Jabbar Collins - False Accusation / Police Misconduct

Collins, Jabbar; murder, robbery; NRE: perjury/false accusation, prosecutor misconduct, police officer misconduct, withheld exculpatory evidence, misconduct that is not withholding evidence, knowingly permitting perjury, witness tampering or misconduct interrogating co-defendant, prosecutor lied in court

[688:175]; 2nd Dept. 3/29/99; affirmed

"[W]e are satisfied that the verdict of guilt was not against the weight of the evidence..."

[847:904]; Kings Cty. Ct. 9/5/07; motion to vacate denied

"The evidence at trial showed that at approximately twelve o-clock noon on Sunday, February 6, 1994, Rabbi Abraham Pollack was collecting rents from his tenants at 126 Graham Avenue...Paul Avery was present inside the building. Avery was a previously homeless man whom Rabbi Pollack permitted to reside in the basement of 126 Graham Avenue in exchange for assisting the building superintendent, Israel Rosado. Rosado was also present inside 126 Graham Avenue at the time of the crime, and observed [Collins] immediately before the robbery in the vestibule of the building.

"[Collins allegedly] waited for Rabbi Pollack and then accosted him at gunpoint. He shot the Rabbi six times at close range in the abdomen, back and thigh, killing him. Avery, attempting to aid the Rabbi, threw himself at [the assailant], resulting in Avery being shot in the hip and chest, causing serious physical injury. [The assailant] then fled with cash and money orders pilfered from Rabbi Pollack.

"Rosado...was in his apartment [at the time of the incident, and] saw the robber try to put the gun in his waistband.

"[Angel] Santos went to a furniture store to call 911* and observed [the assailant] running down the street. (All witnesses described [the assailant] as wearing similar clothing.)"

[* As we shall see below, that was false. ]

"Adrian Diaz was in a store, heard five gunshots, observed [the assailant] exit 126 Graham Avenue and place a pistol in the back of his waistband.

"Ten days after the murder-robbery, Diaz saw [Collins] in the street and immediately called police. Although Diaz initially thought that a cash reward existed in the case, he nevertheless fully cooperated with the police and [DA]. Diaz's statements to the police, [DA], and his testimony before the Grand Jury and at trial remained wholly consistent.

"Both Santos and Diaz identified [Collins] in separate photo arrays and lineups. Diaz and Santos both made in-court identifications of [Collins] at trial, as did Edwin Oliva...(Oliva witnessed [Collins] planning the robbery. It was also established...that Oliva knew [Collins] for eight years...)...[Collins'] trial counsel cross-examined Oliva as to his heroin use, specifically, as to the time he overheard [Collins] describe his plan to rob Rabbi Pollack.

"Although the defense cited alibi notice -- citing [Collins'] mother and apparently the mother of [Collins'] child as potential witnesses -- [Collins] elected not to call any witness[es] on his behalf; however, the record reveals that those witnesses cited in [Collins'] alibi notice, and other family members, were present in the courtroom throughout trial.

"The defense initially rested without calling any witnesses; however, the trial court permitted [Collins] to reopen his case and [he] elected to testify. [He] testified that he resides near the crime scene, and that he was at home at the time of the crime, cutting hair with family and friends. Further, [he] admitted to knowing...the eyewitnesses, but that they were mistaken.

"In his affidavit that was...filed with [Collins'] [current] motion, Oliva recants his trial testimony and asserts that:

1. he was on a 'long drug binge' when he was arrested in a[n unrelated] robbery on March 1, 1994,

2. detectives questioned him regarding Rabbi Pollack's murder and that they coerced him into signing a statement without reading it;

3. after his plea of guilty to the unrelated robbery and while he was incarcerated, he told prosecutors that he was 'tricked' into signing the statement and that he refused to testify;

4. prosecutors threatened him with a conspiracy to murder charge if he did not cooperate, and he was suspended from a work-release program;

5. ADA Charles Posner appeared at Oliva's prison and told him that 'he had warned [him]...'"

2012 WL 3011028; E.D.N.Y. 7/23/12; civil suit

"On June 8, 2010...[U.S. District Judge Irizarry], with the consent of all parties, vacated [Collins'] 1995 murder conviction and ordered the indictment dismissed with prejudice [i.e., Collins could not be re-indicted and re-tried, etc.], based on evidence that prosecutors in the Brooklyn [DA's] Office had wrongfully withheld a key witness's recantation ...The recanting witness was Edwin Oliva..."

"It is undisputed that approximately two months prior to Collins's criminal trial...Vincent Gerecitano, an N.Y.P.D. detective, received a telephone call from someone in the Brooklyn [DA's] office advising that Oliva was denying making the March 1994 statement to police and was denying the truth of the statement...Because Oliva's pre-trial statement constitutes Brady material that had not been disclosed to Collins, the City consented to granting the writ of habeas corpus before Judge Irizarry."

from Records and Briefs:

[3] "[P]rosecutors in [the Brooklyn DA's Office] had wrongfully withheld a key witness's recantation, had knowingly coerced and relied on false testimony and argument at trial, had knowingly suppressed exculpatory and impeachment evidence, and had acted affirmatively to cover up such misconduct for 15 years. Judge Irizarry termed the prosecutors' misconduct 'shameful' and [Collins'] wrongful incarceration a 'tragedy.'"

