A Brooklyn man, who has spent the last 23 years behind bars, is now free after a judge ruled the sole eyewitness in his murder case lied about his sight issues.
Kareem Mayo, 48, is home in Brooklyn from Rikers under GPS monitoring while Brooklyn’s District Attorney as Eric Gonzalez decides whether to appeal the judge’s decision to dismiss the charges or retry the case.
On Monday, Jan. 23, the Supreme Court of the State of New York vacated the convictions of Mayo, 48, and his co-defendant Donnell Perkins, 40, in the 1999 Christmas death of Reuben Scrubb, according to court documents obtained by Atlanta Black Star.
After the decision, several news outlets and elected officials called for Mayo’s immediate release. He had been held at Rikers Island awaiting release. State Sen. Kevin Parker asked the mayor to push for his release, ahead of the month that it typically takes to fit the monitor.
“Mayo should have been released immediately and not confined a minute longer, much less a week later,” Parker said in a statement. “It is unconscionable that a judge overturns a 23-year-old conviction, and the individual is forced to spend another night in prison, let alone on Rikers Island, waiting to be fitted for an ankle monitor.”
“The only reason Mr. Mayo was released after ‘only’ a week in Rikers was the intervention of a judge, her law clerk, a state senator, and a story in THE CITY,” attorney Ron Kuby said. “People want bail reform? Reform that.”
“Defendants’ convictions rested largely upon the testimony of Brown, the only eyewitness to the underlying incident and the only individual to identify defendants. Neither a weapon nor any other evidence was recovered inculpating defendants for this crime,” wrote Judge Dena E. Douglas
The lawyers also mentioned Ernest Brown’s identity was never shared with the defendants’ former counsel, which never allowed them to challenge or investigate his testimony before…
Read the full article here