Kevin Smith, Who Served 27 Years For A Crime He Did Not Commit, Seeks To Overturn Conviction

NYPD DET. SCARCELLA’S FALSELY ACCUSED SMITH OF 1984 MURDER

Sole Witness Recants to Judge at Trial Until DA Kidnaps Him for 4 days and Charges Him with Perjury for Refusing to Identify Smith

(Brooklyn, NY – Monday, August 6, 2020) In September 1987, during the murder trial of Kevin Smith, the Kings County District Attorney’s office, ADA Paul Burns, police at NYPD’s 81st precinct and other prosecutors in the DA’s office engaged in a shocking, almost unheard of series of actions that led to the coercion of the only witness in the case and directly led to the wrongful conviction and 27 year imprisonment of Smith.

Egregious prosecutorial misconduct by the Brooklyn District Attorney’s office and NYPD’s Louis Scarcella resulted in Brady and Rosario violations for withholding evidence, including police transcripts of interviews and audiotapes, as well as the District Attorney’s office engaging in acts of coercion and intimidation of the only witness in the case, Trent Richardson.

According to the motion to vacate the conviction in New York State Supreme Court, Kings County Criminal Division: “No fewer than 6 witnesses have stated either that Smith was not the person who shot Van Dorn on November 10, 1984 or that Trent Vernon Richardson is/was wholly unreliable, including affidavits from Ronald Moore, Frederick Shaw, Norman Richardson, Kevin Bazemore, Elpidio DeLeon and Frank Paone. Dr. Richard Leo’s and Dr. Brian Cutler’s expert reports detailed the high probability that Richardson’s testimony at trial was coerced, and, therefore, unreliable. Finally, Dr. Cyril Wecht recreated the shooting and refuted both Richardson’s trial testimony and audio taped statement that he provided the DA’s Office, which supports witness statements that Richardson did not see the shooting. (https://bit.ly/2sOwKEU)

  • “Additionally, the murder investigation was led by Detective Louis Scarcella. Det. Scarcella’s practice of manufacturing evidence has been documented in a series of cases, including, but not limited to, People v. Hamilton, People v. Ranta, People v. Moses, and, most recently, People v. DeLeon. It is contended here that Scarcella falsely attributed a statement to Smith’s co- defendant that attests that he saw Smith shoot Van Dorn, killing him. Mr. Smith now comes to this Court with compelling proof that he was innocent in this murder. Said proof comes from several individuals who witnessed the shooting and can substantiate that Richardson lied at trial and sent Smith to prison.”

The Kings County District Attorney’s Office literally kidnapped the witness from the judge’s chambers during the Kevin Smith trial. The District Attorney’s Office lied to him, as well as to the judge, defense attorneys and family members. The Kings County District Attorney’s Office then charged Mr. Richardson with perjury in the first degree, and kept him hidden and locked up in a cold and damp police precinct cell for four days without allowing him to contact an attorney or family members, without providing him with hot food, and without allowing him to make a phone call, bathe or change his clothes. The Kings County District Attorney’s Office then offered to drop perjury charges if Mr. Richardson agreed to testify against Kevin Smith at his trial, even though Mr. Richardson had previously stated that he did not witness Kevin Smith shoot Gary Van Dorn nor did he witness the crime, and that his grand jury testimony used to indict Kevin Smith had been false. After four days of this treatment, Mr. Richardson agreed to testify against Kevin Smith, and was the only witness against Mr. Smith, who was ultimately convicted of murder.

 Justin Bonus, Smith’s attorney said, “In the years that I have practiced criminal law, involved with hundreds of cases, I have never seen a witness who was kidnapped and coerced in the manner that Trent Vernon Richardson was. The criminal justice community must resoundingly condemn the actions of the People in the case. Mr. Smith’s conviction, which was solely obtained through the coerced testimony of Richardson, should be vacated and dismissed or a new trial should be ordered.”

Dr. Richard Leo stated: “It has been well-documented in the empirical social science research literature that a substantial number of innocent suspects have confessed during police interrogation to crimes (often very serious crimes such as murder and rape) that it was later objectively proven they did not commit. Many witnesses have also been coerced into providing false accusations and/or false testimony. The same principles apply to the interrogation of suspects as to the interrogation of witnesses: psychological coercion by police and/or prosecutorial authorities can and sometimes does lead to false statements, admissions and/or confessions.

“The conditions of Trent Richardson’s interrogation were psychologically coercive, and contained interrogation techniques that are known to cause a person to perceive he or she has no choice but to comply with the demands and/or requests of his or her interrogators, and that are known to increase the risk of eliciting involuntary and/or unreliable statements, admissions and/or confessions.”

 Kevin Smith said. “With the mountain of evidence supporting my innocence I hope and pray that the court will finally provide me, my family and the community the justice that is long overdue. Today, I stand here as innocent as I was in 1987.

Exoneree and legal advisor Derrick Hamilton said, “Dr. Richard Leo and Dr. Brian Cutler, the country’s leading experts on coerced confessions, along with the renowned pathologist, Dr. Cyril Wecht, MD, have provided compelling new evidence that supports Kevin Smith innocence. With the egregious actions of NYPD detective Louis Scarcella the Kings County DA Paul Burns, and others in the District Attorney’s offices, I am hopeful that a new judge will take a fresh look at these facts and overturn Kevin Smith’s wrongful conviction.”

