A Queens Supreme Court Judge has vacated the convictions of three men charged in a 1996 double murder, finding that trial attorneys with the Queens District Attorney's Office had "deliberately withheld" evidence that significantly undermined the case.
The three men — Gary Johnson, 46, George Bell, 44, and Rohan Bolt, 59 — will walk free on Friday, after spending more than 24 years in prison for their supposed role in an ambush killing of an East Elmhurst shop owner and an off-duty cop.
Reading from a statement during the virtual hearing, an emotional Bell said he had been dreaming of his freedom for most of his life. "I was only 19 years old. I was just a kid, no clear understanding of the law or under my own rights," Bell said, speaking from Green Haven Correctional Facility. "Today is the day I am going home."
The charges were brought by the late Queens DA Richard Brown, and hailed at the time by Mayor Rudy Giuliani and the NYPD Commissioner Howard Safir, both of whom suggested the men should be executed. The lead prosecutor on the case, Assistant District Attorney Brad Leventhal, currently works as bureau chief of the office's Homicide Trial Bureau
More than two decades later, the case has fallen apart under the weight of newly-unearthed evidence — including police reports that suggested members of the "Speedstick" gang were involved in the shooting, and testimony from at least five witnesses that called key details of the narrative into question. Although defense attorneys were entitled to that information, their requests were rebuffed.
The exculpatory evidence was uncovered by attorneys for the men, and corroborated by the Queens DA's Conviction Integrity Unit.
At a hearing on Friday, Judge Joseph Zayas slammed the prosecutors in the case for their "egregious" miscarriage of justice.
"The blame for those wrongful convictions, and the blame for the institutional damage done to the criminal justice system shall fall squarely on the shoulders of the prosecution attorneys in this case," Zayas said.
In a statement, Queens DA Melinda Katz, who took office last year after Brown's death, said that she would review the case before deciding whether a retrial was necessary. She maintained that the prosecutors had "inadvertently failed" to disclose the records, and that there was no misconduct within the office itself.
A defense attorney for Bell accused Katz of slow-walking the review, telling the Times that she was “trying to protect” the attorneys involved — including Leventhal. In 2017, a state Appellate Division overturned a separate Leventhal conviction due to "repeated instances of prosecutorial misconduct."
Inquiries to Katz's office about Leventhal were not returned.
In his own statement, Johnson — who was 22 at the time of his arrest — described his conflicted feelings about the end of decades-long prison sentence.
"I don’t know where to begin because at this moment I feel extremely joyful," he said, but added that he also felt angry to have lost so many years with his loved ones. "My sister was 9 years old at the time. Her cries still ring in my mind."
