“If someone makes an accusation about the New York City board of elections, I take it on face value. I would never sweep that under the rug; I’d never ignore it. Because there have been too many really troubling situations with the Board of Elections.

I think we have to worry about the confidence in the people in the outcome. So I would urge the state of New York to get all over this right now to make sure everything is kosher, to make sure everything is being handled properly so that when the outcome finally becomes clear the people of Queens believe it’s accurate.” — New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio

"New York, long home to some of the more arcane, incumbent-protecting election laws in the country, has made rapid progress in bolstering the right to vote. In recent months, the State Legislature enacted early voting, passed a measure to automatically transfer a voter’s registration if she moves within the state and gave initial authorization for a constitutional amendment to make absentee voting easier.

But when lawmakers left Albany last month, some of the work remained unfinished — 31 election-related bills that have been approved by the Legislature but have not been signed by Gov. Andrew Cuomo.

The importance of at least one of those measures has become clear since last month’s Democratic primary for district attorney in Queens ended with a razor-thin margin that set off an automatic recount.

Tiffany Cabán, a public defender, declared victory on election night, June 25, with a margin of some 1,100 votes. But several days later, after election officials reviewed the roughly 6,300 paper ballotscast, Borough President Melinda Katz was ahead by 20 votes.

On Friday, Ms. Katz’s margin was reduced to 16, after the Cabán campaign successfully lobbied to restore six paper ballots — five cast for Ms. Cabán and one for Ms. Katz — that election officials had thrown out.

Of some 2,816 affidavit ballots, election officials determined just 487 to be valid. In many cases, the ballots they threw out were cast by people who weren’t registered Queens Democrats, and therefore weren’t eligible to vote. But, according to city election officials, some 114 ballots were invalidated because the voters didn’t write the word “Democrat” on their ballot — a technicality that shouldn’t disenfranchise eligible voters, or change the outcome of any election.

A paper ballot can also be disqualified if it was cast at a polling station other than where the voter is registered. That’s not only a pointless technicality but also unfair, since poll workers should know where the voter should vote, and since polling sites are often changed.

One bill passed by the State Senate and Assembly this year could help election officials avoid this morass by directing them to count all ballots in which voters “substantially complied” with the law. This could help prevent partisan election officials from using technical legal challenges to disenfranchise voters.

Other bills in the package are also important. One, for instance, would ensure that New Yorkers across the state are given the same number of hours to vote. Another would allow voters to choose to receive communications about elections via email, a reform that could help increase voter turnout and prevent voters from being wrongfully purged from the rolls.

The Legislature has yet to send the package of election bills to the governor to sign, though Mr. Cuomo is also free to review them and act on his own. That process could take several weeks, but doing it expeditiously is the best way to protect the interests of voters, in Queens and throughout the state." One Lesson From the Katz-Cabán Recount, NY Times.

Recount Update by CabanForQueens.com:

Fighting to Make Sure Every Valid Vote is Counted

With a manual recount and legal challenges ahead, there are hundreds of votes left to be counted. Here’s how you can help.

Over the last two weeks, there has been significant confusion over the state of the Democratic primary for Queens County District Attorney.

The latest and most accurate information can be found below. This election is far from over, and there are many votes left to be counted.

While we have not found any evidence of fraudulent activity committed by the BOE, we have found that a significant number of invalidated votes were wrongly discounted by the BOE, and our team is working diligently to restore their validity. Thus far, we have identified 114 valid and legitimate ballots that were improperly discarded by the BOE. Many more valid votes may be found during the recount process that begins this week.

We believe that when all valid votes are restored and counted, Tiffany Caban will have won the Primary Election.

What has happened so far?

At the end of election night, Tiffany led by 1,090 votes. Tiffany then extended her lead to 1,130 votes after the final tally from the voting machines was calculated.

Last Wednesday, the Board of Elections reviewed approximately 3,500 absentee ballots and 2,800 affidavit ballots, all of which are paper ballots. The BOE counted only 487 of the affidavit ballots, while ruling that the rest of the affidavit ballots are invalid. At the end of Wednesday, Tiffany trailed by 20 votes.

Our campaign is making every effort to ensure that improperly invalidated ballots are restored. On Friday, the BOE restored six of the invalidated ballots. Five of these ballots were cast for Tiffany, and one was cast for Melinda Katz, reducing the margin to 16 votes.

This is just the beginning. Our campaign has identified 114 additional ballots that were improperly invalidated, and the validity of those votes will be determined in court. As our campaign continues to examine the invalidated ballots, we expect to identify additional ballots for further review.

We expect that if all valid and legitimate ballots are ultimately counted, we will win the election.

What's the situation with the affidavits invalidated by the BOE?

There has been no evidence of fraudulent activity by the BOE.

However, our campaign believes that a significant number of ballots were improperly invalidated. For example, many ballots were discounted because the voter failed to affirm their party affiliation on the ballot, but it is in fact the responsibility of the poll worker to ensure that the party affiliation is included, rather than the voter.

We have successfully restored six invalidated ballots thus far, and identified 114 additional ballots that were wrongly invalidated because the voter’s party affiliation was not listed. However, while the BOE has acknowledged that these votes should be counted, and press reports indicate the Katz campaign agrees, they have instructed our campaign to decide their validity in court. There are countless conflicts of interest within the BOE and our local courts, and undue influence must not prevent these valid affidavit ballots from counting.

We are still early in the review process and there will be additional invalidated votes identified for further review. It is unclear at this stage how many votes will ultimately come before the court. It is critical that all improperly invalidated ballots, belonging to legitimate and valid voters, are restored.

What's the situation with the manual recount?

Since the margin is separated by less than .5% city law mandates that a manual hand recount take place.

