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New York judge tosses murder conviction of Gerard Domond, who spent 29 years in prison for murder, after prosecutors admit they have no case, withheld evidence

&Tab;&Tab;<div class&equals;"wpcnt">&NewLine;&Tab;&Tab;&Tab;<div class&equals;"wpa">&NewLine;&Tab;&Tab;&Tab;&Tab;<span class&equals;"wpa-about">Advertisements<&sol;span>&NewLine;&Tab;&Tab;&Tab;&Tab;<div class&equals;"u top&lowbar;amp">&NewLine;&Tab;&Tab;&Tab;&Tab;&Tab;&Tab;&Tab;<amp-ad width&equals;"300" height&equals;"265"&NewLine;&Tab;&Tab; type&equals;"pubmine"&NewLine;&Tab;&Tab; data-siteid&equals;"109460728"&NewLine;&Tab;&Tab; data-section&equals;"1">&NewLine;&Tab;&Tab;<&sol;amp-ad>&NewLine;&Tab;&Tab;&Tab;&Tab;<&sol;div>&NewLine;&Tab;&Tab;&Tab;<&sol;div>&NewLine;&Tab;&Tab;<&sol;div>&NewLine;<h2 class&equals;"has-text-color has-normal-font-size wp-block-heading" style&equals;"color&colon;&num;3b3434"><strong>&OpenCurlyDoubleQuote;The motion to vacate the indictment and conviction is granted’’ <&sol;strong><&sol;h2>&NewLine;&NewLine;&NewLine;&NewLine;<h2 class&equals;"has-text-color has-normal-font-size wp-block-heading" style&equals;"color&colon;&num;3b3434"><strong>rooklyn judge tossed the murder conviction of man who spent 29 years behind bars after prosecutors admit they have no case&comma; withheld evidence <&sol;strong><&sol;h2>&NewLine;&NewLine;&NewLine;&NewLine;<h2 class&equals;"has-text-color has-normal-font-size wp-block-heading" style&equals;"color&colon;&num;3b3434"><strong>Announcement will reverse the conviction of Gerard Domond Domond was released on parole in 2016&comma; more than three decades after he was convicted of murder<&sol;strong><&sol;h2>&NewLine;&NewLine;&NewLine;&NewLine;<h2 class&equals;"has-text-color has-normal-font-size wp-block-heading" style&equals;"color&colon;&num;3b3434"><strong>He was jailed in 1987 for the shooting murder of a man named Patrick Hinkson outside a club in Prospect Lefferts Gardens<&sol;strong> <&sol;h2>&NewLine;&NewLine;&NewLine;&NewLine;<h2 class&equals;"has-text-color has-normal-font-size wp-block-heading" style&equals;"color&colon;&num;3b3434"><strong>There was no crime-scene or forensic evidence tying Domond to the killing<&sol;strong><&sol;h2>&NewLine;&NewLine;&NewLine;&NewLine;<h2 class&equals;"has-text-color has-normal-font-size wp-block-heading" style&equals;"color&colon;&num;3b3434"><strong>The conviction was based on a single eyewitness who had been held in a psychiatric ward for months before testifying as part of a cooperation agreement&comma; re-opened investigations just revealed<&sol;strong><&sol;h2>&NewLine;&NewLine;&NewLine;&NewLine;<figure class&equals;"wp-block-image size-large"><img src&equals;"https&colon;&sol;&sol;konniemoments&period;com&sol;wp-content&sol;uploads&sol;2020&sol;10&sol;Gerard-Domond-1&period;jpg" alt&equals;"" class&equals;"wp-image-357769"&sol;><figcaption><strong>Judge sitting in Brooklyn&comma; NY&comma; granted the motion to The motion to vacate the indictment and<&sol;strong> <strong>conviction of Gerard Domond&comma; &lbrack;photo&rsqb;&comma; 29 years ago in the in 1987 killing of Patrick Hinkson<&sol;strong>&comma; <strong>based on the testimony of one psychiatric patient&comma; after 15 witnesses testified that he was in Georgia for a religious retreat at the time<&sol;strong><&sol;figcaption><&sol;figure>&NewLine;&NewLine;&NewLine;&NewLine;<p class&equals;"wp-block-paragraph">A man who spent 29 years behind bars for murder had his conviction overturned Friday&comma; after the Brooklyn District Attorney’s office admitted a prosecutor withheld key information from his defense&period;<br>&OpenCurlyDoubleQuote;I want to thank my mother for standing behind me&comma;” cleared con Gerard Domond&comma; who has been out on parole since 2016&comma; told a judge Friday&period;<br>&OpenCurlyDoubleQuote;She stood by me all these years&period; I’m just happy to be home with my family&period; It was a long journey&comma;” Domond added matter-of-factly as his mom&comma; Marie Pyrol&comma; looked on from the gallery&period;<br>In the end Gerard Domond’s record was cleared after prosecutors asked Justice Matthew D’Emic to toss his conviction because they found their only eyewitness had a &OpenCurlyDoubleQuote;serious mental health condition&&num;8221&semi; that was never disclosed to defense attorneys<br>The announcement will reverse the conviction of Gerard Domond&comma; who was released on parole in 2016&comma; more than three decades after he was convicted of the 1987 shooting murder of a man named Patrick Hinkson outside a New York club&comma; according to the DA&period;<br>Domond went on trial in 1989 for the slaying of Patrick Hinkson based on a single eyewitness who had been held in a psychiatric ward for months before testifying as part of a cooperation agreement&comma; according to an investigation by the DA’s Conviction Review Unit&period;<br>Brooklyn prosecutors at the time did not disclose to the defense the unnamed witness’s psychiatric hospitalization&comma; according to the report&period;<br>The DA’s office asked for Domond’s conviction to be overturned based on the unit’s finding&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;&NewLine;&NewLine;&NewLine;<figure class&equals;"wp-block-image size-large"><img src&equals;"https&colon;&sol;&sol;konniemoments&period;com&sol;wp-content&sol;uploads&sol;2020&sol;10&sol;Gerard-Domond-4&period;jpg" alt&equals;"" class&equals;"wp-image-357772"&sol;><figcaption><strong>There was no crime-scene or forensic evidence