Top prosecutor quits after Queens judge accuses him of lying in death penalty case
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Charles Testagrossa has been accused by a Queens judge of “deliberately” concealing key evidence and lying about it as he sough the death penalty in a 1996 murder case. Eagle file photo by Andy Katz
By David Brand
A veteran Nassau County prosecutor quit Tuesday after a Queens judge overturned three of his murder convictions and accused him of “deliberately” withholding key evidence to preserve a death penalty case.
Charles Testagrossa resigned as Nassau County’s chief of investigations four days after Justice Joseph Zayas ruled that he concealed police reports and other exculpatory evidence while seeking the death penalty for the 1996 killing of a police officer and business owner. Testagrossa worked in the Queens DA’s office from 1987 until 2016, rising to the highest ranks before leaving for Long Island.
Defense attorneys and investigators in the Queens DA’s new Conviction Integrity Unit revealed that Testagrossa, the former head of the office’s Major Crimes Division, hid police reports and concealed his own handwritten notes pointing to other likely suspects while prosecuting George Bell, Rohan Bolt and Gary Johnson for the murders. Zayas overturned their wrongful convictions March 5, allowing the three men to walk free after nearly a quarter-century behind bars.
“The stakes could not have been higher and the duty of care by the prosecution should have been correspondingly heightened,” Zayas said. “The opposite occurred in this case … the District Attorney’s office deliberately withheld from the defense credible information about third-party guilt that is evidence that others may have committed these crimes.”
Testagrossa and his colleagues, including current Queens Homicide Bureau Chief Brad Leventhal, sought the death penalty against Bell, who was charged with killing NYPD Officer Charles Davis and check cashing store owner Ira Epstein during a botched robbery just before Christmas 1996.
The CIU uncovered police reports, buried by prosecutors, that implicated a notorious stick-up crew, which had committed similar crimes around the same time. The investigation also turned up handwritten notes that Testagrossa made after talking with a detective about informants’ claims. Zayas said the notes indicate that Testagrossa was well aware of the information and chose to withhold it, even going so far as to deny in open court that there was any possible connection between the stick-up crew and the murders.
Queens assistant district attorneys used the very same documents to prosecute other members of the crew for separate crimes.
“It astounds me and shocks my conscience that even in 1997, that constitutional violations of this magnitude can happen in any prosecution, much less the prosecution in a capital case,” Zayas said in his ruling.
Zayas later amended his order reversing the convictions to explicitly accuse Testagrossa of lying.
Testagrossa has not responded to requests for comment from the Eagle, which reported on his resignation Wednesday, but he issued a statement defending his conduct to the Daily News.
“Throughout my long career I have disclosed all exculpatory material of which I was aware and I did so in this case as well,’ Testagrossa said in a statement he provided to the Daily News. “I have always believed that all parties in a trial, the victims and their families, the defendants and their families deserve fairness and justice.”
“Yesterday I resigned from the Nassau County District Attorney’s office to be free to take the steps necessary to defend myself and the reputation for fairness and integrity I have earned over my 43-plus years of public service,” he continued.
Despite the evidence uncovered by the CIU, Queens DA Melinda Katz maintains that Testagrossa, Leventhal and other Queens prosecutors concealed the evidence “inadvertently.”
“My conviction integrity unit that spent 11 months on this case truly believes that it was not a purposeful misconduct,” she told CBS News Wednesday.
Several Queens attorneys, lawmakers and council candidates have called on Katz to order a review of every case tried by Testagrossa and Leventhal in light of the serious violations.
“Anyone even remotely related to this case must be removed, and an expeditious review of the prosecutors' prior convictions should be a top priority for the Queens DA's Office,” said Councilmember I. Daneek Miller.
Katz and the Queens DA’s Office have not responded to requests for comment for this story or others related to the wrongful convictions.
Note: Katz has not responded to a single request for comment or information from this reporter since taking office Jan. 1, 2020.
