arrow Rohan Bolt, George Bell, and Gary Johnson walking out of prison Klaus Enrique
In March, a Queens judge freed three men George Bell, Gary Johnson, and Rohan Bolt from prison after they served 24 years for the 1996 murders of a check-cashing store owner and an off-duty police officer in East Elmhurst. Judge Joseph Zayas found the trio had been wrongfully convicted because Queens prosecutors made false statements at trial and failed to turn over critical evidence pointing to alternative suspects in the high-profile case.
In the wake of the judge’s blistering ruling, the trial prosecutors on the case, Charles Testagrossa and Brad Leventhal, resigned from their high-ranking positions in the Nassau County and Queens District Attorney’s Offices. But their fall from grace in the legal world may not be over.
arrow George Bell was released from prison last month after a Queens judge vacated his conviction due to prosecutorial misconduct. Scott Heins / Gothamist
They came up at a time when prosecutors were expected to be tough, and this was one of the toughest offices around: Queens under District Attorney Richard Brown. Back then, Queens prosecutors made sure to back their brothers in blue and they did a betterjoblocking up the bad guys than anyone else in the city. And if some idealistic judge decided Brown’s rank-and-file were a little overzealous in their pursuit of justice and ordered a new trial? So be it. They could always try again. Discipline was almost never called for.
Top Nassau prosecutor slammed for withholding key evidence in 1997 Queens murder case abruptly resigns nydailynews.com - get the latest breaking news, showbiz & celebrity photos, sport news & rumours, viral videos and top stories from nydailynews.com Daily Mail and Mail on Sunday newspapers.
NYC judge slams prosecutor’s office behind the wrongful homicide convictions of three men
Three men were released from prison on Friday after the Conviction Integrity Unit (CIU) in the Queens, New York, District Attorney’s Office found that they had been wrongfully convicted of double homicide.
George Bell, Gary Johnson and Rohan Bolt were found guilty in the 1996 murders of Ira “Mike” Epstein and off-duty NYPD Officer Charles Davis during the armed robbery of a cash-checking store.
“Today is the day I found the key. Today is the day, today is the day, today is the day, I am going home,” Bell said in a video conference from Green Haven Correctional Facility in Stormville, New York, with Johnson and Bolt by his side.
Three men were released from prison on Friday after the Conviction Integrity Unit (CIU) in the Queens, New York, District Attorney's Office found that they had been wrongfully convicted of double homicide.