Devon Ayers, et al. - Perjury / Police Misconduct

Ayers, Devon AND Cosme, Michael AND Glisson, Eric AND Perez, Carlos AND Vasquez, Israel (not on NRE list) AND Watkins, Cathy; murder; NRE: perjury/false accusation, police officer misconduct, withheld exculpatory evidence, witness tampering or misconduct interrogating co-defendant

Suggestibility issues

[Ayers] [715:634]; 1st Dept. 10/24/00; "The verdict...was based on legally sufficient evidence and was not against the weight of the evidence...[T]he credible testimony clearly established [Ayers'] participation in the planning and execution of each of the two murders..."

[Other than Michael Cosme's supposed involvement in both, the two murders were essentially unrelated.]

[Perez] 2002 WL 31132872; S.D.N.Y. 9/25/02; writ denied

"[Perez's] conviction arose out of incidents resulting in the deaths of Denise Raymond, a Federal Express executive, and Baithe Diop, a cab driver. According to the evidence, on January 17, 1995, [Perez] and co-defendants...forced their way into Ms. Raymond's apartment. After tying her up, blindfolding and gagging her, they forced her to divulge the personal identification number of her bank account. They then shot her twice in the head, and shortly thereafter depleted her bank account. The prosecution also presented eyewitness testimony that on the following night...[Perez] directed the murder of Mr. Diop.

"At trial, [Perez's] guilt was established primarily through the testimony of Catherine Gomez and Miriam Tavares, both of whom knew [Perez] prior to the murders, and both recounted specific conversations about the murders. Ms. Gomez testified that [Perez] was present at a meeting during which some of the co-defendants discussed a crime involving a woman and a cab driver...and Ms. Tavares testified that [Perez] described Ms. Raymond's murder to her...Both witnesses' testimony was corroborated by other evidence...Ms. Gomez's descriptions of the admissions made by [Perez] and co-defendants were corroborated with physical evidence at the scene, while Ms. Tavares's testimony that [Perez] ordered Mr. Diop's death with a throat-slitting gesture...and her description of the homicide generally, were consistent with ballistic and forensic evidence as well as uncontested witness testimony. Although at times the testimony of Ms. Tavares and Ms. Gomez was internally contradictory, I cannot revisit the jury's determination on questions of credibility."

[Glisson] 287 F.Supp.2d 414, S.D.N.Y. 10/15/03; writ denied

"The evidence presented at Glisson's trial...convinced the jury that around 4:00 a.m. on January 19, 1995, Glisson was involved in the robbery of Baithe Diop...a driver for the New Harlem Cab Company, and fired the fatal shot that killed Diop. Glisson's principal defense witness was Jose Rojas Torentino, an inmate at Sing Sing Correctional Facility who testified that he had robbed and killed Diop with four other individuals, and that Glisson had not been involved.

"During the trial, Detective Michael Donnelly ...testified that, while being questioned during in a[n] interrogation room in the 43rd Precinct, co-defendant Michael Cosme...told the police: 'Yeah, right, I did that motherfucker.'...Donnelly also testified that immediately following that statement, Glisson, who was being detained in a nearby holding cell, shouted: 'Yo, Mike, shut up, they ain't got shit.'"

[from accompanying magistrate's report:] "The [prosecution's] proof at trial established that on the morning of January 19, 1995, at approximately 3:50 a.m., co-defendant Cathy Watkins telephoned the New Harlem Car Service to request a livery car...On prior occasions, Watkins had used the alias 'Yvette' and had asked to be picked up at 30 West 141st Street in upper Manhattan...That night, Watkins requested that a car pick her up at her usual location and take her to Rosedale and Randall Avenues in the Bronx...The dispather instructed Car Number 92, driven by Baithe Diop, to respond and told 'Yvette' to wait outside for the car.

"At 4:30 a.m., while feeding her infant granddaughter in the living room, Johnetta Lyons observed a white car moving very slowly across Cross Avenue in the direction of Lafayette Avenue...Lyons testified that she saw and heard a 'bump,' followed by the voice of a man pleading 'Please, don't shoot me,' and then another 'bump.'...After the second 'bump,' she saw somebody running from the car...At first, Lyons characterized both bumps as gunshots; she later indicated, however, that the first bump might have been the sound of a car crash.

"At approximately the same time, while Miriam Tavares was smoking a cigarette outside her house, she saw a white taxi cab on Lafayette Avenue...About five minutes later, as she was returning inside, Tavares observed the car on Cross Avenue...From her bathroom window, Tavares saw four people leaving the car: three men known to her as 'Skloo,' Michael 'Mike' Cosme, and 'Kojak,' and a woman whom she later identified as Watkins...As he was exiting the car, Skloo whistled to Glisson, who ran over from a nearby park...After Glisson entered the front passenger side of the car, Tavares heard Kojak say 'hurry' and 'kill him'...She then saw Cosme [???] fire a shot in a downward direction at the driver, followed by the flash from his gun...Tavares heard the victim screaming and, shortly thereafter, saw Glisson fire a second shot at the driver...Glisson, who had been struggling with something in the car, then ran away with the others...As they fled the scene, Tavares noticed Cosme carrying a gray object, and Glisson carrying what she thought was a car radio."

[Vasquez (not on NRE list)] 841:261; 1st Dept. 8/23/07; reversed, due to insufficient evidence

"There was no evidence at trial to connect [Vasquez] to the so-called conspiracy to commit the alleged contract killing of Denise Raymond or the supposedly related and similarly planned murder of Baithe Diop two days later, other than the circumstance that both murders were committed in his neighborhood; that he hung out with his co-defendants in a neighborhood park where everyone was talking about the recent murder in the neighborhood; that he may or may not have talked about 'drinking juice and having a sandwich' at or about the same time that two of his co-defendants...made inculpatory statements; and that he visited his cousin in the police precinct after the latter's arrest."

