'I feel free': Prosecutors drop charges against Prakash Churaman
/
Prakash Churaman, right, and his attorney Jose Nieves, left, after a Monday court appearance during which all charges against the former juvenile defendant were dropped. Eagle photo by Jacob Kaye
By Jacob Kaye
Nearly eight years ago, the Queens district attorneys office brought murder charges against a teenage boy from Rosedale. On Monday afternoon, after appearing in the Queens Criminal Courthouse for nearly the 100th time in his life, Prakash Churaman walked out the building as a free man.
“I feel free now – free,” Churaman said. “No doubt, no hesitation, no uncertainty hanging over my shoulders.”
He added: “I can do what I want, I can say what I want, I can stand on the steps [of the courthouse] now and speak to whoever I want now without anyone telling me I can't do this and I can't do that – I feel free.”
Prosecutors from the Queens district attorney’s office filed to drop all charges against Churaman on Monday, only weeks away from the expected beginning of his retrial – an appellate court overturned his original conviction in 2020. Churaman faced six charges, including a felony murder charge, for a fatal shooting he has maintained he had no part in.
The filing came in response to a motion recently filed by the defense, which claimed that a bulk of the charges against Churaman, who was 15 years old at the time of his arrest, legally couldn’t be brought against a minor.
Queens Supreme Court Justice Kenneth Holder – who improperly denied Churaman’s defense team an opportunity to bring an expert on juvenile coerced confessions to the witness stand during the original trial in 2018 – told Churaman’s attorney, Jose Nieves, and Assistant District Attorney Adrea Medina the expected result of the unceremonious hearing minutes before it officially began.
Nieves whispered the news to Churaman, who was sitting in the back of the courtroom waiting for his case to be called. Not expecting the charges to be dropped, Churaman let out a yell and paced around the back of the room before being told by a court officer to take a seat.
“I literally thought I was coming here for an ordinary calendar appearance,” Churaman said. “I was just hoping that today would be the day that I hear an official retrial date so I could get on with the case. This was the last thing on my mind.”
Prakash Churaman in the halls of the Queens Criminal Courthouse after learning that eight-year-old murder charges against him had been dropped on Monday, June 6, 2022. Eagle photo by Jacob Kaye
Despite moving to drop the charges, the Queens district attorney's office maintained that they believe Churaman was one of several people behind the 2014 murder of 21-year-old Taquane Clark in Jamaica during a robbery gone wrong.
“The People continue to maintain defendant’s guilt of the very serious charges in the indictment, including felony murder, attempted robbery, kidnapping in the second degree, and criminal possession of a weapon in the second degree, all charges of which he was convicted,” the prosecutors’ motion reads. “The People also believe that the evidence that would be adduced at a new trial would again prove all of those charges beyond a reasonable doubt.”
The Queens district attorney’s office declined to comment further on the case.
Prosecutors claim Churaman was one of three people behind the robbery. Elijah Gough, who was 28 at the time of the robbery, was previously convicted and sentenced to 65 years to life in prison, a sentence he currently is serving. An alleged third person remains at large.
Medina placed the blame for the delayed dismissal of charges on Churaman’s current and previous attorneys, and said that had the defense raised the issue at an earlier point during the nearly eight-year legal battle, the case would have been dismissed.
“Today, more than three years later, defense counsel raises the infancy defense for the first time,” the motion reads. “Had counsel properly raised the issue at the time of the initial verdict, this matter could have been disposed of long ago.”
Nieves, who ran against current-District Attorney Melinda Katz for the office in 2019, had a different theory about the reason behind the DA’s response to his motion.
“I think they conceded that they could not prove that case beyond a reasonable doubt,” he said. “And therefore, they had to dismiss it.”
The main piece evidence tying Churaman to Clark’s murder was the testimony of then-74-year-old Olive Legister, who claimed she heard Churaman’s voice, but did not see him, when she was being held at gun point in the Jamaica home.
There’s also Churaman’s confession to police detectives Barry Brown and Daniel Gallagher, which he gave without the presence of an attorney and claims was coerced. A report from Hell Gate in May unveiled that Brown and Gallagher were at the center of a recent $2 million settlement paid out by the city after the pair allegedly withheld exonerating evidence against two wrongfully accused men.
Prakash Churaman (right) with his then-attorneys Ron Kuby (middle) and Rhiya Trivedi in Queens Supreme Court in 2018 before the start of his original trial. Eagle file photo by Christina Carrega
Churaman’s confession was at the center of his successful 2020 bid to overturn his original conviction.
Churaman, who spent four years as a teen detained on Rikers Island and several more in a New York prison, has spent the past two years on house arrest, living with his mother and newborn child in their Rosedale home.
Following the appellate decision, Churaman turned down a plea deal from the district attorney, insisting he get a chance to prove his innocence.
After turning down the plea deal, Churaman made regular, scheduled appearances at the Queens Criminal Courthouse, drawing a growing group of supporters each time he did.
During that time, a number of Queens elected officials advocated for the charges against Churaman to be dropped, writing letters to Katz expressing their outrage over the case and appearing on the courthouse steps next to the now-22-year-old man.
Assemblymember Zohran Mamdani, who was at the courthouse on Monday before the conference, said that while he technically doesn't have any power in the case, he felt it was important to ensure it was unfolding in full view of the public.
“Our role is to ensure that this is not happening in the shadows so that everyone understands what our DA is choosing to pursue,” Mamdani said. “We are told time and again that the office of the district attorney is an office that is separate from politics. But anyone who follows the world of criminal justice understands that you cannot separate what happens inside the courtroom with what is happening outside the courtroom.”
Mamdani, Councilmembers Shekar Krishnan and Shahana Hanif, and former candidates for public office Felicia Singh and Mufazzal Hossain released a joint statement Monday afternoon, saying they were “relieved” that Churaman’s fight and the organizing by friends, family and local groups led to end of the criminal case against him.
“After six years and a childhood lost to Rikers Island, Prakash will return home to his partner and infant son as a free man,” they said. “This city will never be able to return Prakash’s lost years to him, but tonight he returns to his community.”
From left to right: Prakash Churaman’s mother, Nandani Churaman, his girlfriend, Famelia Khan, his son Kayden Churaman, Prakash Churman and attorney Jose Nieves. Eagle photo by Jacob Kaye
Though he no longer faces criminal charges, Churaman’s legal fight will continue. His civil rights attorney, Cary London, told the Eagle that they plan to sue the city for $25 million for the years he spent on Rikers Island.
Exiting the courthouse on Monday, Churaman looked back at the courthouse several times. With tears in his eyes, he embraced his family, which he said were at the top of his mind.
“We are really going to start this process with a lot of healing,” he said. “Nothing is going to erase or take away what these people did to me, to my family, but we are going to do as much as we can to just heal and bond, and just try to cherish every last moment we got together.”
Following the hearing, Churaman and his family made their way to a New York City Sheriff’s office in Long Island City to get his ankle monitor, which he has worn for about two years, taken off.
Several years ago, when he was still incarcerated, Churaman was reading in the law library when he came across the legal argument that he would eventually bring to his attorney and that would eventually set him free. And so, it was fitting that when it came time to get the monitor removed, the sheriff’s deputy handed the large pair of surveillance-tech-cutting scissors over Churaman. He did it himself.
This story was updated at 8:35 p.m., on Monday, June 6, 2022.
