Bladimil Arroyo - Overwhelming Evidence

Arroyo, Bladimil; murder; NRE: false confession, perjury/false accusation, police officer misconduct, withheld exculpatory evidence; "OVERWHELMING"

Suggestibility issues

[832:278]; 2nd Dept. 3/20/07; affirmed

"[T]here was overwhelming evidence of [Arroyo's] guilt..."

[The 2nd Dept. 'justices' who signed onto this opinion were William F. Mastro, Gabriel M. Krausman, Anita R. Florio, and Ruth C. Balkin. ]

[The same was said about Nickel. ]

2010 WL 3950734; E.D.N.Y. 10/7/10; writ denied

"After leaving a nightclub on September 16, 2001, Chris Greene and Gabor Muranyi were approached by [Arroyo] [???] and Edwin Lorenzo...[They] pointed guns at Greene and Muranyi and demanded their money and vauable possessions...Greene stabbed Lorenzo in defense, but Muranyi was fatally shot...At the time of the shooting, N.Y.P.D. Officers Michael Monteverde and Paul Saez were standing at a nearby corner. Monteverde heard the gunshots and shortly thereafter observed codefendants' fleeing car along 42nd Street. The rear passenger side window was down, so Monteverde saw [Arroyo] as the car passed him...The officers hurried into Monteverde's personal car, followed Lorenzo's car for approximately one-half of a city block, and observed the assailants get out of the parked car and run into a brownstone...As the officers were searching the brownstones for the assailants, Lorenzo, who was bleeding from his stab wound, left one of the brownstones, re-entered his car, and sped away...The officers attempted to give chase, but lost sight of the car and returned to the area where Lorenzo had parked his car earlier. Upon arrival, the officers noticed a trail of blood leading from the curb (where Lorenzo's car had been parked) up to [Arroyo's] apartment building at 455 42nd Street...Once backup arrived, officers followed the blood trail to [Arroyo's] apartment, entered and arrested him.

"At the police station...[Arroyo] made three statements and participated in two lineups...[His] first statement...put him at the scene of the crime, but did not inculpate him in the robbery or murder...[Later on,] the police were told that Muranyi had been shot and stabbed...[Subsequently,] the interviewing officer, Detective [Robert] Keating, walked into [Arroyo's] holding cell, told [him] that he wanted to speak with him about inconsistencies in his story, and informed him that someone had been shot and stabbed. [Arroyo] then admitted to stabbing the murder victim but denied shooting him...[Later that afternoon,] Officer Monteverde and Greene separately viewed the lineups... Monteverde identified [Arroyo]; Greene did not...An autopsy later revealed that the murder victim had suffered a gunshot wound and not a stab wound." [So, the police somehow got Arroyo to 'admit' -- wrongly -- that he had stabbed the victim.]

"[There was] overwhelming evidence of [Arroyo's] presence and participation in the attempted robberies and murder..."

[The author of this opinion was Judge Gustin Reichbach. ]

[So, we have state and federal courts saying that the evidence against this innocent person was 'overwhelming.']

NRE synopsis (by Maurice Possley):

"Minutes after three black men attacked him and Muronyi,* a police officer heard a radio call about 'three male blacks wanted for assault' and stopped [a man named Johnson] at 44th Street and 5th Avenue. Police drove Greene there and he identified Johnson as his attacker. Johnson was arrested, but was later released after Greene said he was not completely sure and that 'if the guy did not have a stab wound then this would not be the guy.' Johnson did not have any stab wounds."

[* Westlaw spells this name 'Muranyi.']

"At about the same time, a police officer en route to the crime scene was approached by James Ortiz at 42nd Street and 4th Avenue. Ortiz asked what had happened. When the officer noticed that Ortiz's hand was cut and he was holding a bloody napkin, he arrested Ortiz. Greene was driven to that location and identified Ortiz as the man who attacked Muronyi. Ortiz was soon released, however, when police decided he was not involved."

[So, Chris Greene has now incorrectly fingered two innocent persons as having been involved in this crime.]

"Police determined that [Edwin] Lorenzo [one of the two alleged attackers] lived in Staten Island and officers were dispatched to medical facilities there. Not long after, Lorenzo was arrested as he left St. Vincent's Hospital. He had stab wounds in his neck and head.