This hand recount will begin on Tuesday. We believe that as many as 359 additional votes, across all candidates, will be identified during the hand recount. This is because the voting machines can fail to pick up valid votes. For example, if a voter circled their choices rather than filled them in, the scantron machines may have failed to register their selection – but their selection will be recognized in the recount.

It is unknown how many of these votes will be captured by each candidate, and their results could shift the outcome of the election.

What is the campaign doing?

We are engaged with the BOE and all parties to ensure that the final vote count is correctly tallied and that all valid ballots are included. Our campaign’s attorneys will appear in court to argue in favor of restoring discounted ballots that we believe to be valid.

There is also pending legislation that would modernize New York’s voting laws to remove certain barriers to the eligibility of affidavit ballots. This legislation has already passed the Senate and the Assembly, and only needs to be sent by the Assembly to the Governor for his signature. While the state legislative session is over, the bill could still be implemented immediately with Governor Cuomo’s signature – but first, Assembly Speaker Heastie must send the bill to his desk.

If Assembly Speaker Heastie sends the legislation to Gov. Cuomo for his signature, and the Governor signs it, the bill would allow more of the disputed affidavit ballots to be counted. The bill would also serve as an important victory for New Yorkers’ voting rights moving forward.

What can I do to help?

You can volunteer, donate, and ask your district’s Assembly Member to urge Speaker Heastie to move the voting rights bill forward.

Bill Lipton, New York Working Families Party:

"Over the last few days, there have been some significant developments in the nationally-watched election for Queens District Attorney. I wanted to make sure you had the latest information as the Working Families Party and the Cabán campaign now prepare for a legal and recount fight which may take weeks.

At the end of election night on Tuesday June 25th, Tiffany held a 1,090 vote lead in this race. After the final tally from voting machines was calculated a few days later, that lead was extended to 1,130 votes.

Last Wednesday, July 3rd, the Queens County Board of Elections completed their review of paper ballots, which included about 3,500 absentee ballots and 2,800 affidavit ballots. (Affidavit ballots are provisional ballots cast by people who showed up at the polls on Election Day expecting to be able to vote). Of those 2,800 affidavit ballots, the BOE decided to count only 487 of them, while ruling all of the others invalid. Then, on Friday, July 5th, the Cabán campaign successfully convinced the BOE to restore six of these ballots.

As the count stands right now, Tiffany trails by a margin of just 16 votes. The election is now headed to a full manual recount, as required by city law for any election this close.

Many votes still remain to be counted. Both the Working Families Party and the Cabán campaign are committed to making sure every single eligible voter has their vote counted. That includes dozens of affidavit ballots that were cast by eligible Democratic voters, but which were invalidated by the BOE only because they didn’t write in the actual word “Democrat” on their form, a small error that was the result of poll workers failing to instruct them how to fill out the form properly.

We continue to expect that, if the BOE counts all valid and legitimate ballots, we will win this election.

But the fact is that the Queens County machine appointed many of the commissioners and poll workers who are supposed to be fair arbiters of the law in this election. As we’ve seen in other closely contested elections — such as the 2018 Senate race in Georgia and the 2000 presidential recount — biased election administrators have the ability to undermine our democratic processes.

It is critical that all valid affidavit ballots, including the dozens that were invalidated last week, are counted. We must be vigilant in our efforts to ensure that these legitimate and valid votes are not discounted by a system that we already know is rife with conflicts of interest.

Whether or not Queens voters can have confidence that their voices will be ultimately heard at the end of this process depends on whether this count proceeds fairly and openly. Here are a few ways we are helping to make sure that happens:

1. Legislation has already passed the state legislature this year that would modernize New York’s voting laws to remove certain barriers to the eligibility of affidavit ballots. We believe the bill could be implemented immediately simply with Governor Cuomo’s signature — but first, Assembly Speaker Carl Heastie must send the bill to his desk. Call Speaker Heastie at 718-654-6539 and Gov. Cuomo at 518-474-8390 to urge them to enact Assembly Bill A1320A immediately.

2. The manual recount itself is set to begin as soon as tomorrow, and will include hundreds of ballots cast on Election Day where voter intent was clear but the machines failed to count them. There will also be legal challenges to ensure that the BOE is forced to count all valid affidavit ballots. The Cabán campaign and other grassroots allies including DSA need volunteers on the ground in Queens to help make sure every vote is counted over the coming days and weeks. If you are a lawyer, please sign up here to volunteer as a legal observer. If you're not, you can sign up here to volunteer in a non-legal capacity.

3. The Working Families Party has been working alongside the campaign to make sure that every vote is counted. But these are unexpected efforts that are requiring significant resources, including financial resources. Click here to chip in with an emergency contribution here to help WFP and the Cabán campaign make sure that EVERY vote is counted.

With the Queens County machine in charge of many aspects of this process — including the commissioners and poll workers charged with overseeing it — it is absolutely critical that every valid vote is counted in order to ensure that New Yorkers can have confidence in their electoral system. That’s what we will be focused on over the coming days and weeks.

Thanks, and we will be sure update you in the coming days with other important developments."

A CALL TO ACTION

Thank you for standing with us, and taking the first steps towards getting involved. This election will be decided by people like you — people who are tired of big monied interests buying their representatives.

But we can’t win this battle alone. Establishment candidates like Katz, with the financial backing of police and correction officers' unions, and real estate developers have nearly all of the institutional advantages in this system that is rigged to favor bought-and-paid-for politicians. Please take a moment to help bolster our people-power, and share this petition with your friends, family, and community over social media. Thank You!

