Randolph Williams - Perjury / False confession / Officer Misconduct

Williams, Randolph; murder; NRE: perjury/false accusation, police officer misconduct, misconduct that is not withholding evidence, witness tampering or misconduct interrogating co-defendant

Suggestibility issues

2 N.Y.S.3d 612; 2nd Dept. 2/4/15; reversed, due to improper exclusion of defendant from pre-trial hearing

"After [Williams] argued with the victim, the victim was fatally shot in the vicinity of a basketball court at the Williamsburg Houses public housing development. A witness to the shooting, who knew both [Williams] and the victim, identified [Williams] in a lineup as one of the shooters, gave the police a sworn audiotaped statement, and testified before the grand jury. However, the witness notified the prosecutor that she would not testify at trial because she had been approached and threatened by a man whom she had previously seen with [Williams]. As a result, she feared for her own life and the lives of her family members.

[Kings Cty. Ct. then held a pre-trial hearing.] "The court excluded [Williams] from the courtroom during the hearing...Three days after the hearing was concluded, the court entertained argument on the [prosecution's] application to determine whether the witness was practically unavailable [due to alleged threats -- see above]. The court determined that the witness was practically unavailable and that the [prosecution] had proven...that [Williams] had procured [i.e., caused] the witness's unavailability, thereby forfeiting his right to confront and cross-examine her. As a result, the court ruled that the witness's audiotaped statement and grand jury testimony could be admitted into evidence at trial.

"The jury convicted [Williams] of murder in the second degree and criminal possession of a weapon in the second degree.

"Contrary to [Williams'] contention, the verdict of guilt was not against the weight of the evidence..."

"Nevertheless, the judgment of conviction must be reversed and a new trial must be held. Here, [Williams] was not in the courtroom and was not allowed to confer with his attorney during the hearing."

from NRE synopsis (by Maurice Possley):

"In the early morning hours of February 27, 2007, 36-year-old Vincent Hill was fatally shot once in the chest near a basketball court in the east Williamsburg section of Brooklyn..."

"On March 21, 2007, police arrested 22-year-old Randolph Williams and charged him with murder and illegal use of a weapon. The detectives said that three witnesses had identified Williams as the gunman. All three had identified Williams in a live line-up and one of them, a woman, had identified him in a photo lineup as well, police said. The woman, police said, voluntarily came forward because she wanted to do the right thing.

"Williams went to trial in [Brooklyn] in March 2008. By that time, the two male witnesses had recanted their identification of Williams as the gunman. They said they had mentioned Williams' name to police and picked him out of the live lineup because they knew him previously. One of the men said he not only didn't see the gunman, but didn't see Williams at the scene at all.

"The other man said he could not identify the gunman, but did see that the gunman was wearing a jacket that was similar to one Williams had worn in the past. And he testified that just before the shooting, he heard the victim say, 'Here comes Pooch,' which was Williams' nickname.

"The third witness, who had given an audiotaped statement identifying Williams as the gunman, refused to testify, saying that she had been approached and threatened by a man she had previously seen with Williams. She said she feared for her life and the lives of her family members.

"The trial judge held a hearing to determine whether the witness would be declared 'unavailable,' and therefore police could testify to her identification of Williams. The judge ordered Williams excluded from the courtroom during the hearing, although Williams was allowed to hear a live audio feed from the courtroom while he was in a holding cell.

"Three days after the hearing was concluded, the judge ruled that the witness was unavailable and that the prosecution had shown that [Williams] was responsible. As a result, the judge ruled that Williams had forfeited his right to cross-examine the witness and that the audiotape would be played for the jury and her testimony before the grand jury would be read to the jury.

"Williams presented an alibi defense, contending he was 15 miles away with his girlfriend at Coney Island at the time of the shooting.

"On April 8, 2008, the jury convicted Williams..."

"In February 2015, the...Second Department...vacated Williams' convictions..."

"Prior to his retrial, investigators Robert Rahn and Kim Anklin, working for Williams' lawyer, Michael Farkas, interviewed the three eyewitnesses. The one who said he had not seen the gunman or Williams at the scene stood by that testimony. The one who said the gunman wore a jacket similar to one that Williams wore and heard Hill refer to Williams just before the shooting by the nickname 'Pooch' said that testimony was false and that he had no idea who committed the crime.

"The third witness -- the woman who had refused to testify at the first trial -- said that the police had forced her to identify Williams by threatening to have her arrested and evicted from her public housing apartment for dealing drugs out of her residence. She said the police account of her voluntarily coming forward as a Good Samaritan was false.

"The woman said that police showed her a photo array and told her to pick out Williams. She said that after Williams surrendered and was put in a lineup, she was again told by police to pick him out as the gunman. The witness said she feared being prosecuted for perjury for telling a grand jury in 2007 that Wiliams was the gunman.

"On March 15, 2016, after the retrial began, the female witness again failed to appear to testify. As a result, [Brooklyn] Justice Alan Marrus dismissed the case and Williams was released.

"In 2017, Williams filed a lawsuit in [Brooklyn] seeking compensation. He also filed a claim with the New York State Court of Claims, which was settled in December 2020 for $2,500,000."

[All emphases added unless otherwise noted.]