Brooklyn, NY – A man who spent years 15 years in prison after being convicted of killing a rabbi sued the Brooklyn District Attorney’s Office today in a $150 million lawsuit charging the agency with deliberately withholding evidence during his trial.
Jabbar Collins was convicted in 1995 of murdering Rabbi Abraham Pollack in Williamsburg during an armed robbery, but was freed last year by a federal judge after allegations of prosecutorial misconduct arose.
The lawsuit claims that Charles Hynes, the Brooklyn district attorney, has shown a “history of indifference” to “pervasive misconduct” by overzealous prosecutors and investigators and has refused to discipline employees even after proven allegations of wrongdoing have been leveled.
The lawsuit follows developments last year when questions emerged about the testimony of key witnesses in the murder investigation during a hearing in Brooklyn federal court.
One witness, Edwin Olivia, explained that he initially informed investigators that he had heard Collins planning the armed robbery.
Olivia later told a prosecutor that he recanted his statement, because he was afraid of retribution, sources said.
Join the official YWN WhatsApp status
7 Responses
Interestingly, the animal doesn’t deny killing the rabbi – just being treated “unfairly”. Let R. Pollack’s family take advantage of the civil court’s less stringent burden of proof in order to confiscate all 150 mil from the animal. And of course we need more frum people to sacrifice a couple of days every few years in order to get justice in courts for our people.
While this particular case may be only a technicality, I do know, unfortunately, about the Brooklyn’s DA office “history of indifference” to “pervasive misconduct” and overzealous prosecutors.
“The animal” does deny killing the Rabbi and always has. It’s not mentioned in this article because his innocence alone isn’t grounds for a lawsuit.
to mosheemes2,
Look up that case. It is clear beyond reasonable doubt that he is the murderer. Use your power of don lechaf zchus to free Pollard, Rubashkin, and other prisoners of Zion in America.
I remember this case because I knew his wife from childhood. I don’t remember there being any doubt that he was guilty. At the time the talk was that everybody in the building was afraid of this killer and no one was shocked that he did it. 15 years makes a lot of memories fade.
According to the Wall Street Journal, the case fell apart when the main prosecution witnesses admitted they lied in return for “deals”, and that the prosecution used forged affidavits. Pollard was caught red handed and confessed. Rubashkin’s case involves complex legal theories (biased judge, presumed knowledge, etc.) but not much in terms of disputed facts.
To akuperma,
look at what actually happened – not at some technicalities. Pollard(convicted of mishandling papers-not of espionage) and Rubashkin(convicted of lying in order to get a better loan) got a life/30 yrs in prison for something that other people wouldn’t even go to jail for. This animal killed R. Pollack without any sofek. Yes, the cops had to use some of their methods in order to make his fellow monkeys testify; don’t they always use deals in order to convince reluctant witnesses to testify. Fair or not, prosecutors use this “deal” tool all the time.