Petition updateQueens District Attorney Election: November 5, 2019 —Queens DA Primary Election RecountA Queens man imprisoned for two dozen years is imploring Queens DA to reopen his case.
Carlos FuerteNew York, NY, United States
Apr 25, 2019

A Queens man imprisoned for two dozen years in the stabbing death of a 72-year-old woman is imploring the district attorney to reopen his case after two DNA samples showed another man’s genetic material under the victim's fingernails.

Jaythan Kendrick was convicted in the decades-old murder of Josephine Sanchez, who was stabbed in the back with one half of a scissor blade in a botched purse snatching in front of the Ravenswood Public Housing complex in November 1994.

But the prosecutor who handled the original case says the new DNA proves nothing.

In his only jailhouse interview, with Dateline producer Dan Slepian in 2016, Kendrick said he was picked up by police simply because he happened to be walking near the crime scene with a white jacket -- the same color as the jacket of the killer. Alternatives to the 4th of July Macy's Fireworks "I took a walk to the store and never made it back home. I still have not made it back home," Kendrick said.

Last summer, over objections from the Queens district attorney, a judge ordered DNA testing of Sanchez’s fingernails. The results show trace amounts of another person's genetic material under two of the victim’s nails, one on each hand. The genetic material is not consistent with Kendrick’s DNA; however, there is not enough of it to compare with individuals in criminal databanks.

"If the DNA has cleared him, then why won’t the public officials move forward for the victim and find out who truly committed this crime?" said Clarence Hughes, Kendrick’s cousin.

Brooklyn DA Drops Case Against Brain-Damaged Defendant
James Quinn, the assistant district attorney who was in charge of the criminal case back in 1994, said another man’s DNA under the victim’s fingernails does not prove Jaythan Kendrick is

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