Charles Lambert - False Confession
Charles, Lambert; manslaughter; NRE: plea, false confession, perjury/false accusation
Suggestibility issues
"Prosecutor's Speciality Is the Innocent," Thomas Adcock, New York Law Journal, 3/8/01
"In March, 1993, Mr. Charles, then 16 years old, was identified by a witness with the fatal shooting of a man on Northern Boulevard [in Queens]. He was further identified as the killer during a police line-up, after which he signed a confession. On the advice of his Legal Aid attorney, he pleaded guilty to first-degree manslaughter and was sent off to prison.
"[Gregory L. Lasak's reinvestigation team at the Queens DA's office] investigated. As a result, Mr. Charles' confession was found to be false, according to court records. That and other evidentiary facts, according to a spokesman for the Queens [DA], led Justice [Robert J.] Hanophy to set aside the manslaughter conviction.
"But why would Mr. Charles confess to a killing?
"'Once you got a point-out identification, you got a case,' said a police officer who asked to remain anonymous.
"'There's always somebody whispering in the witness' ear something like, "Take a good look at Number 4."'
"'That,' suggested the anonymous officer, 'is the practical police world* that makes the occasional reinvestigation essential.'"
[* Although this officer's frankness is commendable, the implication that 'that's just the way it is, and always will -- and must -- be' is self-serving, and simply false. Professional police practice means not influencing a witness to select the 'right' suspect. And if that means the case founders, so be it. A rights-based, democratic society -- as the U.S. claims to be -- demands nothing less. That's the moral, ethical aspect. But also, in more practical terms, if an innocent person gets convicted, that means the real perpetrator (assuming there is one) will likely go on to commit more crimes and victimize more people.]
from NRE synopsis (by Maurice Possley):
"On March 10, 1993, Jamie 'K-Von' Scott, a reputed drug dealer, was fatally shot six times in the head in Jackson Heights, Queens..."
"After two witnesses identified Lambert Charles, 17, as the killer, Charles, a low level member of another drug ring, signed a hand-written confession admitting that he killed Scott because Scott had fired a gun at him.
"Charles pled guilty shortly after the shooting..."
"In December 1997, Queens...prosecutors learned from a member of law enforcement that two informants said Charles was innocent, but had agreed to plead guilty to shield other gang members after he was promised $5,000.
"The case was reinvestigated and both witnesses said they had lied -- one because he feared for the safety of his family, the other because he was told that Charles had confessed.
"Ballistics tests also revealed that the gun that killed Scott was used in six other murders, some of them after Charles was arrested. The man believed to be the real killer was later murdered and dismembered by other drug ring members, police said.
"Charles told authorities that he never received any of the $5,000."
"On July 22, 1998, Charles's conviction was vacated, the charges were dismissed and he was released." p> [All emphases added unless otherwise noted.]