Queens System of Law and Order

“Law and order exist for the purpose of establishing justice and when they fail in this purpose they become the dangerously structured dams that block the flow of social progress. — Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., April 16, 1963

One thing we can say about our system of law and order is that it rarely represents justice. The more cynical among us claim it doesn’t even aim to establish justice. Whether criminal or civil, the reality is that the courts work for people with money — lots of money — and against those without it.

The courts are about power. But power sometimes comes in the form of a sheer willingness to object, to fight back (with your vote), to call for justice when all indications are that ears are closed. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. is one of many we can thank for that lesson.

The Queens DA's tactics and the judge's rulings in the following three cases illustrate some of—the tragic failures in the Queens system of law and order.

1. Terrel Banks. Gregory Lasak, a candidate for Queens DA, that's a former Queens judge and prosecutor, and now calls himself a "progressive prosecutor," was the judge in this case.

Lasak allowed the Queens DA to use recanted eye witness testimony (repudiated prior statement) as evidence in, not one, not two, but, three murder trials of an innocent man, who faced a potential life sentence. Lasak refused to grant him bail, he was held in Rikers Island for 6 years for a crime he did not commit. 

Terrel Banks, 26, was arrested months after his 20th birthday and charged for the October 2008 fatal shooting of 21-year-old Timothy Smith in Fresh Meadows, Queens. Banks lingered behind bars and faced trial three times.

The case against Banks had been weak from the start as the prosecution's star witness changed her testimony that she saw Banks shoot Smith before the first trial in 2010. 

But this didn't matter to Lasak, as he refused to grant Banks bail and, instead, allowed the Queens DA to use the woman's grand jury testimony identifying Banks in the three subsequent trials—all of which ended in mistrials before three different juries.

Banks’ third and final trial ended in March 2014 with a hung jury.

After that, prosecutors made a last-ditch effort with a plea deal, agreeing to drop the murder charge if Banks copped to criminal possession of a weapon.

Banks refused to admit guilt to something he did not do, his lawyer Jorge Santos said.

“He said, ‘I’m innocent I’m not taking it, I don’t care. I’m not admitting to having a gun, I didn’t do anything,’” Santos said. 

On April 29, 2015 the case was finally dismissed. Lasak, the self-proclaimed "progressive prosecutor," instead of apologizing for keeping him in Rikers for 6 years for a crime he did not commit, suggested that Banks, “thank the district attorneys for dismissing the charges.”

2. Tullie Hyman. Lasak knows recanted testimony is used to exonerate, not to convict. Lasak was the head prosecutor in the case against Tullie (Birdie) Hyman. In 2000, Hyman was charged for the murder of a tenant patrol leader in a Far Rockaway housing project. He was wrongfully convicted in 2002.

Hyman was falsely implicated in the shooting by witness Shaquana Ellis, who then recanted her trial testimony.

On July 13, 2016 federal Judge Raymond Dearie, in a 91 page opinion, ruled that it was clear that Ellis did not witness the shooting and reversed the conviction.  

Apparently Lasak took shortcuts in the investigation. On page 66, the Court states, Private Investigator Kevin Hinkson said "Based on his review of the police reports and crime scene drawings, he concluded that from those (Ellis' alleged) locations in the building, it was impossible for anyone to have witnessed the shooting that took place on March 10, 2000."

Hyman was released from state prison after spending almost half his life behind bars for a crime he did not commit.

"Until today, the criminal justice system has failed Tullie and his family," said his appeals lawyer Mark DeMarco.

3. Joshua Rivera. Joshua Rivera was convicted of murder in 1995 and was sentenced to 37 years. He was wrongfully accused of shooting and killing Leonard Aquino on September 19, 1992. Rivera sent a letter to Gregory Lasak, who was the head prosecutor in his case, stating he was innocent and providing information on the possible real killer, but nothing happened. Rivera then reached out for help from a friend, Sherman Jackson, who he grew up with in Astoria, Queens. Jackson had become a homicide prosecutor at the Queens DA's office in August of 2000. Then two witnesses to the shooting, Jaime Acevedo and Kenny Chung, said Rivera had nothing to do with the crime. But, again, nothing happened. 

Troubled by his old friend’s assertion that he had been wrongly convicted, Mr. Jackson raised the question of Mr. Rivera’s innocence with his boss, Gregory Lasak, the head of the "Wrong Man Unit." No such unit has ever existed in the Queens DA office (It only exists in Lasak's Queens DA campaign literature).

With two witnesses to the killing saying Rivera was not involved, a friend who was a homicide prosecutor inside the Queens DA's office fighting for you, and Lasak, who was the head prosecutor on his case, and the Executive Assistant District Attorney for Major Crimes — Rivera could not get exonerated.

In August 2004, Mr. Jackson left the Queens DA office and Lasak had moved on and become a judge. 

In November 2006, Mr. Jackson, the former prosecutor and friend of Mr. Rivera’s, said to the New York Times: “The time for delaying has ended. The prosecution could shine from this because justice goes both ways, putting people in jail and getting them out.”

In December 2006 in a second New York Times article, Mr. Jackson said that the district attorney’s office had refused to face the truth. “They put an innocent man in prison and they’re trying to blame him,” Mr. Jackson said. “If it was up to them, he’d still be upstate doing 37 years.” This statement from a former Queens homicide prosecutor.

Finally the Queens DA was willing to let Rivera out of prison with an Alford Plea: Rivera had a choice, plead guilty to something you didn't do and walk out of jail tomorrow, or take your chances and risk serving another 24 years. 

The New York Times reported, "However, the freedom of the man, Joshua Rivera, who has been in prison for 13 years and began the day facing at least an additional 24, came at a high legal cost. After saying that the murder conviction should be overturned, Queens prosecutors then insisted that Mr. Rivera plead guilty to manslaughter before his release.

