Queens men wrongfully convicted finally freed, a lifetime later
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George Bell, Rohan Bolt and Gary Johnson had their wrongful convictions for a 1996 double homicide vacated Friday. Eagle photo by Rachel Vick
By Rachel Vick
After nearly 25 years of incarceration and facing life sentences for a crime they didn’t commit, three men from Queens officially walked free Friday, ready to start the next chapter of their lives without having to fear retrial.
Gary Johnson, Rohan Bolt and George Bell were all smiles on their way into the Queens Criminal Courthouse before being fully exonerated by the Queens District Attorney for a 1996 double murder they have served a collective 72 years for. The men knew heading in that DA Melinda Katz was going to move to vacate their conviction.
“It is egregiously unfair that [they] were stripped of liberty as young men,” said Hon. Michelle Johnson, who presided over the hearing. “When the criminal justice system fails it fails everyone [involved].”
An overflow room was opened for the family and friends who were unable to fit in the ceremonial courtroom to watch the proceedings on a livestream. Still, everyone waited with bated breath for the order they already knew would be coming.
The mood was lighter than during Bell, Bolt and Johnson’s remote hearing in March, when Judge Joseph Zayas ruled that they were wrongfully convicted and issued the condition that the DA’s office had 90 days to decide to re-try the trio.
On Friday, Bell, Bolt and Johnson arrived at the courthouse in person and dressed to the nines, surrounded by family.
The collective attitude was shaped by the triumph of victory and an air of excitement and optimism after waiting a lifetime for their truth to be recognized – Bell, Bolt and Johnson are innocent. Emotions ran high and tears flowed from attendees while the verdict was read, but the cheers only rang out when the three men left the building, finally freed.
Bell, who was arrested at 19, has spent more than half his life in prison. He said the ability to see his family in person and call his parents whenever he wanted was “the most beautiful feeling.”
“For so many years I carried a burden… more heavy than the stone pillars that keep this court afloat,” he said. “I woke up everyday thinking, ‘today is the day I go home’.”
“Don't get it twisted, I'm upset,” he added. “I'm angry for what they did… but you can't go through life holding onto it like that.”
Bell’s fiance, Burnett Green, said she had been with him since she was 14 and couldn’t “wait for it to be over so [they] could get on with their lives.”
Bolt had his mother with him, and said that he was grateful she lived to see the day he walked free.
“Twenty five years ago I walked up these same steps as an innocent man and 25 years later I'm still here an innocent man,” he said. “It wasn’t an easy road but we never gave up and today to see that we’re walking as free men, I'm thankful.”
The men exited the courthouse triumphant. Eagle photo by Rachel Vick
The trio was convicted of the 1996 murders of Ira “Mike” Epstein and NYPD Police Officer Charles Davis after five days of investigation and a trial marked by misconduct. In March of 2021, their lawyers and the DA’s office filed a joint motion to overturn the conviction.
On Friday, prosecutors announced that on top of the initial findings overturning the conviction in March – that assistant district attorneys on the case withheld evidence from the defense and violated their constitutional right to a fair trial – the DA’s team discovered further undisclosed evidence that they say would have impacted the original verdict.
Among the discrepancies was that a truck connected to the crime differed from one owned by the defendants and was not only described in specific detail by a witness and drawn by a sketch artist, but was recovered shortly after the crime with fingerprints that did not match any of the men.
Johnson and Bolt’s lawyer Rita Dave said that withholding of evidence was not surprising, and stressed the need for structural change. She said the court community has an obligation to correct past wrongs and prevent future mistakes “however inconvenient.”
“Today was a dream, a distant hope and wish,” Dave said during the proceedings. “To attain freedom we needed a change in Queens. The foundation has been set.”
Johnson’s brother Dwight Slatten, who first reached out to Dave for her advice, said that while the victory was sweet, to celebrate without plans to hold prosecutors responsible for the misconduct would be half as fulfilling.
“This is a great feeling but until the prosecutors are held to the same accountability y'all are just going to have these same stories over and over,” Slatten said. “Until the prosecutors are held accountable this is almost in vain.”
“We got two resignations but they could be sipping piña coladas collecting pensions right now and these men lost 75 years of their life,” Slatten said. “I can’t tell you what to do but the system needs to be put in place or this will continue to happen.”
Correction: Burnett Green is George Bell’s fiance, not Rohan Bolt’s, as an earlier version of this story suggested.