"At 5:25 a.m., police interviewed Greene, who said that he and Muronyi spent the evening eating pizza and barhopping. Shortly before 3 a.m., they left Sweet Cherry [a strip club in Brooklyn] and walked down 42nd Street toward 3rd Avenue. As they passed an idling parked car with dark windows, they realized that they went the wrong way and turned back. As they passed the idling car again, the front passenger window lowered and a man yelled, 'Do you have a problem?' Greene and Muronyi said they didn't and kept walking. The car squealed its tires as it backed up and stopped near them. Greene said that three black men got out of the car with guns and demanded their wallets and valuables. He said a tall man from the back seat of the car approached him while the driver and a short man from the passenger seat confronted Muronyi.

"Greene said he took a knife from his pocket and opened it behind his back. The taller man demanded his wallet, and when Greene tried to walk away, the man hit Greene in the head twice with a pistol...At that point, Greene said, he began stabbing the man. Greene said he then ran off and heard several gunshots behind him.

"Detectives interviewed Lorenzo and Arroyo separately. Detective Robert Keating reported that Arroyo told him that he and Lorenzo were at Sweet Cherry and as they were leaving, a 'Russian dude' brushed against Lorenzo and Lorenzo fell towards a table. Lorenzo glared at the man, but Arroyo said he told him to let it go and they left. Arroyo said that when they got to Lorenzo's black Pontiac, they saw the two 'Russian guys' walking up the street. Arroyo said he and Lorenzo got into Lorenzo's car. They drove past the two men and then backed up very quickly.

"Arroyo said Lorenzo yelled, 'What's up now?' and then grabbed a handgun from the left side of the car. Arroyo said that he and Lorenzo got out of the car. Lorenzo ran toward the two men and hit one of them in the face with his right hand. That man pulled out a knife, repeatedly stabbed Lorenzo by the neck, and then ran away. Arroyo said that the other man turned and Lorenzo fired at least six gunshots. Arroyo said that by that time, he had gotten back into the car. He said Lorenzo jumped in the car and drove off, yelling at Arroyo for not helping him. Arroyo said they drove to his family's apartment and went to his bedroom, where they tried to stop the bleeding from Lorenzo's wounds.

"About 10 a.m., detectives interviewed Lorenzo, who said that 'two white guys' bumped into Arroyo at Sweet Cherry. When they were driving away, they saw the same two men from the strip club walking by. Lorenzo said Arroyo got out and began to fight with Muronyi. When Greene joined the fight, Lorenzo said, he got out, but Greene stabbed him. That's when Arroyo pulled out a pistol and fired several shots, Lorenzo said."

[So, not surprisingly, Lorenzo said Arroyo fired the shots, and Arroyo said Lorenzo fired the shots. But as we now know, Lorenzo was lying.]

"At 12:45 p.m., Detective Keating interviewed Arroyo a second time. He reported that Arroyo spontaneously said he wanted to correct his statement. The detective later said that Arroyo now said he was carrying a knife when they went to the club. He said that Lorenzo saw a 'Russian guy' wearing a chain on his neck and he decided he wanted the chain."

[So now, we see the story starting to change, from this being about a personal argument/'beef,' to a robbery. But this change seems to have come about not from Arroyo, but rather, due to Detective Keating trying to mold Arroyo's statement to be more in keeping with Greene's version of events.] "The detective said Arroyo said that they saw the Russians and Lorenzo yelled, 'What's up now!' He said Lorenzo backed up the car rapidly and grabbed a pistol from the left side of the driver's seat and they both got out of the Pontiac. The detective said Arroyo said he approached one of the men -- Muronyi -- and demanded his property while Lorenzo confronted the other man.

"Muronyi took off his watch and dropped his wallet in the street. When Muronyi advanced toward him, Arroyo stabbed him 'in the upper chest.' Arroyo said that Lorenzo was hitting the other man (Greene) when the man pulled out a knife and stabbed him. Arroyo said Lorenzo then fired several shots. Arroyo said they drove off and that he threw the knife out the window. The two statements were not recorded, but not long after, Arroyo repeated the statement on video. In the video, Arroyo demonstrated with his left hand how he stabbed Muronyi, and placed his right hand on his own upper chest to show the location of the stabbing. He said he 'felt like shit' and that he did not want any of the property so he threw the chain and Muronyi's wallet and watch on the street.