They asserted that a jury might once again have found Mr. Rivera guilty, despite substantial doubts about his culpability. Prosecutors also strongly criticized him for not helping the police solve the killing.

For his part, Mr. Rivera, dressed in a billowing white jacket and seeming drained after two years of legal wrangling, barely spoke in court as he agreed to the district attorney’s terms.

'I want to go home,' Mr. Rivera told the judge, Robert C. McGann of State Supreme Court.

Judge McGann permitted him to enter an Alford plea, a rarely used legal arrangement in which Mr. Rivera continued to assert his innocence, but acknowledged that the prosecutors had evidence that might persuade a jury. The procedure has the same effect as a guilty plea.

With its series of contortions — inside of 30 minutes, Mr. Rivera was cleared of murder, required to plead guilty to manslaughter, permitted to disavow any wrongdoing" and re-sentenced to time served. The killer of Leonard Aquino has never been found.

"The fact is that out of the 62 counties in New York State, the Queens DA’s office has the highest amount of reversals on appeal for prosecutorial misconduct," said John O’Hara, a civil rights attorney with a focus on prosecutorial misconduct.

"Prosecutorial misconduct is one of the leading causes, or contributing causes, of wrongful convictions. Prosecutorial misconduct is not chiefly the result of isolated instances of unprincipled choices or the failure of character on the part of some prosecutors. Rather, prosecutorial misconduct is largely the result of three institutional conditions: vague ethics rules that provide ambiguous guidance to prosecutors; vast discretionary authority with little or no transparency; and inadequate remedies for prosecutor misconduct. These three conditions create perverse incentives for prosecutors to engage in, rather than refrain from, prosecutorial misconduct." THE RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN PROSECUTORIAL MISCONDUCT AND WRONGFUL CONVICTIONS by Peter A. Joy.

Voters must decide— Who Do You Trust?!

I. VOTE FOR TIFFANY CABAN FOR QUEENS DA, NOT FOR ANOTHER QUEENS MACHINE DA

II. NEW BOSS, SAME BROKEN MACHINE

III. Vote Like A Life Depended On It, Because In This Election — It Does!

I. VOTE FOR TIFFANY CABAN FOR QUEENS DA, NOT FOR ANOTHER QUEENS MACHINE DA

The Queens Machine now wants another loyalist to be Queens DA: Melinda Katz, Rory Lancman, or Gregory Lasak. Two term-limited Queens Machine politicians or an age-limited Queens Machine judge. NYS Supreme Court justices have a mandatory retirement age of 70. "All three figures have won campaigns with support from Crowley’s county machine. In 2013, the party-backed Katz for borough president and Lancman for councilman (representing Fresh Meadows); in 2017, Lasak was re-elected as one of the six State Supreme Court judges on the Democratic line. Although Lancman voted for him to remain party leader despite his defeat by Ocasio-Cortez, Crowley seems closest to Katz. Given that a new DA potentially could shake up the Queens courthouses, the party machine has a lot riding on the late June primary." Is Queens Ready For a People’s DA? by Theodore Hamm, The Indypendent.

We need Tiffany Cabán, a true reformer DA, not politicians like Katz and Lancman, that talk the talk of criminal justice reform during a campaign just because they're subject to term-limits in their current elected positions.

Tiffany Cabán is running to transform the Queens District Attorney's office after years of witnessing its abuses on the front line. Unlike Cabán, who has spent her career practicing criminal law as a public defender, and has represented over 1,000 clients on cases from turnstiles to homicides:

"Borough President Melinda Katz and City Councilman Rory Lancman, have no law enforcement experience. Neither has ever practiced criminal law. Neither has ever served as a prosecutor. Rather, both are career local politicians. Katz served in the state Assembly and lost a race for Congress. Lancman has run for just about every available office: Assembly (won), state Senate (lost), mayor (aborted) and Congress (lost).

Local politicians hold hearings, draft legislation and issue proclamations. Those are not the tools of a prosecutor. Prosecutors operate in a highly technical legal world governed by precedent and penal law statutes, oral advocacy and strict rules of evidence and ethics. The new DA will quickly find his or herself in a high-level meeting with senior staff, NYPD brass or federal prosecutors.

I fear neither Katz nor Lancman will be capable of engaging in any credible or meaningful way. I fear each will find themselves mere observers to the business of the office they are charged with running...

Sensible criminal justice and prison reform is important and overdue. Elected district attorneys have an appropriate role in these discussions, much like the leaders of the city’s major medical centers have in the health-care policy debate. But just as patients demand their surgeons save their lives first and argue the merits of Obamacare later, victims and survivors of violent crime have the right to a DA whose first priority is to actually prosecute crime.

Imagine if one of the men charged in Simonsen’s killing asked Katz or Lancman to represent him at his upcoming murder trial. Would either candidate believe, based on the totality of their legal experience, that they possess the competence to represent the defendant? If the answer is no, then neither candidate is qualified to represent the people of Queens as their DA." Wanted: A prosecutor for Queens; The two leading candidates for district attorney are ill-equipped to lead the office by Ryan, former chief of the violent criminal enterprises unit for the Manhattan DA, NY Daily News. 

Talking the talk of criminal justice reform has gotten DAs elected, but once in office their reforms are slow and disappointing.

Tiffany Cabán will be the true reformer DA that will fight to make the Queens DA's office take unapologetic, bold stances in favor of a fair and just criminal justice system.

Meet Tiffany Cabán.

II. NEW BOSS, SAME BROKEN MACHINE 

"Early in the morning on Monday, March 11, dozens of Democratic district leaders shuffled upstairs to the county clubhouse, perched above a shuttered C-Town grocery store in Forest Hills. Before the workday started, they rubber-stamped the predetermined outcome: Rep. Gregory Meeks would be the new Queens County Democratic Party chairman.

