Rhain Taylor - Mistaken Witness ID, Perjury, Misconduct

Taylor, Rhian; murder; NRE: mistaken witness identification, perjury/false accusation, prosecutor misconduct, police officer misconduct, withheld exculpatory evidence, misconduct that is not withholding evidence, witness tampering or misconduct interrogating co-defendant, perjury by official, prosecutor lied in court

[The judge who presided over this trial was Robert C. McGann. ]

22 N.Y.S.3d 140; Court of Appeals 10/27/15; reversed, due to jury issue

"Based on his alleged shooting of Wayne Peacock and Darion Brown, which resulted in Brown's death...Taylor was indicted and tried on charges of murder [et al.]...According to the [prosecution's] proof at trial, the shooting occurred during a dispute outside the location of a party in Queens."

"[O]n the night of August 10, 2007, Brown drove Peacock, as well as their friends Seprel Turner and Anthony Hilton, to the site of the festivities. Upon their arrival and while they remained in the car, Brown tried to flirt with a friend of Hilton's, despite Hilton's admonition not to do so. A man, whom Turner and Hilton later identified as [Taylor], purportedly took offense at Brown's actions and shot into the car, striking Brown repeatedly in the torso. One shot also hit Peacock, who immediately awoke from a nap in the passenger seat and hence did not see the shooter's face. Brown frantically drove away but soon hit a nearby pole, and he was knocked unconscious. Peacock, Turner and Hilton scattered. Turner and Hilton then met up at Turner's house. About 10 minutes later, Hilton and Turner returned to the scene of the shooting, and although the police had already arrived, the men did not speak to the officers. The officers retrieved Brown from the car, and he was rushed to the hospital, where he died.

"Within a couple of days, Peacock led the police to Turner, who was shown a photo array and identified [Taylor] as the shooter...On August 14, Turner identified [Taylor] in a lineup. Meanwhile, Hilton learned that the police were looking for him...[He] informed the police of his observations of the crime, and he identified [Taylor] in a lineup.

"Months later, in 2008, Hilton was arrested on unrelated charges. Because Hilton was already on probation in connection with another matter he was charged with violating his probation. When Hilton appeared in court to answer the specifications of a probation violation, the prosecutor who handled the [Taylor] case also attended that court appearance and requested that no bail be set in Hilton's case. In August 2009, Hilton pleaded guilty to the violation without any negotiated plea. The court returned Hilton to a five-year term of probation. While he continued serving his probation term, Hilton shoplifted a scarf from a store, leading to his arrest and eventual conviction on a charge of criminal possession of stolen property. Hilton also had prior convictions for menacing and disorderly conduct.

"As for Turner, over a year after the shooting, in late 2009, he was arrested for unlawfully possessing a weapon. Thereafter, the [prosecutor] and Turner negotiated a plea agreement, under which Turner would plead guilty to criminal possession of a weapon in the second degree, a felony, and to criminal possession of a weapon in the fourth degree, a misdemeanor, and if he testified truthfully at [Taylor's] trial,* the felony charge would be dismissed and Turner could replead to the misdemeanor charge, resulting in a purely probationary sentence."

[* That's massively misleading. The real 'deal' in such agreements is that the witness will testify that the defendant 'did it,' regardless of whether that's actually the truth or not.]

"At trial, Turner acknowledged that he would obtain other benefits as a natural consequence of the deal. For example, by receiving only a misdemeanor conviction, he could not be sentenced as a second felony offender on any future crime that he might commit. And, Turner, who was pursuing a career as a rap artist, would avoid incarceration, thereby ensuring that he would not jeopardize his recently signed contract with a record label due to imprisonment. As previously noted, Turner and Hilton were the only witnesses who identified [Taylor] as the man who shot Brown and Peacock."

"In her summation, the prosecutor [Karen Ross] [stated] that the only material benefits which Turner had...received were those set forth in the cooperation agreement..."*

[* She was lying, as both Hilton and Turner themselves acknowledged.]

"[Two days later]...the jury issued [a] note [which] declared, '[W]e would like to see the benefits offered to Mr. Hilton and Mr. Turner, please.' In response to [this note], the court sent the jurors the written cooperation agreement between the [prosecution] and Turner, without consulting [the prosecutor or defense counsel]."

