Todd McCord - Mistaken Witness Identification

McCord, Todd; murder; NRE: mistaken witness identification

[553:806]; 2nd Dept. 4/2/90; affirmed

"The charges of which [McCord] stands convicted arose as a result of the October 6, 1986 attempted robbery of a Nabisco Warehouse in Queens County. At approximately 10:30 A.M. on that date [McCord] [???] and three accomplices entered the warehouse, threatened several employees with a shotgun and attempted to obtain the cash receipts. One of the employees being held at gunpoint managed to escape and the robbery was aborted. Immediately thereafter [McCord] and his accomplices fled in a green van bearing New Jersey license plates.

"At approximately 10:55 A.M., [NYPD] Officers Mark Wolf and Stanley Radzunski...observed a van matching the description previously broadcast...The officers commenced pursuit of the van, leading to a high-speed chase which terminated when the van collided with another vehicle. The collision resulted in the death of a passenger in the other vehicle. The collision resulted in the death of a passenger in the other vehicle. Two men ran out of the van. The codefendant Louis Slaughter [who is NOT on the NRE] was immediately apprehended, but the other man, who ran with a noticeable limp and was identified as [McCord], escaped. [McCord] was later arrested in connection with these crimes.

"One of the warehouse employees, William Blatz, had ample opportunity to observe [McCord] for five minutes during the commission of the crime, and in describing one of the perpetrators to the police, Blatz stated that he strongly resembled a former warehouse employee, Eric McCord, [Todd's] brother. Ten days after the crime, Blatz positively identified [Todd McCord] from a police lineup. In addition, another warehouse employee, William Judge, selected [McCord] from a lineup as the perpetrator wielding the shotgun during the robbery attempt...[W]e are satisfied that the verdict was not against the weight of the evidence..."

from NRE synopsis (by Maurice Possley):

"McCord went to trial in Queens...in October 1987...McCord's lawyer called alibi witnesses who testified that McCord was elsewhere at the time of the robbery.

"On November 10, 1987, a jury convicted McCord..."

"McCord's conviction was upheld in 1990 by the...Appellate Division. In 1993, McCord wrote a lengthy letter to the Queens [DA's] Office claiming he was innocent of the crime. McCord presented three affidavits supporting his claim. One was from a woman who said that at 7:30 a.m. on the day of the crimes, Lewis Slaughter, Clifton Waters and two other men came to her home to recruit her husband to take part in a robbery of the Nabisco Company warehouse. The woman said that she objected and ordered the men to leave the house. She said she told her husband 'that he better not go with them or I will leave him.'

"The woman said that at about noon that same day, Waters came back to her home 'really nervous stating that him and Lewis Slaughter was in the van while the cops were chasing it after they tried to rob the Nabisco Co. and that Lewis accidentally crashed his van into another car when the cops were chasing them.' She said that Waters told her that he thought Slaughter was arrested. The woman said she ordered Waters to leave and he did.

"Three weeks later, the woman said in the affidavit, Waters came back to the house 'to apologize' for coming to the house with the others to try to get her husband to take part in the robbery. 'Waters then stated the cops had mistaken(ly) arrested a guy named Todd McCord.' The woman said she immediately recognized that Todd McCord was a younger brother to Neal McCord, who had formerly dated an acquaintance of the woman.

"The woman said that 'at that point, I noticed that Clifton Waters and Todd McCord looked just alike.' The woman said she tried to find Neal McCord, but could not locate him. Four months later, Waters was fatally shot in the vestibule of his apartment building.

"The woman said that in 1992, her husband found Neal McCord and told him of the conversations with Waters. She said that at the time she did not come forward 'in fear for the safety of the family' from the others who were involved in the robbery attempt but were not apprehended. She said she feared she or her husband would be charged with something because of the robbery discussion that occurred in her home on the day of the crime.

"A private investigator working on behalf of McCord filed an affidavit describing an interview with Bernardine Waters, who was Clifton Waters' sister and who had a child with Lewis Slaughter. She said that after the attempted robbery, she came to believe that Clifton committed the crime with Lewis Slaughter and two other men. Bernardine Waters told the investigator that Slaughter told her he had never met McCord.

"Michael Kirkland, a friend of Slaughter, said in an affidavit that in 1987, while Slaughter was awaiting trial, he told Kirkland that McCord 'had nothing to do with the crime.'

"The Queens County [DA's] office interviewed the witnesses and conducted a re-investigation of the case over several months. [Manhattan] Justice Randall Eng held a hearing in March 1994. A man who was described only as 'Witness #1' testified after being granted immunity in return for his testimony. The witness said he was one of the robbers who had not been charged in the case...By then, the five-year statute of limitations on robbery had expired. The witness testified that McCord was not involved in the crime.

"On March 17, 1994, Justice Eng said the testimony of Witness #1 was credible and left 'no doubt as to (McCord's) non-participation in any of the crimes for which he was convicted.'

"The judge noted in a written decision that at the conclusion of the hearing, the prosecutor said, '(T)he People concede the defendant's motion and we ask the court to grant the motion.' After the convictions were vacated, the prosecutor dismissed the charges and McCord was released.

"McCord filed a claim with the New York Court of Claims seeking compensation. The claim was settled for $350,000 in 2000."

[All emphases added unless otherwise noted.]