Tameeka Baker - False Accusation
Baker, Tameeka ; drug possession or sale; NRE: no crime, guilty plea, perjury/false accusation, police officer misconduct, withheld exculpatory evidence, misconduct that is not withholding evidence
NRE synopsis (by Maurice Possley):
"On June 15, 2017, New York City police detective Joseph Franco arrested 33-year-old Tameeka Baker after he allegedly saw her sell drugs in the vestibule of a building...Franco said that the person Baker sold drugs to almost immediately sold the drugs to someone else, who happened to be an undercover police officer.
"In July 2017, Baker pled guilty...She was sentenced to four years in prison.
"In 2018, Franco came under investigation by the [Manhattan DA's] Office after video surveillance of the lobby showed that Baker entered the lobby of the building with another man and went past the elevator bank to a staircase in the rear of the lobby and disappeared from sight. There was no drug sale in the vestibule of the building as Franco claimed in his reports.
"The investigation also showed that the video showed that Franco was never close enough to the bulding to observe anything that might have happened between Baker and the man she entered the building with.
"On November 18, 2018...prosecutors asked that Baker's conviction be vacated and the charges were dismissed.
"In April 2019, Franco was indicted on 16 counts, including perjury and official misconduct for framing Baker and two other people -- Turrell Irving and Julio Irizarry .
"In January 2020, Baker filed a civil rights lawsuit against the City of New York..."
[All emphases added.]
