Josiah Galloway - Mistaken ID / Perjury

Galloway, Josiah; attempted murder; NRE: mistaken witness identification, perjury/false accusation, police officer misconduct, misconduct that is not withholding evidence, witness tampering or misconduct interrogating co-defendant

Suggestibility issues

"Protect the Innocent, Prevent Wrongful Conviction," Michael Miller, New York Law Journal, 11/28/18

"Josiah Galloway was...freed after spending a decade behind bars for a Hempstead shooting carried out by someone else."

"'Palpable and Significant Risk'; Law Firm Disqualified from Federal Suit," Jane Weston, New York Law Journal, 10/29/21

"Josiah Galloway...was wrongfully convicted of shooting a taxi driver, and spent 10 years in prison before the Nassau County [DA's] Office Conviction Integrity Unit in 2018 reinvestigated the case and moved to vacate the conviction and dismiss the indictment."

from NRE synopsis (by Ken Otterbourg):

"At about 1:10 a.m. on May 15, 2008, Jorge Anyosa and Welmer Hernandez were in their cabs waiting for fares near the Long Island Railroad station in Hempstead...Hernandez was double-parked, and a car pulled up behind him and honked for Hernandez to move. He made a U-turn to let the car pass, but instead of pulling ahead, the driver got out and began arguing with and cursing at Hernandez and at Anyosa. Anyosa got out of his cab and tried to defuse the situation, saying, 'We don't want to have a problem.' Before getting back into his car and driving off, the man made a shooting gesture with his fingers.

"Anyosa, who was thirty-eight, received a dispatch call about five minutes later and left, but when no one was at the pick-up location, he returned to the train station. Hernandez was gone. While Anyosa sat waiting in his cab, the man he had argued with earlier returned. He pulled up beside Anyosa, taunted him, and then pulled out a black gun and shot him in the face.

"When Hernandez returned about five minutes later, he found Anyosa standing by his cab and bleeding.

"Anyosa was in the hospital for nine days; his jaw was wired shut for nine weeks. Four days after the shooting, he met with a sketch artist, who created a composite drawing. The drawing depicted an African-American man, between the ages of 25 and 30, with close-shaved hair and no distinguishing facial features, such as a beard, scars, tattoos, or missing teeth. Anyosa said the man was about 5 feet 10 inches tall. Although Hernandez didn't see the shooting, his description of the man they had argued with was similar.

"Anyosa initially told police that he believed the gunman was driving a gray Toyota sedan with tinted windows. At first, Hernandez also said the car was a Toyota, but without tinted windows. Later he told police that it might have been a Mazda.

"On the night of June 8, 2008, Hempstead police stopped 21-year-old Josiah Galloway and his friend, Robert Ogletree, on unrelated robbery charges. Ogletree was driving a silver Honda that belonged to his girlfriend.

"They were split up for questioning, which continued overnight. At some point in the morning of June 6, the investigation veered from the robbery to other topics. Ogletree told police that Galloway had said that in May he had gotten in an argument with a cab driver while Galloway was driving his own girlfriend's car.

"After Ogletree gave his statement, Hernandez and Anyosa came to look at photos of potential suspects. Each picked Galloway as the man who shot Anyosa. Two months later, both separately viewed a live lineup and they again identified Galloway.

"At trial in Nassau County...in March 2009, Hernandez testified that Galloway was the man they had argued with, and Anyosa testified that Galloway was the man who shot him. They acknowledged that Galloway did not match their initial descriptions. Galloway was 5 feet five inches tall, nearly a half-foot shorter than originally described. In addition, his hair at the time of the photo array was not close-shaved but was in cornrows or short dreads; and he was visibly missing a front tooth.

"The prosecution also called Ogletree, but he recanted his statement. He said police threatened him with charges and told him that Galloway had fingered him as the gunman.

"The defense presented evidence that the police lineups were flawed. The initial photo array used a picture of Galloway with close-shaved hair that had been taken more than a year before the shooting. In addition, during the live lineup, although Galloway and the fillers were all sitting down, police made Galloway sit on two telephone books to appear taller.

"Galloway's mother and girlfriend both testified for the defense that Galloway was at home with them on the night of the shooting. They said they remembered the day because it was a relative's birthday.

"Galloway testified and denied involvement in the shooting, as well as the argument that preceded it. He said he was at home that night. In addition, he said he had very limited acces to his girlfriend's car -- a mint green Mazda -- and that he didn't drive at night because of his poor vision.

"A jury...convicted Galloway on March 9, 2009..."

"Galloway always maintained his innocence. At his sentencing, he said, 'I sit in jail sometimes and I just ask myself, "How could this be happening to me?"'

"He was sentenced to the maximum penalty a judge could impose -- 25 years in prison. Judge Alex Honorof said the jury reached a sound decision, and in imposing his sentence said society needed to be protected from Galloway. Kathleen Rice, the Nassau [DA] at the time, said in a press release, 'This was a shockingly cold-blooded and violent attack against an innocent man.'

"In 2018, Galloway's attorney, Joseph DeFelice, began drafting an appeal, arguing the evidence was insufficient. Galloway didn't fit the witnesses' description and Ogletree had recanted. Moreover, Galloway not only rarely drove, but didn't drive at night, and the car he had the clearest access to didn't match the gunman's car. In addition, alibi witnesss said he was at home.

"But DeFelice never finished the motion. Unbeknownst to him, the conviction integrity unit in the Nassau [DA's] office had received a tip in July that Galloway was in prison for another man's crime.

"CIU investigators interviewed witnesses who said the real gunman had confessed to them.

"[ADA] Cheryl Anania, head of the conviction integrity unit, and [DA] Madeline Singas filed a motion requesting that Galloway's convictions be vacated and the charges be dismissed. The motion was granted on September 13, 2018 by...Judge Teresa Corrigan.

"Upon his release, Galloway said 'What's in the dark comes to the light eventually.' DeFelice said the case underscored the problems with misidentification. 'Here we had two people that identified him at the trial,' he said. 'The descriptions really didn't match and yet he was convicted.'

"The prosecution said that because the statute of limitations...had expired five years after the incident, the real gunman could not be charged. However, he was in prison in New York for another conviction.

"In 2019, attorney Gabriel Harvis filed a civil rights lawsuit on behalf of Galloway in U.S. District Court...Harvis also filed a claim for compensation in the New York State Court of Claims which was settled in 2021 or $1.8 million."

[All emphases added unless otherwise noted.]