"Police asked Greene to view two lineups, one containing Lorenzo and the other containing Arroyo. In the first, he identified Lorenzo as the man who attacked him and the man he stabbed. In the second, he was unable to identify Arroyo as being involved.

"Officer Monteverde also viewed two lineups. He identified Arroyo and Lorenzo as the men he saw leave the Pontiac and go into the apartment building. He said Lorenzo was the man who was bleeding and later left the building.

"About 5:52 p.m., detectives re-interviewed Greene, who now said there were only two men* involved, and that the smaller of the two went after Muronyi while the larger man attacked him. Lorenzo was a dark-skinned Hispanic, 5 feet 10 inches tall and weighed 270 pounds. Arroyo was a light-skinned Hispanic, six feet tall, and weighed 200 pounds."

[* Recall that, in Greene's first interview, just a few hours after the incident, he said that three men got out of the car -- all of whom were black.]

"The following day, an autopsy was conducted on Muronyi. The medical examiner determined that Muronyi had not been stabbed. In fact, he had been shot in the back. The exit wound on his chest was a slit -- which apparently had prompted the emergency room physician to say he had been stabbed.

"The Kings County [DA's] Office proceeded with the case even though Arroyo's confession -- a detailed account of how he stabbed Muronyi to death -- was contradicted by the autopsy.

"In November 2002, Arroyo went on trial...The prosecutor told the jury that Arroyo's statement about stabbing Muronyi was an attempt to minimize his involvement -- that he acted in self-defense -- and that in fact he had shot Muronyi.

"Greene testified and now said that he only saw two men get out of the car and neither was black. He identified Lorenzo as the man he stabbed after being pistol-whipped. Greene could not identify Arroyo as the second man. Arroyo's...lawyer attempted to undercut his testimony by questioning him about a prior conviction for hindering a prosecution. Greene claimed he had been forced to drive a friend who was wanted by authorities out of an upstate New York county to avoid arrest.

"Officer Monteverde testified and said for the first time that he saw Arroyo through an open window of the Pontiac as it drove past him. He also now testified that only two, not three, men got out of the car in front of Arroyo's apartment building.

"Detective Robert Keating testified that Arroyo volunteered that he wanted to change his statement. According to Keating, Arroyo said he 'left some things out' and had not told 'the entire story.' Keating denied that he fed any information -- specifically that Muronyi had been stabbed -- to Arroyo. Although Keating said he told Arroyo that one person had been shot and one person had been stabbed, he testified that he did not say that Muronyi had been stabbed."

[Conviction ensues, and then, unsuccessful appeals.]

"On February 23, 2019, [DA] Eric Gonzalez issued a 43-page report of the CRU [Conviction Review Unit] investigation and filed a motion to vacate Arroyo's convictions. Justice Matthew D'Emre granted the motion and the charges were dismissed."

"The report...said that the prosecution had failed to disclose detective notes about Greene's identification of James Ortiz as the attacker of Muronyi. The notes also said that when Ortiz was stopped with a bloody hand, he was with two others."

"In addition, detective notes reporting that Officer Monteverde initally said that three men got out of the car when it stopped in front of Arroyo's apartment building were not disclosed...Because of a belated disclosure to the prosecution and the defense of Greene's past conviction for hindering a prosecution, the defense remained unaware that he falsely testified at trial about the underlying facts of that conviction.

"At Arroyo's trial, Greene testified that he drove his friend who was wanted by the police out of town to Owego, New York. Greene claimed that the friend had held Greene hostage for seventeen hours, that he was armed with a knife, and that he had placed bombs in Greene's home that he threatened to detonate if Greene called police. Greene said he agreed to drive his friend out of town 100 miles to evade the police and then turned himself in to police.

"The CRU investigation revealed that 'Greene was not an unwilling victim forced to drive his friend out of town to Owego. Numerous witnesses confirmed that Greene devised and executed an intricate plan to help his friend escape and that Greene was not under duress.'

"The report also said that Arroyo's trial...attorney was never given detective notes concerning Officer Monteverde's description of the passenger in the Pontiac, which did not match Arroyo."

"Arroyo subsequently filed a claim seeking compensation in the New York Court of Claims as well as a lawsuit in Kings County...The lawsuit was settled in 2021 and Arroyo received $5.35 million. The compensation claim was dismissed in April 2022."

[All emphases added unless otherwise noted.]