Lonnie Soury, co-founder of Families of the Wrongfully Convicted and member of Smith’s defense team, said, “This is the brew for a perfect storm, mixing the lies of NYPD detective Louis Scarcella with the complicity of the Brooklyn District Attorney’s office. Scarcella lied in his reports linking Smith to the crime, and the Kings County DA kidnapped the sole “eyewitness” who had testified to the judge that he did not see Kevin Smith shoot the victim.” www.wrongfullyconvicted.info 

Background

  • Kevin Smith was convicted of murder and served twenty-seven years in. He was released on parole December 3, 2012. He remains on parole.
  • Smith was arrested March 1986, almost two years after the murder of Gary Van Dorn on the night of November 10,1984 at 12 midnight in Bedford Stuyvesant, Brooklyn.
  • The only witness against Kevin Smith was a convicted felon and drug addict named Trent Richardson who had given police conflicting accounts of events the day of the murder.
  • He told police in his first interview immediately after the crime that he did not recognize the two men who allegedly killed Gary Van Dorn.
  • It took the police and prosecutors almost two years from the time of the murder to arrest Kevin Smith in March 1986. He was placed in Rikers Island for 18 months from the time of his arrest to trial.
  • When Smith’s trial began on September 1, 1987, the only witness, Trent Richardson, refused to testify against Kevin Smith and could not be located for trial. Brooklyn ADA Paul Burns informed the court that he was unable to locate his client for trial and requested and obtained a material witness order.
  • Police broke down the door to his mother’s apartment and brought him to the District Attorney’s office, and then to court for trial on September 4, 1987.
  • In court, Richardson informed the Judge and the DA that he did not see the crime. He advised the court and the prosecutor that he did not know who killed Gary Van Dorn and emphatically stated he did not witness the shooting.
  • Concerned about these developments, trial Judge Francis Egitto ordered the ADA Paul Burns, Richardson and Smith’s defense attorneys into his chambers to further question the witness, which, in and of itself was highly extraordinary. With the jury dismissed, Richardson admitted once again that the grand jury testimony he gave to indict Smith were false. Richardson stated he did not see Smith shoot Gary Van Dorn; nor did he witness the crime.
  • Judge Egitto, realizing that there was no case against Kevin Smith, ordered him released. Kevin Smith was told by his defense lawyer, Theodore Jones, to enjoy the weekend, and that on Tuesday, when court resumed, his case would be dismissed.
  • Trent Richardson was also ordered released by the Judge, and the Material Witness order was dropped. At that moment, ADA Paul Burns requested that Richardson be brought downstairs to court to “pay for an outstanding summons.”
  • But within five minutes after the proceedings ended, and after his attorney had left the Judge’s chambers, Richardson was handcuffed and taken into custody by the DA. He was brought to the Brooklyn District Attorney’s offices and, without a lawyer present, charged with Perjury in the First Degree based upon inconsistent statements moments before elicited unethically by ADA Burns and Judge Egitto.
  • ADA Paul Burns clearly intentionally misled the court and lied about his intentions with respect to his Richardson. He informed Judge Egitto, Richardson and his mother, as well as his attorney Frank Paone, that he was going to take Richardson to “pay a summons.” That was never his intention, as he led Richardson away to the offices of the Brooklyn DA and charged him with perjury in the first degree.
  • According to the law at the time, Richardson should have been brought to central booking within 24 hours of being charged. Instead, as a result of actually telling the truth in court, the only witness against Kevin Smith was placed in a cold and damp jail cell in the 81st precinct house. Allowed no phone call or other communication, Richardson was held for 4 days with no lawyer, shower, toiletries or other humane conditions in the clothes he wore to court that day.
  • Richardson was informed that in order to avoid a 7-year jail sentence he had to cooperate with the prosecution and go back to his original version of the story. Richardson tired of the isolation and needing treatment because of his addiction finally agreed to identify the defendants even though he did not know who committed the crime.
  • Finally, after four days in a precinct holding cell, Richardson, who was essentially kidnapped, was brought in to court on Tuesday morning. He said that he knew that if he testified the way the DA wanted, he would be released and the charges dropped. That is exactly what happened.

Transcripts of the from the in camera session are as follows:

Q: Now, do you also know two people by the name of Renny (Kevin Smith)                             and Devine (Calvin Lee)?

  1. I don’t know them.
  2. You don’t know them?
  3. No.
  4. Never heard of them? You have to answer yes or no.
  5. I heard of the name.
  6. Did you see them on the night of November 10th of 1984?
  7. No.
  8. Were you present when Gary was shot.
  9. No.
  10. You were not?
  11. No.
  12. Were you on the corner of Bergen and Buffalo around midnight on?

     November 10th of 1984?

  1. I don’t remember

THE COURT (Judge Egitto): Do you remember when Gary was shot?

THE WITNESS: YES.

THE COURT: Were you on the corner of – what the mentioned, Buffalo and  

 What?

  1. BURNS: Bergen.

THE COURT: On the night he was shot?

THE WITNESS: I don’t remember. What corner? What?

THE COURT: Well –

THE WITNESS: I was outside. I was in the vicinity.

THE COURT: were you in the vicinity of where Gary was shot?

THE WITNESS: Yes.

THE COURT: You were nearby

THE WITNESS: Yes

  1. Did you see Gary get shot?
  2. No.

Contact: Lonnie Soury, Families of the Wrongfully Convicted, Lsoury@soury.com
(917) 519-4521, www.wrongfullyconvicted.info