"[B]oth the NYPD and [Brooklyn DA's office], as a matter of policy, secretly coerced witnesses to give false or unreliable testimony through their use of subpoenas, material witness orders, and their powers of arrest and interrogation, unlawfully concealed exculpatory or impeachment evidence known as 'Brady' material, and lied to or misled courts, defense attorneys, and criminal defendants in order to cover up their unlawful behavior. In the rare case where such misconduct was exposed, these agencies took no disciplinary action against the offending employees, but instead praised and promoted them, thereby encouraging future violations to occur, including those directed against [Collins]."

"The principal defendant [in this civil lawsuit brought by Collins]...who caused [his] unconstitutional conviction and orchestrated the subsequent, 15-year coverup of the Office's misconduct, is the present chief of the Rackets Division [of the Brooklyn DA's office], Michael F. Vecchione. Despite his lofty positions as Chief of the Homicide Bureau and then of the Rackets Division, which puts him in charge of prosecuting official corruption, fraud, organized crime, major narcotics, and other important cases, Vecchione engaged in a series of fraudulent, deceptive, and literally criminal acts...in order to convict Jabbar Collins and make the conviction last."

"[After Collins' attorneys], in 2006, fully documented Vecchione's misconduct in [Collins'] case, [Charles J.] Hynes [the Brooklyn DA] promoted Vecchione to Chief of the Rackets Division and presented Vecchione with the New York City Bar Association's Thomas E. Dewey Award as outstanding prosecutor, proclaiming that he 'exemplifies the qualities that serve as an example to all of our prosecutors.'"

923 F.Supp.2d; E.D.N.Y. 2/15/13; civil case

"Shortly before noon on February 6, 1994, Abraham Pollack of Williamsburg was shot and killed during a robbery. Witnesses described the perpetrator as a young black man suffering a stab wound inflicted by a bystander who had come to Pollack's aid.

"Police [ claim they] recevied an anonymous phone call blaming Collins for the crime. Notwithstanding alibis from his mother and girlfriend, police sought Collins for questioning.

"These two officers found no evidence of a knife wound on Collins's body. Moreover, Collins was presented to four eyewitnesses in lineups; none recognized him."

from NRE synopsis (by Stephanie Denzel)

"The prosecutor denied that any of the witnesses had been offered anything for their testimony."*

[* As we shall see below, that was a lie. ]

"After his conviction, Collins trained himself in legal proceedings, and filed record requests and appeals on his own behalf. Eventually, he uncovered a systematic pattern of police and prosecutorial misconduct. In 2003, posing as a [DA's] investigator who was trying to reconstruct lost information about the case, he called [Adrian] Diaz from prison and Diaz told him that before Collins's trial he had violated his parole by going to Puerto Rico and could have been sent back to prison, but the [DA] promised to make sure that would not happen if he testified against Collins.

"In 2005, Collins contacted [Edwin] Oliva, who admitted that he only signed a statement implicating Collins in the murder after he himself was arrested for an unrelated robbery several weeks after the murder. Oliva said that he was threatened by detectives and that when he balked, his work-release status was revoked until he agreed to testify.* Collins also found that Oliva was allowed to plead to a lesser charge in the robbery case in exchange for his testimony against Collins.

[* In other words, Oliva was sent back to prison until he agreed to testify.]

"In addition, Collins obtained the 911 tape for the incident and discovered that [Angel] Santos had not called 911 as he testified at trial. Oliva later testified that at the time of the murder, he was using drugs 'every day. Twenty-four hours.' He said that as the murder trial neared a year later, he told the prosecutor he did not want to testify, but that the prosecutor threatened him with prosecution, then locked him up for a week as a material witness. When he agreed to testify, he said, he was taken from jail to a hotel and the prosecutor later claimed Santos was in protective custody.

"After failing to obtain relief in state court, Collins filed a petiton for habeas corpus in federal court, and asked for an order prohibiting retrial because of the extensive governmental misconduct. After a one-day evidentiary hearing, the [Brooklyn DA's] Office decided not to oppose that outcome, saying that the prosecution witnesses were too compromised to retry the case.

"In June 2010, a [U.S.] District Court Judge vacated Collins's murder conviction and dismissed the charges against him with prejudice. Collins, who went to work as a paralegal, filed a federal civil rights lawsuit in 2011 seeking compensation for his wrongful conviction.

"In July 2014, Collins settled the lawsuit against the State of New York for $3 million. In August 2014, Collins settled with the City of New York for $10 million."

[All emphases added unless otherwise noted.]