[The 'sandwich' reference is reminiscent of the old saw: 'Not only do grand juries indict ham sandwiches'; juries (and judges) also convict them.]

[Vasquez] 2014 WL 4388497; S.D.N.Y. 9/5/14; civil suit

"In 2012, five years after [Vasquez] was released, an investigator in the [U.S.] Attorney's Office [S.D.N.Y.], John O'Malley, received a letter from Glisson -- who had been convicted of Diop's murder -- describing the circumstances and asserting his innocence...O'Malley 'immediately recognized' Glisson's description of the murder as 'matching' a robbery and shooting to which two gang members and former cooperating witnesses, Gilbert Vega and Jose Rodriguez, 'had confessed' in 2003 ...O'Malley then led an independent investigation into the murder. O'Malley confirmed that the details of Vega and Rodriguez's confession matched the details of the Diop murder. According to O'Malley, the investigation also established that [Catherine] Gomez and [Miriam] Tavares had lied to the grand jury and that Vega and Rodriguez acted alone in the Diop murder...[Vasquez's] co-defendants, that is, the other five defendants who had been convicted at the first two trials [the third and last, of Charles McKinnon, resulted in an acquittal] -- were eventually released and their convictions vacated.

"Gomez... has recanted much if not all of her testimony. Specifically, in desposition testimony taken last year...Gomez testified that she met repeatedly with [Detectives Michael Donnelly and Thomas Aiello] before she gave her testimony; that they coerced her into giving false testimony by threatening to jail her, arrest her family, and deport her parents; and that they fed her (and Tavares, with whom they met together) non-public details about the crimes to make her testimony seem more believable ...Among other things, Gomez now claims that 'most of' her testimony came from the police, and that Donnelly showed her pictures and told her 'how [Raymond] got killed and all that.'...In fact, Gomez stated in her desposition that she did not even know that the Raymond murder occurred until [Donnelly and Aiello] told her about it.

"[Vasquez] inpeaches the testimony of Tavares, who implicated [Vasquez] in the Diop murder (of which he was acquitted at trial[; however, he was convicted of the Raymond Donnelly and Aiello ] and Gomez (who served as a translator for Tavares), during which [Donnelly and Aiello] allegedly fed both women information about the Diop murder, Tavares's testimony changed to implicate [Vasquez] and to include many more details...According to Gomez, for example, when Tavares's narrative departed from the crime scene evidence, Donnelly told her that '[Diop] didn't [get] killed like that.'...After repeated meetings with Donnelly, Tavares also identified [Cathy] Watkins in a line-up, even though she had never seen her before...[Tavares] contends that the Diop homicide did not even take place within view of Tavares's window, from which she testified she had witnessed the incident."

"Finally, [Vasquez] contends that testimony given by [Kim] Alexander [who had been (murder victim) Raymond's co-worker] at his criminal trial was false and that [Donnelly and Aiello] suppressed evidence that would have shown as much...[T]he prosecution's theory at trial was that the Raymond murder was a contract killing carried out at the direction of McKinnon. Central to that theory was Alexander's testimony that she witnessed McKinnon harassing Raymond as she left her office on the evening that Raymond was murdered...According to [Vasquez], however, McKinnon was not even there that evening and [Donnelly and Aiello] knew it: Although Alexander testified that she, Raymond and McKinnon entered an elevator together, a security videotape -- retrieved and viewed by Aiello -- showed that Alexander and Raymond actually left alone...Rather than disclose that information, Aiello claimed falsely that the videotape showed nothing of value to the investigation (specifically, that it did not show the 'victim or perp'); failed to voucher the videotape; and led the prosecutors to believe -- and represent to the court at [Vasquez's] trial -- that the videotape contained no relevant information."

[Glisson]; 1st Dept. 4/15/99

"The verdict was based on legally sufficient evidence and was not against the weight of the evidence."

from NRE synopsis (by Maurice Possley):

"Glisson and Watkins were released from prison on bond in October 2012. On December 13, 2012, the charges against Glisson and Watkins were dismissed.

"The charges against Ayers, Cosme and Perez for the Diop murder were dismissed on December 12, 2012, but they remained in prison for the Raymond murder.

"Meanwhile, Vasquez had filed a civil rights lawsuit against the City of New York and the [NYPD] in 2010. As the case progressed, lawyers for the city and police department turned over the security video from the McKinnon prosecution, which was then shown for the first time to lawyers for Ayers, Cosme, and Perez. They then filed a motion to set aside the convictions, arguing that the security video should have been disclosed to their attorneys at their trial. The motion also contended that because they had been tried and convicted simultaneously for the Raymond murder and the Diop murder, the jury in the Raymond case may have been influenced by the charges and evidence that they killed Diop, which had been revealed to be false.

 

"On January 23, 2013, the Bronx [DA's] office agreed that the motion should be granted. The convictions were vacated and Ayers, Cosme and Perez were released from prison. On September 20, 2013, the prosecution dismissed the charges.

"Federal civil rights lawsuits were filed in 2014 on behalf of Ayers, Glisson, Perez, Watkins, and Cosme. The lawsuits were settled for $8 million each in April 2016. Ayers, Watkins, Perez and Glisson subsequently filed claims for compensation in the New York Court of Claims. Each received $3,890,000 in settlements."

[All emphases added unless otherwise noted.]

 

Perversion of Justice

Is deliberately finding someone guilty of things he did not do ever justified? If we convict people for acts of child sexual abuse that never happened, does that somehow 'make up' for all the past abuse that went completely unpunished? Is it okay to pervert justice in order to punish people wrongly perceived as perverts?

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