Thursday, April 4, 2019

The saga of the retrial of Chanel Lewis should not END without special mention of the NY Times' coverage of the case by Jan Ransom


The title of Ms. Ransom's most recent article about this case, "Mystery of Karina Vetrano’s Death Ends With Murder Conviction" does not bespeak the very pithy content of her reporting about the summations and the "guilty" verdict handed down by the retrial jury in the Chanel Lewis case  ---  it is probably not  >>> HER <<<  choice for a title,  that being the province of some NY Times headline editor



In some ways, her lead paragraph says it all  ---  "A Brooklyn man was found guilty late Monday of murdering a woman while she jogged in a Queens park, ending a two-week trial that had raised questions about coerced confessions, racial profiling and police practices...."  (See  "Mystery of Karina Vetrano’s Death Ends With Murder Conviction"  by Jan Ransom,  4/1/19,  NY Times/ New York   [https://www.nytimes.com/2019/04/01/nyregion/karina-vetrano-trial-verdict.html]).

A little later in her piece, Ms. Ransom says that,  "....  Mr. Lewis’s first trial, five months ago, ended with a hung jury. Some jurors then were swayed by defense arguments that Mr. Lewis’s confession was coerced and that the DNA evidence was contaminated....   But after only five hours of deliberation on Monday, at his second trial, a different jury found Mr. Lewis guilty of first-degree murder and other charges for the strangling of Ms. Vetrano...." 


JAN RANSOM ENCAPSULATED KEY ELEMENTS OF THE TRIAL VERY WELL

For the prosecution there was this:   "....   With each witness, prosecutors sought to show that the DNA evidence had not been tainted and that Mr. Lewis had not been pressured into confessing to a crime he did not commit, as the defense argued....   The lead prosecutor, Brad A. Leventhal, said it was '376 billion times more probable it’s his DNA under her fingernails' than somebody else’s. Mr. Leventhal said the argument from defense lawyers that Mr. Lewis gave a false confession 'makes no sense.'...   Mr. Leventhal said evidence from cellphones placed Mr. Lewis in the area of the park at the time of the murder. He also stressed that Mr. Lewis’s cellphone contained downloaded images of the crime scene and internet searches about 'second chances.'..."

And for the defense, this:  "....  Mr. Lewis’s lawyers had sought to poke holes in the prosecution’s case, suggesting that the investigation into Karina Vetrano’s murder was 'sloppy.'  Investigators and the medical examiner, they said, had not checked for DNA evidence at the crime scene or on other parts of Ms. Vetrano’s body — aside from her neck and nails....   'This is tunnel vision clouding judgment,' said Robert Moeller, one of Mr. Lewis’s lawyers. 'You see things that could have been done were not done.'...   Mr. Moeller told jurors that reasonable doubt exists. He said there was no video of Mr. Lewis entering or leaving the park and no fingerprints or hair, or 'the kind of DNA that will tell you what happened.' He argued that Mr. Lewis’s DNA could have ended up on Ms. Vetrano through transference if they touched the same surface at some point....   He also argued that Mr. Lewis’s statements to investigators were inconsistent with evidence at the crime scene. He told the police she drowned in a puddle, for instance, yet autopsy results show she was strangled."

32 comments:

Anonymous said...

Something that even Jan Ransom hasn't mentioned is that the App Div at Monroe Place in Brooklyn is very familiar with both Queens Supreme Justice Michael Aloise' pro-prosecution bias and failure to follow various appellate precedents in criminal cases, and the Queens DA's Office penchant for prosecutorial misconduct. That particular stew boiled over in the Chanel Lewis case, and the Second Department is likely to clean up much if not all of that mess.

Anonymous said...

Fact: Nobody is convicted of anything until the outcome of the direct appeal.

Anonymous said...

Fact: Chanel Lewis is in prison.

Anonymous said...

Fact: Phil Vetrano, the 'father' that found his daughter deep in the 'weeds', just keeps returning to the 'scene of the crime', like a moth drawn to the destructive flame, but in his case, it's destructive fame.

Anonymous said...

Eaton still hiding???

Anonymous said...

Ted still hiding???

Anonymous said...

Eaton isn't hiding, you are suffering from 'no-see-ums'.
I'll bet that last fall you had 'no-see-ums', when it came to the large numbers of normally GOP-voting Brooklyn constituents, who wanted GOP incumbents Golden and Donovan to be part of Brooklyn GOP history.
Eaton was around then too, but I'm sure that you no-see-um.

Anonymous said...

Liam is in perfect position to become our next Party chairman. God bless..

