The Brooklyn district attorney’s office announced Tuesday it would not retry a man wrongfully convicted of murdering a rabbi 15 years ago – canceling a hearing into allegations of misconduct by a top prosecutor.
Assistant District Attorney Kevin Richardson, who had insisted two weeks ago that the office remained committed to pursuing a new trial against Jabbar Collins, informed a judge of the flip-flop just as the hearing was about to get underway in Brooklyn Federal Court.
“My office’s position, then and now, is we believe in this defendant’s guilt,” Richardson said.
Prosecutors reached the conclusion that Collins could not be found guilty with the destruction of evidence and problems with witnesses after so many years.
Collins was convicted in 1995 of gunning down Rabbi Abraham Pollack as he collected rent money in a Williamsburg building.
The case has been gutted by revelations that prosecutors allegedly coerced witnesses to testify and failed to turn over evidence to the defense.
The lead prosecutor in the trial was Michael Vecchione, now chief of the D.A.’s rackets bureau,
One key witness has already testified under oath that Vecchione threatened to bash him over the head with a table if he did not testify against Collins.
Federal Judge Dora Irizarry agreed to toss the conviction noting that the prosecutors were “prohibited forevermore” of prosecuting Collins for the killing.
But the judge noted with regret, that she did not have the authority to complete the hearing into prosecutorial misconduct.
“I didn’t hear at all any kind of acknowledgement that things were done that shouldn’t have been done,” Irizarry said. “I think that’s shameful.”
Irizarry said she found the witness’ claim that he was threatened by Vecchione “credible.”
Collins, 37, is expected to be released from state prison by the end of the week as soon as a sentence he received as a youthful offendor is vacated as well.
“The suffering my family and I have suffered at the hands of the D.A.’s office is simply unthinkable,” Collins said in court. “Despite what they (prosecutors) say in court, we all know exactly why they consented to granting my release.”
Collins’ lawyer Joel Rudin declined to discuss a possible lawsuit against the D.A.’s office.
(Source: NY Daily News)
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One Response
This sounds like it could be a case where it is clear that this guy is the murderer and no one else had both opportunity and motive to kill the rabbi.
But because the witnesses were tampered with; Some want the murderer to get off on a technicality, when they still know he did it.
It sounds like a case, where proceedural rules, override the victims right to justice.