tying Gerard Domond to the murder&period; The conviction was based on a single eyewitness who had been held in a psychiatric ward for months before testifying as part of a cooperation agreement<&sol;strong><&sol;figcaption><&sol;figure>&NewLine;&NewLine;&NewLine;&NewLine;<p class&equals;"wp-block-paragraph">Domond’s mom and other family members&comma; along with DA Eric Gonzalez&comma; watched from the gallery as Justice Matthew D’Emic said&comma; &OpenCurlyDoubleQuote;The motion to vacate the indictment and conviction is granted&period;’’<br>Eric Gonzalez was not DA at the time the withholding of evidence occurred&period;<br>The case had begun in March 1987 when a man dropped off a mortally wounded Hinkson at a hospital and said the victim had been shot in the parking lot of Club Love in Prospect-Lefferts Gardens&period; <br>The man provided Hinkson’s name and address and vanished&period; <br>Hinkson&comma; who had been shot in the head&comma; eventually succumbed to his injuries&period;<br>There was no crime-scene or forensic evidence tying Domond to the slaying&period;<br>But three days after the murder&comma; the soon-to-be cooperating witness&comma; known only as FP in the report&comma; walked into the 77th Precinct and told cops he had worked for Domond’s alleged crack-dealing business and saw him shoot Hinkson over a drug-money dispute&period;<br>A few hours earlier&comma; the witness said&comma; he had gotten into a fight with Domond after he caught him with his girlfriend&comma; and they had pulled their guns on each other&period;<br>Then-NYPD Detective Louis Scarcella arrested Domond and drove him to a lineup&period; However&comma; the former detective whose record is now blighted by scandal had no other involvement in the case&comma; according to the report&period;<br>The role of Scarcella &OpenCurlyDoubleQuote;did not at all affect the integrity of the investigation&comma; prosecution&comma; or verdict&comma;” the report states&period;<br>Days after the voluntary &OpenCurlyDoubleQuote;witness” visited to the precinct&comma; he was busted for possessing &OpenCurlyDoubleQuote;hundreds of vials of crack”&comma; but was promised no more than six months in prison in exchange for his cooperation against Domond at the 1989 trial&period;<br>The same witness also had another open case against him in which he was charged with one count of first-degree robbery and two counts of first-degree burglary&period; <br>Prosecutors promised the witness that he would not have to serve additional jail time for the robbery case if he testified against Domond — although this assurance was not in the written cooperation agreement or revealed to the jury&comma; the DA’s report states&period;<br>The witness was released from Kings County Hospital about a week before he testified at the trial&period; <br>Prosecutors lied to the defense that their star witness was being held at the medical facility due to an AIDS diagnosis&period; <br>Prosecutor Paul Maggiotto&comma; instead told jurors at the trial that FP was being housed in the hospital because of an AIDS diagnosis&comma; though there is no evidence that the witness had AIDS&period; Infact&comma; he was actually in the psychiatric ward&period;<br>This witness died in 2006 and while his medical records no longer exist&comma; investigators concluded that he was likely hospitalized for &OpenCurlyDoubleQuote;a very serious mental health condition&comma;” <br>Despite the defense calling 15 alibi witnesses who testified that Gerard Domond was in Georgia at the time of the shooting&comma; the jury found him guilty of second-degree murder&comma; and he was sentenced to 25 years to life in prison&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;&NewLine;&NewLine;&NewLine;<figure class&equals;"wp-block-image size-large"><img src&equals;"https&colon;&sol;&sol;konniemoments&period;com&sol;wp-content&sol;uploads&sol;2020&sol;10&sol;Gerard-Domond-6&period;jpg" alt&equals;"" class&equals;"wp-image-357784"&sol;><figcaption><strong>Gerard Domond was vindicated in Brooklyn Supreme Court in Brooklyn&comma; on October 30&comma; ending a three decade-long nightmare<&sol;strong><&sol;figcaption><&sol;figure>&NewLine;&NewLine;&NewLine;&NewLine;<p class&equals;"wp-block-paragraph">Domond’s conviction was the 29th overturned since 2014 on the recommendation of the DA’s Conviction Review Unit&period;<br>&OpenCurlyDoubleQuote;After more than three decades of being branded a convicted murderer&comma; Gerard Domond finally goes home to his family as a truly free man&comma;’’ his lawyer&comma; Ron Kuby&comma; said Friday&period;<br>&OpenCurlyDoubleQuote;His mother’s greatest fear was that she would not live to see this day&period; It was joyful beyond words to see her there in the courtroom when the charges were dismissed&period;”<br>Maggiotto is now in private practice in Concord&comma; N&period;H&period;<br>It is noteworthy that <a href&equals;"https&colon;&sol;&sol;nypost&period;com&sol;2019&sol;11&sol;19&sol;man-convicted-by-tainted-nypd-cop-scarcella-freed-after-24-years-behind-bars&sol;">at least 15 suspects<&sol;a> have had their convictions thrown out due to Louis Scarcella&period; The former NY cop&&num;8217&semi;s tactics and coerced confessions from suspects have resulted in many of the CRU’s overturned convictions&period; Scarcella’s crooked methods forced these victims to spend decades behind bars on trumped up police investigations&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;

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