For the rest of the 800,000 registered Democrats in Queens, here’s the process of picking a new county boss: 1) Former Rep. Joseph Crowley resigns as county chairman to focus on his new lobbying job with the Washington, D.C.-based Squire Patton Boggs. 2) A few outlets report that Meeks is the leading contender to replace him. 3) Word spreads that Meeks will be elected. 4) Meeks is elected. The Queens Machine works.

The Queens Democrats are an insular group, often criticized for acting like an exclusive fraternity – you’ve got to know someone to get in. There wasn’t any sort of a public process to elect Meeks, and the meeting wasn’t publicly announced. The roughly 72 district leaders didn’t sit through any debates among the contenders – in fact, there weren’t any other contenders, since nobody but Meeks admitted to having an interest in the job...

It’s an open secret that Meeks has inherited a weakened county party. A county endorsement means less than it once did, as a shrinking number of party regulars lend their hands petitioning and canvassing. It’s a party that couldn’t even get its own boss, Crowley, re-elected.

But the organization still wields influence. Its ability to coordinate the borough’s council members helped Crowley play a central role in elevating Corey Johnson to the council speakership last year. The borough’s overwhelming Democratic voter enrollment advantage lets the county party effectively pick the winner in every special election. It has also maintained a hold over the judicial system. As journalist Ross Barkan documented in 2017, judges as a rule only get elected with the party’s blessing. The law firm of Sweeney, Reich and Bolz, a trio of Long Island attorneys who have held top positions in the Queens Democratic Party, raked in some $30 million over a decade administering cases in Surrogate’s Court. Gerard Sweeney, Michael Reich and Frank Bolz also serve as election lawyers for county-endorsed candidates, successfully kicking opposing candidates off the ballot. These three white male partners have been a powerful force in the party since the 1990s, when then-county Chairman Thomas Manton worked in the firm. The Democratic Party in one of the most diverse counties in America was, until last month, effectively run by four white men, which critics say doesn’t represent the borough...

Electing Katz will be Meeks’ first real test as county chairman, and he said it’s his main focus until Election Day on June 25." Meet Gregory Meeks: Queens' New Boys, by Jeff Coltin, City & State NY.

Unlike the Katz/Queens Machine Campaign, Tiffany Cabán for Queens DA is a  People-Powered Campaign!

III. Vote Like A Life Depended On It, Because In This Election — It Does!

New York Leads Most States in Number of Wrongful Convictions. New York is ranked third in number of wrongful convictions with 257, topped only by Texas and Illinois. 167 of these 257, or 65% of these wrongful convictions involved official misconduct. The National Registry of Exoneration defines "official misconduct" as, "Police, prosecutors, or other government officials significantly abused their authority or the judicial process in a manner that contributed to the exoneree's conviction." Nationally "2018 saw a record number of years lost to prison by defendants exonerated for crimes they did not commit: 1,639 years all told, an average of 10.9 years lost per exoneree. The current total number of exonerations is 2,425, more than 21,290 years lost." The National Registry of Exonerations.

QUEENS DA'S PROSECUTORIAL MISCONDUCT AND WRONGFUL CONVICTIONS 

I. Queens DA Leads NY State in Number of Convictions Overturned Due to Prosecutorial Misconduct 

II. Queens DA's Prosecutorial Misconduct 

(A). Manipulating Evidence and Improper Closing Argument

(B). Withholding Evidence From The Defense 

(C). Discriminatory Use of Peremptory Challenge 

(D). Lying to A Trial Judge 

(E). Queens DA's Unconstitutional Policies  

(F). The Queens Wrongfully Convicted Can Sue The City of New York

QUEENS DA'S PROSECUTORIAL MISCONDUCT AND WRONGFUL CONVICTIONS 

I. Queens DA Leads NY State in Number of Convictions Overturned Due to Prosecutorial Misconduct

"The fact is that out of the 62 counties in New York State, the Queens DA’s office has the highest amount of reversals on appeal for prosecutorial misconduct. Under DA Richard Brown, the undisputed fact from our Appellate Courts is Queens is # 1 in prosecutorial misconduct. It is extremely rare for an Appellate Court to reverse a conviction based on a prosecutor’s misconduct. 

Under Brown, over 107 convictions have been overturned, with over 25 cases resulting in Appellate Courts exonerating the wrongly convicted. Misconduct in the Queens DA’s office is not the exception, it is procedure. DA Brown has never disciplined an assistant for misconduct, instead, he promotes them. Over 98 percent of Brown’s cases are the result of plea bargaining. So for every reversal on appeal there are hundreds of other cases of misconduct that no one will ever hear about. Thousands of lives have been destroyed by government functionaries like Ryan. Brown’s legacy of disgrace has gone under the radar. Until now.

On June 25th the voters have a chance to change everything. While most of the candidates for DA begin by saying 'Judge Brown has a long and distinguished record…' Tiffany Cabán does not. Tiffany has identified the metrics of a failed criminal justice system and now the voters have a real choice. A new Sheriff is coming to town and her name is Tiffany Cabán." by John O’Hara, a civil rights attorney with a focus on prosecutorial misconduct. Queens Daily Eagle.

An appellate court almost never reverses a conviction due to prosecutorial misconduct when it finds "the evidence... was legally sufficient to establish the defendant's guilt beyond a reasonable doubt." Yet, that is exactly what the appellate court did in a murder case in which Gregory Lasak was the judge. Lasak is now running for Queens DA. See People v Singleton. The Court cites a laundry list of prosecutorial misconduct in the trial and then states, "We recount these examples of the prosecutor's misconduct in the hope that our disfavor will be noted and that those charged with the duty of participating as advocates in criminal trials will approach their responsibility in an appropriate manner."