"Defense counsel objected to the court's response to the...note. Counsel essentially asserted that the response was incomplete without a read-back of Turner's and Hilton's testimony about the benefits they had received outside the context of the written cooperation agreement, such as the career-related and sentencing benefits to Turner and the pretrial release obtained by Hilton in his probation matter. The court replied that the jurors 'didn't ask for that'..."

"[T]he trial court [ Robert C. McGann] abused its discretion by declining to provide the jurors with information that they plainly wanted and incorrectly characterizing the state of the evidence on the subject of their inquiry."

"[B]ecause the requested testimony showed that the trial prosecutor had helped Hilton to win pretrial release in another case, this testimony suggested that Hilton had a motive to testify falsely in favor of the prosecution at [Taylor's] trial out of gratitude for the prosecutor's aid. Likewise, Turner's testimony that his cooperation with the [prosecution] enabled him to avoid imprisonment and prevent future adverse sentencing adjudications and continue making a living showed that he had a motive to give false testimony against [Taylor] in order to reap those rewards."

125 N.Y.S.3d 528; Court of Claims 11/8/19; civil suit

"After a retrial, Taylor was acquitted of all counts."

2021 WL 848966; E.D.N.Y. 3/4/21; civil suit

"Detective [Joseph] Bey, a Queens homicide detective, was assigned to the case. An investigation unearthed witnesses Seprel Turner...and Anthony Hilton... both of whom were friends of the victim and eventually identified [Taylor] as the shooter and the murder suspect...However, [according to Taylor's complaint] Detective Bey had knowledge that the witnesses were not credible...[Taylor] alleges that Detective Bey knew and did not disclose that...Turner and Hilton initially described a heavy-set black male who was clean-shaven and did not wear eyeglasses as the shooter, [that] Mr. Turner was a leader of the neighborhood 'Snow Gang'...that...Hilton and Turner were intoxicated at the time they witnessed the shooting...that Mr. Hilton was being prosecuted...for possession of a stolen automobile at the time Detective Bey interviewed him...and that Mr. Hilton refused to cooperate with police until he was eventually threatened with being sent to Rikers Island during a material witness proceeding unless he cooperated."

from NRE synopsis (by Maurice Possley):

"In the early morning hours of August 10, 2007, 22-year-old Darian Brown was fatally shot in his car in the Laurelton neighborhood of Queens...A passenger, 23-year-old Wayne Peacock, was shot in the leg and survived.

"Prior to the shooting, Brown, Peacock, and two other men -- Seprel Turner and Anthony Hilton -- were hanging out and decided to drive to a house party at 221st street and 133rd Avenue in Queens. When they arrived, the party had ended and there were a number of people on the street.

"Witnesses said they heard several shots. Brown, who was behind the wheel, was shot, as was Peacock. When Brown tried to drive away, he crashed into a utility pole. Brown died at the scene.

"Four days later, 21-year-old Rhian Taylor became a suspect after a witness told Brown's father that the killer was nicknamed 'K.O.' Taylor was among several men in the neighborhood known by that nickname.

"Taylor's photograph was placed in a photographic array, and Hilton and Turner identified him as the gunman. Taylor was then brought in and Hilton identified him in a live lineup."

"In March 2010, Taylor went to trial in Queens..."

"Hilton, who had a prior conviction as a juvenile for criminal possession of a firearm and menacing with a gun, as well as adult convictions for possession of stolen property and disorderly conduct, testified that he had been smoking marijuana for about three years, although he could not remember if he had smoked it that night. He said that Brown was sitting in his car and flirting with a girl who was hanging out on the street.

"Hilton testified that he got out of the back seat of the car and told Brown to stop because the girl was like a cousin to Hilton. Brown made fun of him as the girl's 'kissing cousin,' which caused some tension. Hilton then walked away from the car to see if he could find someone to help defuse the situation. He said that as he walked away, he saw a bespectacled man fire several shots at the car. Hilton identified Taylor, who was wearing glasses in court, as the gunman. Hilton said he ran to Turner's home, where Turner had fled. After a short while, Hilton returned to the scene and saw Brown's car crashed into the pole.

"Hilton admitted he did not come forward until he learned police were looking for him. During cross-examination, Taylor's defense attorney noted that the police reports did not contain any mention that Hilton said the shooter wore glasses. The lawyer noted that Hilton's DNA had been found in two specks of blood recovered from the driver's side of the car and suggested that Hilton was the gunman. Hilton denied being the gunman.

