Carlos Davis - Perjury / False Accusation
Davis, Carlos; weapon possession/sale; NRE: perjury/false accusation
[624:896]; 2nd Dept. 3/13/95; affirmed
"[W]e are satisfied that the verdict of guilt was not against the weight of the evidence..."
from NRE synopsis (by Maurice Possley):
"Shortly after midnight on September 17, 1988, a shooting erupted near the corner of Cozine Avenue and Hendrix Street in East New York. Nineteen-year-old Norris Williams, the stepson of a New York police officer, was fatally shot in the chest.
"About five hours later, New York police detective Louis Scarcella and his partner, acting on witness accounts, arrested 18-year-old Carlos Davis at his home several blocks away.
"Davis was charged with second degree murder and criminal possession of a firearm. He went on trial in Kings County...in March 1991. The sole witness to link him to the shooting of Williams was Christina Smith,* who had emerged at the last minute."
[* As we shall see below, this was a pseudonym.]
"Williams' brother brought her to the prosecutors after other prosecution witnesses had failed to appear or had invoked their Fifth Amendment right against self-incrimination and refused to testify. Smith said she was near the area of the shooting talking on a pay phone when the shots were fired. She identified Davis as the person who shot Williams.
"The defense called an investigator who testified that the distance from where Smith said she was standing to where Williams was shot measured 825 feet* -- which made it extremely unlikely she could identify the gunman."
[* To say the least. That's nearly the length of three football fields. Without a telescope or at least binoculars, it's impossible for anyone to identify someone else from that distance. It would seem that she was prodded to testify to this by Williams' (undoubtedly grief-stricken) brother, and/or Scarcella. ]
"Another witness testified that he was on the street at the time of the shooting and that Davis did not have a gun and did not fire any shots.
"On March 5, 1991, the jury acquitted Davis of the murder charge, but convicted him of criminal possession of a weapon."*
[* It appears that the jury issued something of a 'compromise' verdict. They likely had doubts as to whether Davis was the shooter, but felt he was probably involved 'somehow.' But this was likely what's known as a 'repugnant' (or inconsistent) verdict, in that, if he was not guilty of the murder, then there was no way he could be guilty of the gun possession charge -- given that there was only one gun at issue here.] "In 2014, newly elected Brooklyn [DA] Kenneth Thompson's Conviction Review Unit began investigating about 70 convictions in which Scarcella had been involved."
"Investigators...tracked down Smith after they determined that she was actually named Kristie Hayes and that she had testified using a false name, false age and false address, as well as other false details."
"When interviewed... Hayes insisted that Davis was the gunman, but she gave an extremely inaccurate description of the gunman. In addition, Hayes's account of how she came to be a witness at the last minute was not credible.
"The Conviction Review Unit contacted Davis and informed him that...they no longer could support the conviction. On April 2, 2015, Davis's lawyer, Francis Murray, asked...Justice Mathew D'Emic to vacate Davis's conviction. The judge granted that motion and then granted the prosecution motion to dismiss the charge.
"In July 2016, a federal civil rights lawsuit was filed on behalf of Davis against the City of New York. The lawsuit was settled for $750,000."
[Al emphases added unless otherwise indicated.]