Galewyn Massey said...

UPDATE & BACKFILL: THE "AMSTERDAM NEWS 'GETS IT' ABOUT THE CHANEL LEWIS RETRIAL" EDITION

CALLS LEGAL PROCEEDINGS AND VERDICT AGAINST CHANEL LEWIS --- "[AN] INJUSTICE"


The preeminent paper of NYC's Black community started things off by saying, "Cheers and applause filled the courtroom when verdict read that Chanel Lewis was the guilty of the murder of Karina Vetrano. But that doesn’t mean it wasn’t without controversy...." Then it went on, including this quote of a statement by Chanel Lewis' defense counsel: “We wholeheartedly disagree with Judge Aloise’s precipitous rejection of our request for a hearing to investigate potential Brady violations by the New York City Police Department and the Queens County district attorney’s office that could have well changed the outcome of the case,” read The Legal Aid Society’s statement to the AmNews. 'Exculpatory information was reported and confirmed that was never revealed to the defense and that could have exonerated Mr. Lewis, yet the court declined even to allow exploration of the issue. This is a complete miscarriage of justice. Judge Aloise also kept jurors for well over 12 hours—an unprecedented action—to extract a verdict. Our client did not receive a fair trial.'...” (See "INJUSTICE SERVED: Chanel Lewis found guilty–Appeal imminent" by Stephon Johnson, 4/4/19, New York Amsterdam News [http://amsterdamnews.com/news/2019/apr/04/chanel-lewis-found-guilty/]).

Galewyn Massey said...

***** THIS COMMENT IS BEING PLACED ON THE COMMENTS THREADS TO MULTIPLE FEATURED POSTS ON THIS BLOG BECAUSE OF ITS SIGNIFICANCE IN COVERING WHAT WENT DOWN DURING JURY DELIBERATIONS IN THE CHANEL LEWIS RETRIAL *****


BACKFILL: THE "JURY FOREMAN DOESN'T SPEAK FOR THE WHOLE JURY IN POST-TRIAL INTERVIEWS" EDITION

THE JUROR REFERRED TO AS "THE 'UNIDENTIFIED' WHITE MALE 'PRESSURED JUROR'" IN MY COMMENT AT "APRIL 3, 2019 AT 11:46 AM" ABOVE GAVE AN EXCLUSIVE INTERVIEW TO THE QUEENS DAILY EAGLE --- STATED THAT, EXCEPT FOR HIMSELF, ALL OF THE WHITE JURORS WANTED TO CONVICT CHANEL LEWIS IMMEDIATELY --- HE SAID THAT THE JURY WAS PRESSURED BY MULTIPLE SOURCES AND MULTIPLE TIMES TO REACH A VERDICT ON THE VERY-EXTENDED FIRST DAY OF DELIBERATIONS --- SAID THAT JURY FOREMAN'S PUBLIC STATEMENTS DID NOT EXPRESS THE FEELINGS OF THE JURY AS A WHOLE AND SEVERAL JURORS HAD DOUBTS UNTIL THEY WERE PRESSURED --- INDICATED THAT KNOWLEDGE OF CONTENTS OF LAST MINUTE "ANONYMOUS" LETTER MIGHT HAVE INFLUENCED JURY'S DELIBERATIONS AND VERDICT


Things inside the jury room at the Chanel Lewis retrial were so bad that one of the jurors felt compelled to call a reporter at the Queens Eagle (Probably David F. Brand) to report his misgivings about the deliberations and how the "guilty" verdict went down ( See "EXCLUSIVE: 'It was crazy how fast it went,' Vetrano trial juror tells Eagle" by staff writer, 4/2/19, Queens Daily Eagle [https://queenseagle.com/all/2019/4/2/exclusive-i-was-only-white-person-that-didnt-rush-to-find-him-guilty-vetrano-juror-says]).

Even though this juror clearly did not want to reach a conclusion about the racial overtones that were likely present inside the jury room, what he described as going on in this case was a clearly a situation where a white majority of jurors and the obvious influence of key court personnel bullied any and all opposition to a "guilty" verdict against being rendered against Chanel Lewis in less than one day of deliberations, albeit a very long day indeed.

As to the sexual assault component of the charges against Chanel Lewis, this juror clearly stated that >>> special knowledge of evidence and arguments from another sexual abuse case and not mentioned during the Chanel Lewis retrial were considered by the jurors in Lewis' retrial; and in particular by this juror, they influenced his "guilty" verdict on the sexual abuse charges against Chanel Lewis.

