Community Service" in His Future". New York Daily News. Retrieved 24 August 2016.
16. Smith, Greg B. (March 20, 2011). "Queens city councilman Ruben Wills acknowledges outstanding arrest warrants". New York Daily News. Retrieved 24 August 2016.
17. Hernández, Javier C. (March 21, 2011). "2 Decade-Old Arrest Warrants for Queens Councilman". New York Times. p. A19. Retrieved 24 August 2016.
18. Grynbaum, Michael M.; Santora, Marc (May 8, 2014). "Councilman Is Accused of Stealing Public Funds". New York Times. p. A21. Retrieved 24 August 2016.
19. Lovett, Ken (May 7, 2014). "NYC Councilman Ruben Wills Arrested by State Attorney General's Office". nydailynews.com. New York Daily News. Retrieved 24 August 2016.
20. Stewart, Nikita (February 3, 2015). "New York City Councilman Arrested on Corruption Charges". New York Times.
21. Gross, Courtney (February 15, 2016). "Queens Councilman, Facing Criminal Charges — Doesn't Show up in Court — Or at City Hall". ny1.com. Time Warner Cable News – NY1. Retrieved 24 August 2016.
22. "Ruben Wills wants special prosecutor to hear his corruption case". Newsday. 2014-05-29. Retrieved 2017-03-30.
23. Wang, Vivian (July 21, 2017). "City Councilman Convicted of Stealing Thousands in Public Funds". New York Times. p. A22. Retrieved 16 October 2017.
24. Lee, Jasmine; Bloch, Matthew (September 13, 2017). "Election 2017". The New York Times. Retrieved 16 October 2017.
25. "Ex-City Councilman cries as he's sentenced up to six years in prison for stealing $30G from Queens community". New York Daily News. 10 August 2017. Retrieved 2022-09-28.
26. "A.G. Schneiderman And Comptroller Dinapoli Announce Guilty Plea Of Former NYC Council Member Ruben Wills | New York State Attorney General". ag.ny.gov. 14 November 2017. Retrieved 2022-09-28.
27. ^ Br, David (25 February 2021). "Ex-Queens lawmaker's corruption conviction reversed by appeals court". Queens Daily Eagle. Retrieved 2022-09-28.
28. "People v Wills". Justia Law. Retrieved 2022-09-28.
29. Editor, Max Parrott, Associate (6 May 2021). "Wills exonerated in Supreme Court". Queens Chronicle. Retrieved 2022-09-28. {{cite web}}: |last= has generic name (help)CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)

External links

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• Living people
• People from Jamaica, Queens
• New York City Council members
• New York (state) Democrats
• 21st-century New York (state) politicians
• New York (state) politicians convicted of crimes
• African-American New York City Council members
• 21st-century African-American politicians
• 1971 births