II. Queens DA's Prosecutorial Misconduct 

A ProPublica investigation uncovered only one prosecutor, former Queens assistant district attorney Claude Stuart, who was disciplined for his actions and eventually lost his job after several abuses including manipulating evidence and improper closing argument, withholding evidence from the defense, discriminatory use of a peremptory challenge, and lying to a trial judge. Who Polices Prosecutors Who Abuse Their Authority? Usually Nobody.

Claude Stuart had been a Queens assistant district attorney for 12 years and had handled over 70 felony trials. He was supervised by Gregory Lasak. "Among the thousands of prosecutors who have tried cases in the name of the people of New York City, Claude Stuart came to hold a handful of unfortunate distinctions:

• He was a serial abuser of his authority. State appellate courts reversed three convictions based on his wrongdoing.

• His misconduct actually led to disciplinary action by his superiors. He lost his job, and eventually his law license, after an appellate court determined he had lied to a judge about the whereabouts of a key witness.

• The particulars of his disciplinary proceedings became public, opening a window into the typically secretive panels that are supposed to police the state’s lawyers." Lasting Damage: A Rogue Prosecutor’s Final Case.

Stuart's sworn testimony at his August 9, 2004 disciplinary hearing demonstrates that he was taught to make closing arguments in a manner that is textbook prosecutorial misconduct, and he, a prosecutor with 12 years of experience, didn't even know it. On page 99, line 7, of the transcript, Stuart is being cross examined by a NY Bar trial attorney.

Q.   And didn't they also find that you gave your own opinion regarding truth and falsity of a witness' testimony?

A.   If that's what's in the -- as prosecutors we always comment about, you know.

Q.   As prosecutor, do you always comment about the truth and falsity of a witness's testimony?

A.   I mean, it all depends on what words you use, but there are many times we comment about whether the person is worthy of belief or not worthy of belief.

Q.   Actually, Mr. Stuart, that is grounds for reversal; that's prosecutorial misconduct.

Combating Prosecutorial Misconduct in Closing Arguments by Michael D. Cicchini explains this type of prosecutorial misconduct.

Assistant District Attorney Claude N. Stuart of the District Attorney’s Homicide Trials Bureau, under the supervision of Assistant District Attorney Daniel A. Sauders and the overall supervision of Executive Assistant District Attorney for Major Crimes Gregory L. Lasak, prosecuted the cases of Jay Walters, Tony Bennett, Allah McCall, and Tyrone Johnson.

(A). Manipulating Evidence and Improper Closing Argument

1995 - Jay Walters. In 1995 Claude Stuart tried a murder case against Jay Walters. Walters was convicted on February 1, 1995. However, an appellate court reversed the conviction due to Stuart's prosecutorial misconduct in People v Walters, 251 AD2d 433, 674 N.Y.S.2d 114 (1998). This misconduct involved Stuart's (1) "insinuation [to the jury] that the gun which had been recovered from the defendant two weeks after the crime in an unrelated arrest may have been the gun which was used to shoot the victim,” despite Stuart's “knowledge that the ballistics test performed by police conclusively established that the gun had not been used in the crime,”;  (2) improper inflammatory remarks that he “persist[ed] in making” that were “designed to appeal to the jury's sympathy,” including his statement that “the victim was left ‘on the street to die, to die like a dog’,” that “but for the crime, [the victim] ‘was probably going to be a brilliant artist’,” and that the jury should “ ‘imagine what a shock it was to [the victim's] wife, who's eight months pregnant’,”;  (3) suggestion to the jury that the defendant, not the State, bore the burden of proof;  and (4) description, in closing argument, of “the defendant's testimony as ‘continued lies on top of lies, on top of lies'.” In 1999 Stuart received a Letter of Caution issued by the Grievance Committee for the Ninth Judicial District for prosecutorial misconduct in this murder trial, which resulted in the conviction being overturned.

(B). Withholding Evidence From The Defense 

1997 - Tony Bennett. In 1997 Claude Stuart tried a murder case against Tony Bennett. Bennett was convicted of murder and sentenced to 25 year-to-life in prison. Bennett's conviction was reversed because Claude Stuart withheld critical evidence from Bennett's attorney. In 2008 Bennett was released after serving 13 years in prison. The Court held:

"We agree with the defendant that the prosecutor's conduct deprived him of his right to a fair trial. Put simply, the prosecutor ambushed the defense by his deception regarding his intention to call Rickey Davis as a witness and withholding of the Rosario material pertaining to Davis, by his last-minute presentation of Davis's testimony regarding the victim's excited utterance when the police had not yet arrived and the victim's statement to the police as well, and by his capitalizing on these unfair tactics in summation. These tactics led to and then undermined the defense theory that the police had been the only ones to hear the victim's accusation against the defendant and had conformed their testimony to assure its admissibility. Because the instances of prosecutorial misconduct were flagrant and the evidence of guilt was not overwhelming, we reverse the conviction and order a new trial." People v. Bennett 40 A.D.3d 653, 655 (N.Y. App. Div. 2007).

(C). Discriminatory Use of Peremptory Challenge 

1. 2001 - Allah McCall. In November 16, 2001 a jury found McCall guilty of the 1999 murder of a teenager who was shot following an argument over the victim’s gold chain. McCall was sentenced to 20 years to life. However, Claude Stuart during jury selection excluded "a prospective juror because she was of Jamaican ancestry." 

