Derrick Deacon - Perjury / False Accusation

Deacon, Derrick; murder; NRE: perjury/false accusation, prosecutor misconduct, police officer misconduct, withheld exculpatory evidence, misconduct that is not withholding evidence, witness tampering or misconduct interrogating co-defendant,

[946:613] 2nd Dept. 6/20/12; Cty. Ct. motion to vacate (not in Westlaw) affirmed, due to actual innocence

"On April 1, 1989, Anthony Wynn was robbed and shot dead in the hallway of a Flatbush apartment building...At trial, Colleen Campbell, a witness who had seen the fleeing assailant, testified pursuant to a subpoena served by the defense. During the police investigation, Campbell had described the assailant as approximately 19 years old and approximately 5'7" tall. [Deacon] is six feet tall, and, at the time of this incident, was 34 years old. At trial, Campbell testified that while she knew [Deacon] for '[a]bout three years or more,' she could not tell whether [he] was the person she saw fleeing. Campbell testified that she had 'barely glimpsed the person, [and] didn't look' because 'she was scared."

"In 2008, [Deacon] moved to vacate the judgment...based on actual innocence. In support of the motion, [Deacon] submitted affidavits from Trevor Brown and Colleen Campbell.

"According to his affidavit, in 2001, Brown became a 'key cooperating witness' in a federal investigation of the activities of the 'Patio Crew,' a 'violent Jamaican gang that controlled' the Flatbush neighborhood where the homicide occurred, and had testified against Emile Dixon, the 'leader' of the Patio Crew. Defense counsel asserted that, in the course of an investigation of Dixon and other Patio Crew members...'Brown [had] told federal authorities...that another member of the Patio Crew, Paul Gary Watson, a.k.a. 'Pablo,' committed the murder of Anthony Wynn for which [Deacon] was wrongfully convicted.' According to [Deacon's] counsel, Brown 'state[d] that he was present when Watson planned to rob Wynn and that Watson returned to Brown's apartment immediately after the murder where Watson confessed to Brown that he killed Wynn...in the course of the planned robbery.' [Deacon's] counsel argued that 'Watson, unlike [Deacon], matches the description provided to the police on the day of the murder by Colleen Campbell...who saw the assailant run past her moments after the occurrence.'

"Campbell stated in her affidavit that [Deacon] was not the fleeing assailant whom she had seen. Campbell also stated that she had been afraid to testify as an eyewitness at the trial, due to her fear of the 'real' perpetrator.

"The [Kings County]...Court [then] conducted a full evidentiary hearing on the motion for a new trial...Campbell...testified that she had initially told the police that the perpetrator was not [Deacon], but that she had been pressured by police or prosecutors to provide 'vague' testimony at trial. Campbell testified that the police and/or prosecutors had threatened to 'take away' her children if she did not cooperate with them.

"During the hearing, [Deacon] moved to amend his motion to include the affidavit or testimony of Dexter Bailey. Bailey submitted an affidavit in which he stated that J.T. Dixon had confessed to having taken part in the robbery and murder of Wynn along with Watson. Bailey, another gang member who had also cooperated with the federal investigation of the Patio Crew, had not previously divulged this information to the prosecution."

from Records and Briefs:

[3] "The proof at Mr. Deacon's trial was thin and centered on the inconsistent testimony of a single purported eyewitness. The prosecution offered no confession, no false exculpatory statement, no accomplice testimony, no fingerprint evidence, and no DNA evidence. No witness or surveillance evidence placed Mr. Deacon at or near the scene of the shooting, and the [prosecution] offered no evidence regarding a motive for the murder."

[6] "Six days after the shooting, in response to an offer of a reward... Abdullah Pickering, called Crimestoppers claiming for the first time (despite considerable police activity in the building on the day of, and the days after, the shooting) to have witnessed the shooting, and [7] identifying Mr. Deacon as the perpetrator."

"The prosecution's case against Mr. Deacon consisted almost exclusively of Mr. Pickering's testimony...In convoluted and often inconsistent testimony, Pickering claimed he heard banging on the door of Apartment 3C of 105 Lincoln Road, heard Mr. Deacon come out of that apartment, and overheard a loud argument between Mr. Deacon and Wynn...Pickering further testified that he saw Mr. Deacon pointing a gun at the victim and snatch a chain from the victim's neck...Incredibly, Pickering testified that he passed directly between Mr. Deacon and Mr. Wynn while Mr. Deacon purportedly had a gun drawn on Wynn, and that he heard a gunshot as he descended to the second floor."

from NRE synopsis (by Maurice Possley):

"In December 1989, a jury convicted Deacon... Pickering later collected a $1,000 Crime Stoppers reward."

"None of the law enforcement officials at [the meeting with Trevor Brown -- see above] notified Deacon of Brown's statement. Instead, three years later, another member of the Patio Crew, Emile Dixon, who had been convicted of federal charges, found a copy of Brown's statement in his file. Dixon sent the statement to a relative and asked that the statement be sent to Deacon."*

[* Once again, we see that, whereas 'law enforcement' sat on their hands, it took a convicted criminal to do the right thing.]

[Following the above (June 2012) Appellate Division reversal:] "Deacon went to trial a second time in November 2013...On November 18, 2013, the jury deliberated nine minutes before acquitting Deacon. In April 2014, Deacon filed a lawsuit against the city of New York seeking $25 million for his wrongful imprisonment. The lawsuit was settled in 2016 for $6 million. Separately, Deacon received $3.95 million in compensation from the New York Court of Claims in 2015."

[All emphases added unless otherwise noted.]