Three Innocent Queens Men To Be Released From Prison Following Wrongful Convictions In 1996 Case
Arrests and Subsequent Convictions Were the Result of Political Pressure, Coerced False Confessions and Suppressed Evidence
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QUEENS, N.Y., March 5, 2021 /PRNewswire/ George Bell, Rohan Bolt and Gary Johnson, who were wrongfully convicted of a double murder in Queens and incarcerated for the last 24 years, will be released from prison today. Their release will follow an expected decision of The Hon. Judge Joseph A. Zayas of the Queens County Supreme Court, on a joint motion by the Queens District Attorney and lawyers for the three men vacating the three men s convictions.
They Spent 24 Years Behind Bars. Then the Case Fell Apart.
A judge threw out the murder convictions of three New York men on Friday and admonished prosecutors for withholding evidence that cast serious doubt on their guilt.
Gary Johnson after his release on Friday.Credit.Amr Alfiky/The New York Times
March 5, 2021
On the weekend before Christmas in 1996, a shop owner was opening his check-cashing store in East Elmhurst, Queens, alongside an off-duty police officer who was working security, when the two were ambushed by a group of men, shot and killed.
The case touched off a ferocious manhunt, and within days, three men were arrested. They were convicted in separate trials and sentenced to between 50 years and life in prison for murder.