Anthony Capozzi - Mistaken ID

Capozzi, Anthony; sexual assault; NRE: mistaken witness identification

N4 [93] "In 1987, [Capozzi] was convicted of rape, sexual assault and sodomy based, in part, upon the eyewitnesses' identification. More sophisticated DNA testing was unavailable at the time of trial which would have eliminated [Capozzi] as a suspect. Post-conviction requests for specimens from the local medical center went ignored because the requests had not been made pursuant to the established protocols.* Improper cataloging may have led law enforcement to believe that slides from the rape kit were unavailable, further hampering [Capozzi's] efforts to conduct DNA testing."

[* What's the matter with these people? Why couldn't they simply have contacted Capozzi/his team to tell them what the 'proper procedures' were? ]

A9 [1691] "[A witness wrote down] the license plate number of the car [the alleged rapist] was driving and notified the police. The car belonged to Anthony Capozzi, a twenty-nine-year-old man with a history of schizophrenia...Six women who had been raped in Delaware Park separately viewed line-ups in which Capozzi appeared. Although some discrepancies existed between the victims' verbal descriptions of their assailant and Capozzi -- the rapist reportedly weighed between 150 and 160 pounds, whereas Capozzi weighed more than 200 pounds and Capozzi had a three-inch scar on his face that none of the victims had mentioned -- three of the women...identified Capozzi as their assailant.

[1692] "Capozzi consistently refused to admit that he had committed the crimes while incarcerated, and consequently was barred from enrolling in prison classes that were a prerequisite for sex offenders to earn good time credit. He was denied parole five times. On April 3, 2007 -- shortly before he was to be considered yet again for parole and after he had been confined for nearly twenty-two years -- he was exonerated. His convictions were vacated and the charges against him were dismissed after rape kits were located in his cases, and DNA tests were conducted that excluded him as the source of the preserved semen. DNA from rape kits -- which had been stored in a local hospital and had been available for testing for years although, neither Capozzi's attorney nor the prosecution knew about their existence* -- matched the DNA profile of Altemio Sanchez."

[* This seems more than a little odd, given that rape kits have been routinely prepared and collected since at least the 1970s.]

"Sanchez, who had coached Little League Baseball, was an active member of his church, and was highly regarded by his neighbors, concurrently was a serial rapist and murderer...Sanchez claimed at least sixteen sexual assault victims over three decades between the late 1970s and September 2006. His three known murders...were all committed after Capozzi's September 1995 arrest for the rape that Sanchez also perpetrated. At [1693] least nine of his rapes occurred after Capozzi was arrested."

[So, due to 'investigators'' incompetence (or worse), three women were murdered and at least nine were raped. These women (or their families) -- in addition to Capozzi himself -- should have been allowed to sue them personally, as well as the localities that employed them.]

[544:95]; 4th Dept. 7/12/89; affirmed

"The trial court properly precluded [Capozzi] from introducing evidence of three other uncharged sex crimes committed in the Delaware Park area on dates when [Capozzi] could not have committed them. These uncharged crimes were neither unique nor sufficiently similar to the crimes charged in the indictment to support an inference that the same individual was responsible for all the crimes...[Capozzi's] convictions are not contrary to the weight of the evidence...and there is no reason to reverse [his] convictions in the interest of justice."*

[* Uh-huh. Except for the small technicality that he didn't actually commit any of these sexual assaults.]

from NRE synopsis (by the Innocence Project):

"In 2010, Capozzi received $4.25 million in compensation from the State of New YorK."

[All emphases added unless orherwise noted.]