Ex-cop busted for gun possession appeals to Queens DA for conviction reversal

/
The Queens entrance to the Queens-Midtown Tunnel. Photo via MTA

The Queens entrance to the Queens-Midtown Tunnel. Photo via MTA

By David Brand

The lawyer for an ex-cop convicted of illegal gun possession after a traffic stop arrest says his client was pulled over without probable cause and railroaded by a lying New York City police officer and two Queens prosecutors who ignored the false testimony.

Attorney Mark Bederow has submitted an application to the Queens District Attorney’s Conviction Integrity Unit on behalf of Justin Romero, a former police officer arrested in January 2018 for possession of a handgun without a license to carry in New York City.

The arresting officer said he stopped Romero outside the Queens Midtown Tunnel because his truck did not have a front license plate even though the vehicle was registered in New Mexico, one of 20 states that only require rear plates.

Triborough Bridge and Tunnel Authority Officer Reginald Ledee testified that he got suspicious when Ledee said he was a cop, but couldn’t provide a valid department ID. Prior to the stop, Romero had been fired from the force in New Mexico for allegedly filling his girlfriend’s gas tank with fuel reserved for police vehicles.

Romero indicated to Ledee that he had a loaded handgun in the car, prompting the arrest. Romero was convicted of weapons possession in September 2019 and is serving a three-and-a-half year sentence in an upstate prison. 

But Bederow, the attorney now representing Romero, says the gun never should have been allowed as evidence in the first place because it was obtained during an illegal search and seizure. 

In an application to Queens CIU Director Byrce Benjet, Bederow said Ledee lied on the stand at a suppression hearing — a type of proceeding where a judge determines what evidence can be presented at trial. 

During that hearing, Ledee testified that he did not inspect the truck’s rear license plate and see the New Mexico tag until he had already talked to Romero and grown suspicious.

But surveillance video from the scene clearly refutes Ledee’s testimony, Bederow said.

In the video, shared with the Eagle, Ledee can be seen approaching the rear of the gray Dodge Ram pickup truck and staring at the license plate before ever talking with Romero. 

The knowledge that the license plate was from New Mexico and not New York should have immediately ended the encounter, Bederow said. Several other states, including Florida and Pennsylvania, which shares a large border with New York, do not require front plates. 

Two Queens prosecutors, Jennifer Goltche and Ryan Nicolosi, later “exploited Ledee’s false testimony” or ignored that the testimony did not match the video evidence, Bederow wrote in his application to Benjet and in an appeal filed with the Second Department.

In an appellate brief, Bederow said Romero’s defense attorney failed to use the false testimony and surveillance video to “eviscerate Ledee’s credibility, demonstrate that he seized Romero without probable cause, and establish the unreasonableness of his continued detention of Romero once he knew that Romero had a New Mexico license plate.”

Bederow said he hopes the Conviction Integrity Unit will acknowledge the illegal search and seizure, the false testimony and the prosecutorial misconduct and that Queens DA Melinda Katz will recommend reversal, allowing his client to leave prison as COVID-19 surges behind bars.

“There is irrefutable proof the Mr. Romero’s conviction was caused by the patently false testimony of the police officer who was the only witness at a case-dispositive suppression hearing,” Bederow wrote to Benjet, referring to the hearing that determines what evidence can be presented at trial.

Ledee’s testimony is “entirely contradicted by his trial testimony and by a surveillance video of the encounter,” Bederow continued. 

Ledee’s name is not included on two lists maintained by the Queens DA’s Office of police officers whose credibility has been questioned by judges.

The Queens DA’s Office did not respond to an email seeking a response for this story.*

Richard Hildebrand, the vice president and chief of operations for MTA Bridges and Tunnels, said: “Based on the record available, we have no reason to question the actions of the officer in this case.”

“We would cooperate fully with any independent review, should one be initiated,” Hildebrand added.

*The Queens DA’s Office has not responded to inquiries from this reporter since Jan. 1, 2020, the day Queens DA Melinda Katz took office. The office has not provided a response as to why they have refused to respond to inquiries from this reporter.