The right of peremptory challenge is a right in jury selection for the attorneys to reject a certain number of potential jurors without stating a reason. However, this right cannot be exercised to exclude jurors based on their race, ethnicity, or gender. A defense attorney challenging a prosecutor's use of a peremptory challenge which she believes is based on race, ethnicity, or gender is called a "Batson" challenge. The trial judge then must determine if the peremptory challenge is being used by the prosecutor in a race, ethnic, and gender neutral manner. In making that determination, the judge must weigh a potential juror's constitutional right not to be discriminated against and a prosecutor's privilege to exercise peremptory challenges.

On March 14, 2004 the Appellate Division, Second Department found the "Supreme Court committed reversible error when it permitted the prosecutor to exercise a peremptory challenge to exclude a prospective juror because she was of Jamaican ancestry." People v McCall 2004 NY Slip Op 01800 [5 AD3d 608] March 15, 2004. The Court ordered a new trial.

On June 30, 2004 the New York Post reported that McCall "who was convicted of gunning down a teen over a gold chain, only to have the verdict reversed on appeal, pleaded guilty yesterday to avoid a retrial. Allah McCall, 22, admitted he shot Eddie Newson, 17, in Far Rockaway on Aug. 20, 1999, and was sentenced on the spot to 10 years in prison. McCall was initially convicted of murder in November 2001 and sentenced to 20 years to life. An appeals court later overturned the conviction, citing what it said was prosecutor Claude Stuart’s intentional exclusion of Jamaican jurors. According to defense lawyer Murray Singer, Stuart excluded those jurors because he believed they hailed from a violent society. Stuart resigned in 2002, after withholding a prosecution memo in another murder case. Singer said his client, 'is happy that the matter has been resolved and that he can continue serving his sentence.'” KILLER PLEADS GUILTY TO ‘99 SLAY, NY Post.

After McCall's conviction the Queens DA's office issued the following press release:

"Friday, November 16, 2001 

FAR ROCKAWAY MAN FOUND GUILTY OF 1999 MURDER OF A TEEN; FACES 25 YEARS TO LIFE

Queens District Attorney Richard A. Brown today announced that a Far Rockaway man has been found guilty of the 1999 murder of a teenager who was shot following an argument over the victim’s gold chain...

Assistant District Attorney Claude N. Stuart of the District Attorney’s Homicide Trials Bureau, under the supervision of Assistant District Attorney Daniel A. Sauders and the overall supervision of Executive Assistant District Attorney for Major Crimes Gregory L. Lasak, prosecuted the case."

2. Gregory Lasak's Improper Handling of Queens ADA's Use of A Peremptory Challenge. Lasak was Claude Stuart's supervisor when he discriminated against a potential juror because of her Jamaican ancestry. In 2002 Stuart lost his job as a Queens ADA and Lasak was elected judge in Queens. In 2016, as a judge, Lasak improperly handled another Queens ADA's use of a peremptory challenge to exclude an African American man from serving on a jury.

In 2019 an appellate court reversed a conviction because Gregory Lasak permitted an African American potential juror to be excluded from jury service without determining if the Queens ADA's alleged reason for excluding him was credible. The New York Law Journal reported “A Second Department panel found the former Queens criminal judge had failed to properly handle a 'Batson' challenge by the defense, sending the case back for retrial.

Former Queens state judge turned district attorney candidate Gregory Lasak has seen a recent manslaughter conviction secured in his courtroom reversed on appeal, after the panel found he failed to properly handle concerns of racial bias in a move that kept a prospective juror who was black off the case.

The reversal and remittance for a new trial in Queens Supreme Court comes during the early days of Lasak’s bid to replace Richard Brown, who announced last week he wouldn’t run for re-election as DA.” DA Hopeful, Ex-Judge Lasak Reversed Over Handling of DA Bias in Jury Selection, By Colby Hamilton, New York Law Journal.

The case was People v Alexander. In 2016 Diamonte Alexander (18 years old) was found guilty by a jury of the November 2012 murder of a young man in Rockaway, Queens. On appeal Alexander alleged that during jury selection, the prosecutor sought to exclude a potential juror “based solely on the potential juror’s race.”

The court ruled, "Under these circumstances, [Lasak] failed in [his] duty to determine whether the prosecutor's race-neutral explanations were credible." People v Alexander, 2019 NY Slip Op 00135, Decided on January 9, 2019, Appellate Division, Second Department. 

(D). Lying to A Trial Judge 

2002 - Tyrone Johnson. In his last trial, on June 4, 2002, Queens ADA Claude Stuart lied to Judge Jaime A. Rios in People v. Johnson. Stuart told Justice Rios that he had no knowledge of the whereabouts of a witness whose statements the defense  maintained were exculpatory. When in fact, Stuart did know the witness' whereabouts and had met with her on May 31, 2002 at her job. Who will prosecute the corrupt prosecutors?

After Johnson's conviction the Queens DA's office issued the following press release:

"Thursday, June 6, 2002 

JAMAICA MAN CONVICTED AFTER JURY TRIAL OF MURDER IN SHOOTING DEATH OF ACQUAINTANCE

...District Attorney Brown identified the defendant as Tyrone Johnson...

Assistant District Attorney Claude N. Stuart of the District Attorney’s Homicide Trials Bureau prosecuted the case under the supervision of Assistant District Attorney Daniel Saunders, Bureau Chief, and under the overall supervision of Executive Assistant District Attorney for Major Crimes Gregory L. Lasak."

Missing from this press release is the fact that the conviction was obtained through Stuart's serial prosecutorial misconduct that, if not condoned by the office, had been tolerated since at least 1998. Stuart's lies were finally so blatantly obvious that the Queens DA agreed to a new trial, saving the defense the need to appeal to overturn the conviction due to prosecutorial misconduct. 

