Howard Beach man files motion to vacate gang assault conviction based on prosecutorial misconduct allegations
/
Attorney John 'O’Hara (right) represents client Joseph Meyer. Eagle file photo by Mary Frost
By David Brand
A Howard Beach man who has spent the past eight years in prison has filed a motion to vacate his 2012 gang assault conviction after his attorney said Queens’ new Conviction Integrity Unit did not act on his accusations of prosecutorial misconduct.
Joseph Meyer was convicted of gang assault and first-degree assault for attacking off-duty police officer Damien Bartels during a 2009 road rage incident near the Queensborough Bridge. A Queens judge sentenced him to 18 years in prison, a term an appellate court reduced to 12 years.
Attorney John O’Hara, whose own wrongful conviction for voter fraud was overturned in Brooklyn in 2017, said Queens prosecutor Christine Oliveri withheld detectives’ written reports of interviews with witnesses — documents known as “DD5s” — including eye witnesses who identified suspects other than Meyer.
O’Hara filed the first application with Queens District Attorney Melinda Katz’s CIU on Meyer’s behalf in January.
Olivieri, who handled the case from grand jury proceedings through trial, also failed to turn over surveillance footage of the attack that was used to create an NYPD wanted poster, and abruptly introduced new accusations during summation, each an example of misconduct, O’Hara wrote in his motion.
“The People’s case relied on witness testimony who did not identify Meyer as the assailant,” O’Hara wrote in his 440 motion. “There was no forensic evidence except a video that was concealed by the People. In short, there is no evidence linking the defendant to the assault.”
Police and prosecutors said Bartels, the off-duty cop, and his cousin got into an argument with a group of people who later blocked traffic and approached Bartels’ car. When Bartels exited the car, he was attacked by at least one member of the group — Meyer — who broke Bartels’ nose and both his eye sockets, they said.
Three months later, investigators said they matched a fingerprint from the car to Meyer, though Meyer did not have a previous criminal record. He was the only person arrested and charged for the attack.
A Queens jury found Meyer guilty in 2012. “You committed a brutal crime – you literally broke a man’s face,” Queens Supreme Court Justice Joseph Zayas told Meyer at sentencing, the New York Post reported at the time.
O’Hara, Meyer’s attorney, said the fingerprint could have come from the first encounter, a verbal altercation, and not the physical attack that occurred later. He has also questioned how detectives obtained the fingerprint and made a match if Meyer did not have a past criminal record.
“I’ve been reviewing wrongful convictions cases for 25 years this is the worst case I’ve ever seen,” O’Hara said.
Conviction Integrity Unit Director Bryce Benjet has been accommodating and transparent, but has not acted on the prosecutorial misconduct accusations, O’Hara said.
Oliveri and the Queens DA’s Office did not respond to requests for comment.
Editor’s Note: Queens District Attorney Melinda Katz has not provided a response to requests for comment from Eagle managing editor David Brand since taking office Jan. 1.