This tidbit of the interview was especially significant --- ".... The juror said he and the other jurors learned about the existence of a letter from an anonymous person claiming to be an NYPD officer who stated that information was withheld from the defense team immediately after the trial ended.... 'I found out about the note after we gave our verdict,' he said. 'I kinda just sank into a chair and shook my head looking at everyone. And kinda let out a sigh and said, "You gotta be fucking kidding me.'...”

Anonymous said...

The issues on appeal will work. That will be in 2021.

Anonymous said...

2021
Ulrich will be BP
Liam Councilman

Anonymous said...

The editors at the New York Daily News are not happy at everything that happened during jury deliberations in the CHanel Lewis trial --- and according to the Daily News editorial today, NY State's top judge is looking into the whole thing, as well.

Anonymous said...

So we won't have to wait till 2021?

Anonymous said...

Where is Eaton??

Anonymous said...

I don't know, it's not my turn to watch him for Golden, Ghorra and Kassar.

Anonymous said...

Cats told Eaton to stay out of Chairman Ghorra way

Galewyn Massey said...

UPDATE & BACKFILL: THE "CALIFORNIA DREAMIN'" EDITION

EVEN SOMEBODY 3000 MILES AWAY CAN TELL THAT CHANEL LEWIS IS NOT THE RIGHT GUY.....

Emily Blackwood is a writer and editor living in California. She has covered all kinds of newsy things, but her focus seems to be on pop culture, and true crime stories. Her piece for something called "YOUR TANGO" does a pretty good retrospective on the Chanel Lewis - Karina Vetrano murder case and Chanel Lewis' conviction after a retrial (See "Who Is Chanel Lewis? New Details About The Man Who Murdered Karina Vetrano" by Emily Blackwood, 4/9/19, Your Tango/ Entertainment & News [https://www.yourtango.com/2019323422/who-chanel-lewis-man-who-murdered-karina-vetrano]).

The piece is mostly factual and fairly neutral, but it does point out some of the most glaring problems for the prosecution.....

That's it; just maintaining the record on articles about this kind of stuff.

Anonymous said...

Ted has been building a solid long term foundation for the future of the GOP.

Anonymous said...

1151 is correct..and Ghorra and Golden have been working with Cats on this ..which is why Eaton and Capano are MIA

Anonymous said...

AHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA..

AHAHAHAHAHA..

AHAHAHA..

Whew! You gotta stop with those gut busters..

Anonymous said...

Future New York State GOP Chairperson Ghorra will field a full slate of competitive races for statewide office in 2022. The focus on a few local races is not the future of the GOP.

Anonymous said...

Ted is a big picture guy. It's what this party needs.

Anonymous said...

Ted Ghorra is the kinda GOP Chairguy that needs instructions from Conservative Chairmun Kassar on how to use a roll of Scott toilet paper..

Galewyn Massey said...

UPDATE & BACKFILL: THE "MOTHER'S LAMENT" EDITION

CHANEL LEWIS' MON PRETTY MUCH CHARGES THE NYPD AND QUEENS PROSECUTORS WITH A "SET-UP" OF HER SON, BECAUSE HE WAS ALMOST THE PERFECT PATSY THAT >>> THEY NEEDED <<< BECAUSE THEY HAD GOTTEN NOWHERE ON THE CASE

Several media outlets are reporting that Veta Lewis, Chanel Lewis' mother, is saying that her son was set up by the cops and the Queens Da's Office. She told the NY Post and WABC about all of it on Wednesday --- “[That] they believe that my son is helpless [ ] is one of the reasons why they did this to him.... They were looking for somebody to place, try this on and I think that’s the reason why they chose him.”

The conduct of the retrial is likely to be investigated by NY State court administrators and the guilty verdict reviewed by several appellate courts, possibly including federal.

Anonymous said...

Is Eaton hibernating until 2029 when he says he and Cats will take over??

Anonymous said...

Take over what?

Anonymous said...

Nobody gets it...

Eaton and his crowd have largely walked away. By their being merely passive aggressive in 2018, looked what happened to Golden, Donovan and Ghorra's Brooklyn GOP.

Any other stupid questions about where Eaton is and what he is doing while he's there?

Anonymous said...

Yes
.Eaton controls every thing
..ahahahahahaha
Why is he hibernating and why does Cats have k assar on his show

Anonymous said...

Take over what?

Anonymous said...

What's what?

Why is anybody still talking about Eaton? --- He really doesn't care; and it just doesn't matter anymore?

Anonymous said...

1030 Is correct Eaton d oesnt care and it doesn't matter anymore BECAUSE nobody cares about him and he doesn't matter anymore...