Stuart lost his job in 2002 and had his NY license to practice law suspended in 2005 for three years, his NJ law license was suspended for three months in 2007, and his DC law license was suspended for three years in 2008. 

Having done such a great job at supervising Claude Stuart, Gregory Lasak, with the help of the Queens Machine, was elected State Supreme Court justice at the end of 2002. Mr. Murder. He is now a candidate for Queens District Attorney. Claude Stuart became director for "a charity set up by State Senator Malcolm A. Smith and United States Representative Gregory W. Meeks." Yes, this is the U.S. Rep. Gregory Meeks who is the new Queens boss. See "New Boss, Same Broken Machine" section. "Stuart was placed on the Senate payroll by Mr. Smith in 2002 shortly after he lost his job as a Queens prosecutor for lying to a judge."  Figure Under Scrutiny in Inquiry Into Charity Was on Senate Payroll, NYTimes.

Tiffany Cabán will end all this gamesmanship on day one!

(E). Queens DA's Unconstitutional Policies  

1. "New York's highest court ruled... that a script prosecutors in the Queens district attorney’s office had read to criminal defendants before they were arraigned so undercut the Miranda warning that it violated their constitutional rights.

In a 6-to-1 ruling, the Court of Appeals found that the way pre-arraignment interviews were conducted... gave the message to the defendants, 'for all intents and purposes, that remaining silent or invoking the right to counsel would come at a price — they would be giving up a valuable opportunity to speak with an assistant district attorney, to have their cases investigated or to assert alibi defenses...'

Writing for the majority, Judge Susan Phillips Read said that statements in the script like 'give me as much information as you can,' 'this is your opportunity to tell us your story' and 'you have to tell us now' directly contradicted the later warning that they had the right to remain silent.

'By advising them that speaking would facilitate an investigation, the interrogators implied that these defendants’ words would be used to help them, thus undoing the heart of the warning that anything they said could and would be used against them,' Judge Read wrote."  NYTimes

Using this unconstitutional method, the Queens DA interrogated approximately 15,000 unrepresented, indigent criminal defendants directly before arraignment, when they would be appointed counsel.

2. "State Supreme Court in Queens revealed flaws in a longstanding practice within the district attorney’s office that has allowed prosecutors to keep information that could be valuable to the defense from emerging during trial. The judge said that had deprived the defendant of due process.

The unwritten policy, described internally as a Chinese wall, tells members of the district attorney’s office not to share certain information about witnesses and defendants with each other in some circumstances. Though such policies can be used to prevent conflicts of interest, in the murder case it effectively blocked the release of material information that legally must be disclosed to the defense, the judge found." Murder Conviction Tossed Out in Queens.

"According to Joel Rudin, this practice has gone on for 'the last 20 years by current Queens District Attorney Richard Brown.'

The actions of the Queens DA’s office in the instant case calls into question the validity of witness testimony in all criminal cases during this period since there are likely undisclosed files from the Witness Protection Program that were never turned over to trial attorneys in a number of cases, not to mention the office’s obvious lack of understanding about its own obligations under the Constitution." Queens DA’s Office Ignores Brady Obligations, Relies on “Chinese Wall”.

(F). The Queens Wrongfully Convicted Can Sue the City of New York

"The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit recently rendered a very important decision allowing the assertion of §1983 claims against the City of New York based on a district attorney’s office policies and practices. In Bellamy v. City of New York, 914 F.3d 747 (2d Cir. 2019), the Second Circuit held that the Queens County District Attorney is a City policymaker with respect to the training, supervision, and discipline of Assistance District Attorneys. The decision paves the way for the plaintiff’s §1983 wrongful conviction Monell claims to proceed against the City... 

Kareem Bellamy’s §1983 action arose from his wrongful convictions in New York Supreme Court, Queens County for second-degree murder and criminal possession of a weapon. He was incarcerated for 14 years until the state court vacated his conviction based on newly discovered evidence that another individual may have committed the murder.

In his §1983 complaint Bellamy alleged that: (1) Detectives Solomeno and Gillen fabricated evidence of Bellamy’s guilt and withheld exculpatory impeachment evidence, namely, the full scope of relocation benefits provided to a prosecution witness who was in a witness protection program; and (2) Assistant District Attorney (ADA) David Guy of the Queens County District Attorney’s Office (QCDA) engaged in serious misconduct that violated Bellamy’s due process right to a fair trial when he told the jury near the end of his summation, “I know who committed the murder” (meaning Bellamy); 'Where is there proof defendant had no motive to kill somebody?’; and that Bellamy was 'not going to get away with it, not this time,' which permitted the jury to infer 'that Bellamy had committed other uncharged crimes at other times (murder, no less, the crime for which Bellamy was on trial) and that the government had evidence of those crimes to which the jury was not privy.' Bellamy, 914 F.3d at 763 (citations omitted). During his summation Guy also called Bellamy 'a liar.' 

The Monell claims against the City alleged that (1) the QCDA had a 'policy of purposefully shielding from prosecutors (and thereby the defense) the full scope of relocation benefits given to witnesses in its witness protection program'; 914 F.3d at 733; and (2) the QCDA’s office was deliberately indifferent to its systemic failures to train and discipline its ADA’s with respect to improper summations." by Martin A. Schwartz, New York Law Journal. Bellamy v. City of New York, No. 17-1859 (2d Cir. 2019).

Kareem Bellamy (convicted in 1995, exonerated in 2011) was 1 of 25 wrongful convictions by the Queens DA, that were subsequently overturned and the persons exonerated for crimes they did not commit.

Click on "View All Updates" below to learn why Queens needs Tiffany L. Cabán to reform the current Queens DA office.