"The defense noted that prior to the trial, Hilton had been arrested on a probation violation. Karen Ross, the prosecutor in Taylor's case, had gone to court and asked that Hilton be freed without bail so he could testify in Taylor's trial. Instead, the judge had released Hilton and put him back on probation after Hilton admitted to the violation. The prosecutor contended that because her request that Hilton be released without bail was not acted upon, her involvement in the revocation matter did not affect his tesimony."*

[* That's ridiculous: This prosecutor asked that Hilton be freed, and Hilton was freed.]

"Turner admitted that he had been smoking marijuana two or three times daily for three years, and that he had been smoking marijuana on the day of the shooting. He also admitted smoking marijuana several times on the day before he testified. Turner admitted that six months after the murder, he was arrested in Queens for possessing a handgun. After he was released on that charge, he was arrested in Manhattan for possessing a knife and stolen property.

"Facing 15 years in prison, Turner entered into a cooperation agreement with the Queens [DA]. In exchange for his testimony against Taylor, he was allowed to plead guilty to a misdemeanor charge and a sentence of three years of probation.

"Turner testified that after Brown asked Hilton if he and the girl were 'kissing cousins,' a man walked over and began arguing with Hilton, who was still in Brown's car. Turner said Hilton then got out of the car and the man began shouting. Turner said the shooter was wearing glasses, and like Hilton, he identified Taylor as the gunman.

"Joseph Bey, the detective who handled the case, testified that Turner and Hilton had not mentioned glasses in their descrptions of the gunman.

"During closing argument, Taylor's attorney told the jury that Turner and Hilton had wrongly identified Taylor because they had received help from the [DA's] Office on their pending cases.

"The prosecutor, Karen Ross, told the jury that Turner and Hilton had received no benefit at all, and that both Hilton and Turner had testified 'to get the right person' to get justice for Brown. She said that they 'had nothing to gain by pinning this on somebody who didn't do it.'"*

[* Another bold-faced lie: In addition to drastically reduced sentences for their own crimes, given that the real killer here was almost certainly Hilton himself, both he and his friend/gang associate Turner had a great deal to gain by pinning on this Taylor.]

"During deliberations, the jurors asked to see the benefits received by Hilton and Turner. The trial judge allowed the jury to see a copy of Turner's written cooperation agreement, but the jury never learned of the testimony about any benefits to Turner and Hilton. The judge told the jury that the written agreement was the only evidence of benefits* and rejected the defense request that the jury hear a readback of Hilton and Turner's testimony about the benefits."

[* As the Court of Appeals noted, the judge's claim here was not true. ]

"On March 29, 2010, after a week of deliberation, the jury convicted Taylor..."

"On October 27, 2015, the New York Court of Appeals reversed the convictions and ordered a new trial. The court held that trial court 'abused its discretion by declining to provide the jurors with information that they plainly wanted and incorrectly characterizing the state of the evidence on the subject of their inquiry.'

"On December 21, 2016, Taylor was released on bond pending a new trial.* In January 2017, Taylor went to trial a second time. By that time, Hilton had been shot to death, so his testimony from the first trial was read to the jury. Turner again testified and identified Taylor. During cross-examination, the defense team...presented evidence they had discovered that Turner had since been convicted of perjury in Florida and also had been convicted of pimping out his pregnant girlfriend and another woman who was using Turner's sister's identification."

[* Why did it take over a year after the reversal for Taylor to finally be released on bond?]

"On January 31, 2017, the jury acquitted Taylor.

"Taylor subsequently filed a compensation claim in the New York Court of Claims. During a deposition of Detective Bey, he admitted that both Turner and Hilton told him the shooter was not wearing glasses, but he failed to include that information in his report. Bey also admitted that he failed to note that Hilton and Turner also told him that the gunman was clean-shaven. At the time, Taylor had a mustache and a goatee.

"Bey also admitted that prior to the first trial, [trial prosecutor Karen] Ross discussed with him -- but did not disclose to the defense -- that Turner was a leader of a notorious street gang, known as the 'Snow Gang.' The gang operated in the same general neighborhood where the shooting occurred, and was involved in murders, drug dealing, and prostitution.

"Taylor subsequently filed a federal civil rights lawsuit against the city of New York and Bey. It was settled for $3 million in 2021."

[All emphases added unless otherwise noted.]