Man who may have been wrongly imprisoned has been refused a new trial

http://www.nbcnews.com/news/investigations/ive-been-dragged-through-gates-hell-says-man-jailed-murder-n272071

Dan Slepian
First published December 20th 2014

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For years, Velazquez has been begging a court to hear evidence that he says proves his innocence. But earlier that day, he learned that a judge had denied his request. There would be no hearing, no witnesses called.

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Velazquez was convicted for the Jan. 27, 1998 murder of former New York City police officer Albert Ward at the illegal numbers parlor Ward operated in Harlem. According to police reports, about half a dozen people, nearly all alleged drug users or dealers, were inside the gambling parlor when two men came in and announced a robbery.

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Within hours of the murder, according to police reports, most of the witnesses gave police similar descriptions of the gunman as "a light-skinned black male" with "dreadlocks" or "cornrows," and a sketch of the suspect was plastered all over Harlem. Police files show that at least three different tips soon came in about a man named "Mustafa," who tipsters said was a drug dealer with dreadlocks who fit the description of the shooter. According to NYPD reports, "Mustafa" was initially their "prime suspect."

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At the precinct, Brown told detectives the shooter was "a light-skinned black male" with "jet black curly hair." Then, police reports show, Brown looked at more than 1,800 photographs over nearly eight hours before saying, "That's the guy, but his eyes look different in the picture."

Police immediately began searching for the man whose photo was picked by Brown: Jon-Adrian Velazquez, then 22, a Latino who had never worn his hair in dreadlocks. That's when the active search for the previous suspect, "Mustafa," ended.

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At his trial, Velazquez, his mother and then-girlfriend all testified he was at home in the Bronx and on the phone with his mother during the robbery, and produced phone records to prove it. But the jury didn't buy it. The judge barred any mention of "Mustafa." Based solely on eyewitness testimony, Velazquez was convicted.
[eyewitness testimony has been proven to be unreliable]

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Augustus Brown, the eyewitness who first identified Velazquez, said he picked a suspect at random because police had threatened to charge HIM. Brown also said he had 10 bags of heroin on him when police picked him up -- and he believes they knew it. Only after he identified Velazquez, said Brown, did police let him leave the precinct. He said he walked out with the drugs and police allowed him to take them with him.

A second witness who had identified Velazquez also recanted during the broadcast, saying, "I told police that this was the guy and I was sure, but this was not the truth. … I felt pressured because the police were threatening to arrest me." (He later withdrew his recantation, however.)

In addition, shortly after the "Dateline" broadcast, two people came forward to say a man named "Mustafa," a black man with dreadlocks, had confessed to them that he was the gunman and that "someone else was doing his time."

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The Manhattan District Attorney's office said it took those leads seriously and thoroughly investigated them, and "did not uncover evidence sufficient to demonstrate that Mr. Velazquez is innocent." In an April 2013 letter to Velazquez's attorney, the DA ultimately concluded that "Mustafa" "was not involved in the murder of Albert Ward." Further, since two other eyewitnesses stood by their identifications of Velazquez, "…from a legal standpoint," the letter said, "The verdict should stand."

Earlier this month, Judge Abraham Clott agreed with the prosecution, and denied Velazquez's request for a hearing.

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