Erick Jackson (AKA Erick Knight) - False Confession

Jackson, Erick (aka Eric Knight) ; murder; NRE: false confession, perjury/false accusation, no crime, false/misleading forensic evidence, inadequate legal defense, prosecutor misconduct, police officer misconduct, forensic analyst misconduct, withheld exculpatory evidence, misconduct that is not withholding evidence, knowingly permitting perjury, perjury by official

Suggestibility issues

[491:138]; Court of Appeals 6/11/85; affirmed

"On August 2, 1978, six firemen died in the performance of their duties as the result of the collapse of the roof of a Waldbaum's Supermarket in Brooklyn. In March 1979, Harold Harmon, the detective investigating the fire, received information from Julio Cruz that [Jackson] had discussed the Waldbaum's fire with him in October 1978, when [Jackson] and Cruz were incarcerated at Rikers Island, and had admitted that he did it and had been paid for it.

"Three statements were taken from [Jackson]...In them [he] discussed the Waldbaum's fire and admitted having gone to the roof of the store before daybreak with two other persons, none of whom were inside the store, punched holes in the roof, stuffed paper in the holes, poured 'lighter fluid' in the holes and ignited them."

"The supervising fire marshal [who had worked at the scene of the fire for 2-3 weeks sifting through the evidence] testified tbat the fire had been started with an accelerant at four different points within the store, one on a temporary truss in the rear of the men's room, the other three at points beneath the stairs leading to the mezzanine. He conceded that there was such a thing as a drop fire, but testified that in his opinion the Waldbaum's fire was not a drop fire, but, rather, had burned upward from the points of origin."

"An arson detective... who had visited the scene for only 10 minutes, testified from examination of the file and numerous photographs of it. He concluded from photographs of the mezzanine and the cockloft (the area above the ceiling and below the roof) that the fire was a drop fire which burned through the flooring of the cockloft, and from the photographs of the area beneath the mezzanine stairs, that the fire had not originated there."

"[Jackson]...moved to set aside the verdict for insufficiency of the evidence...and on the ground of newly discovered evidence that Cruz, who was 17 at the time of [Knight's] alleged statement to him, could not, Under Correction Law [], have been lodged in the same Rikers Island building as was [Knight], or eaten together in the same facility with [Knight], who was then over 21. The Trial judge denied the motion..."

[556:165]; 2nd Dept. 6/4/90; Cty. Ct. grant of motion to vacate conviction (not in Westlaw) affirmed, due to Brady violation

"Appeal from the [prosecution] from order of [Kings Cty. Ct.], dated November 7, 1988, which granted [Jackson's] motion...to vacate [his convictions]..."

"[A] memorandum concerning the case, which had been prepared by an [ADA], had not been disclosed...[I]t contained a synopsis of a statement made to that [ADA] by a fire marshal who testified as an expert for the [prosecution]..."

[578:483]; Court of Appeals 12/19/91; convictions reinstated, for failure to show that denial of Brady material prejudiced is defense; but, 4-3 decision

[from dissent, written by J. Titone, concurred in by Alexander and Hancock:] "After reading the majority's opinion, one is left with the impression that rules of law are merely policy preferences to be invoked, modified or simply ignored when their consequences are...inconvenient or undesirable."

"[T]he present majority's rationale is nothing more than an exercise in result-directed statutory construction that simply does not withstand scrutiny."

[All of the foregoing could very well be said of the appellate decision in Nickel's case. (See State Appeal .)]

[593:410]; Kings Cty. Ct. 6/12/92; motion to vacate re-granted

"Detective Dugan testified [at trial] that the fire commenced on the cock-loft above the men's room.

"The [present] Court finds the testimony of former Detective Dugan totally credible, and the testimony of the former [ADA -- Michael Gary ] who conducted the first stages of the investigation, and a present [ADA], evasive and disingenuous.* All other witnesses were candid and honest."

[* In other words, the former were lying. ]

"Throughout this investigation, Detective Dugan was of the expert opinion that the fire had been caused by an electrical short in the cock-loft..."

"In order to establish the basis for his opinion, Detectice Dugan conducted various experiments which had been videotaped, as well as requesting documentation regarding the electrical make-up of the store and the construction site. Defense counsel was never informed that the fire was not even arson but electrical."

[The police also tried to hide exculpatory evidence in Nickel's case. (See buried evidence .)]

"Detective Dugan was of the opinion that the three fires underneath the stairway were set after the fire had been extinguished...It was Dugan's opinion that the fire beneath the stairway had been set by the Fire Department in order to benefit the families of the deceased fire personnel."

"Detective Dugan told various prosecutors of his opinion that the fire was not even arson but accidental, and that he believed that the Fire Department had set the fires underneath the stairway."

"The prosecutor did not disclose a memorandum dated August 14, 1990 from ADA Besunder to ADA Lasky, and the information was unknown to the defense. The memorandum contains the following:

'A construction worker on the roof prior to the discovery of the fire saw no flames and saw no smoke and saw no holes in the roof. (Contra to Jackson's statement).'

"The memorandum also contains the following:

'All of the experts stated that the fire could not have laid dormant from the time set until the time it was discovered and that smoke and/or flame would have been discovered or observed through holes (Contra to Jackson's statement).'"

[In other words, the police -- the true and sole author of Jackson's supposed confession -- failed to get their facts straight before coercing Jackson into signing it.]

NRE synopsis (by Stephanie Denzel):

"Based on a tip, police arrested 31-year-old Eric Jackson-Knight."

"The judge [who vacated Jackson-Knight's conviction]...found that prosecutors withheld a statement by a police detective saying that he believed the fire department had planted evidence of arson, and a memo showing that the fire marshal had given false testimony at trial about some aspects of the investigation. Another memo showing that the inmate who testified against Jackson-Knight gave inconsistent statements to the police...was also not disclosed to the defense."

"Jackson-Knight...was finally retried in August 1994...[T]he jury acquitted Jackson-Knight of all charges.

"Jackson-Knight later filed a request for compensation from the New York Court of Claims, but the claim was denied."