Prosecutors, defense gear up for retrial of Prakash Churaman

Prakash Churaman, who is facing a retrial for a murder he says he didn’t commit, was told by Queens Supreme Court Justice Kenneth Holder to stop making courthouse step speeches, as he did in November.

Eagle file photo by Jacob Kaye

By Jacob Kaye

The prosecution of Prakash Churaman, a Queens man arrested as a teen on murder charges, continued this week, with both the defense and Queens District attorney’s office saying they are ready to move to trial – nearly eight years after the murder of 21-year-old Taquane Clark was committed.

Churaman, 22, has maintained his innocence in the 2014 Jamaica murder, ever since originally confessing to the crime during police interrogation, which he says was coerced. 

Arrested at the age of 15, Churaman was convicted of the murder in 2018 however the conviction was overturned in 2020 when it was ruled that the defense should have been allowed to call an expert witness to testify about false confessions made by children. 

Released from Rikers Island but held on home confinement for the past year, Churaman is gearing up for the retrial, something he says he’s eager to get started.

“We're all just here waiting, in limbo, for my life,” Churaman told the Eagle. “The only thing we're waiting on right now is the prosecution.”

However, prosecutors from the Queens District attorney’s office argued that the defense was dragging its feet and purposely delaying the trial, according to a transcript of the hearing before Queens Supreme Court Justice Kenneth Holder held on Wednesday, Jan. 19.

“The People answered ready for retrial last year in January of 2021 and we have been ready to move this case to trial for a full year; however, on each court date since that time the defendant has engaged in dilatory tactics to prevent this case from moving forward,” said Adrea Medina, the assistant district attorney.

Attorney Jose Nieves, who is representing Churaman, denied the categorization and told Holder that it was, instead, the prosecution who had been holding up the start of the trial.

The delays revolve around expert witnesses – the very thing that caused the conviction to be overturned on appeal.

Prosecutors say they have found a witness to conduct a psychiatric examination on Churaman – the last of which to occur before trial – but that the defense hadn’t provided them with medical documents needed by the witness.

Nieves said that while some documents had been sent, he had been hoping to send the others directly to the witness, citing HIPAA laws.

“Both sides should be doing what they have to do to exercise due diligence and represent their clients with zeal, and that's what we are doing,” Nieves said. “For the People to now say we are delaying things because we are exercising our rights because we are trying to present a case before a jury that's going to exonerate my client is outrageous.”

Holder ordered the medical documents to be handed over to the prosecution, as well as to the witness.

Wednesday’s hearing also saw prosecutors take issue with a rally held in support of Churaman in November.

Before a previous court appearance – the 90th of his young adult life – a group of around 30 criminal justice advocates and Churaman’s friends and family gathered in front of the Queens Criminal Courthouse to demand Katz drop all charges against the 22-year-old. Churaman was one of several people to give a speech on the courthouse steps. At one point, rally goers, including Churaman, crossed Queens Boulevard and rallied in front of one of the district attorney’s office buildings, blocking the front door with signs.

Though several police officers arrived at the scene, no one was arrested and the protest soon moved back to the courthouse steps.

Though Medina said she wasn’t asking for Churaman to be remanded for what she said was a violation of his home confinement, she said wanted to make the judge “aware” of the rallies.

Nieves said that preventing Churaman from speaking on the courthouse steps, one of the few places he’s allowed to go, would be a violation of his First Amendment rights – an argument Holder rejected.

“It has nothing to do [with a] First Amendment issue, it's a liberty issue,” Holder said. “He is only out because of the consideration of this Court and I have made considerations for him in order to continue to have his case go forward. It doesn't allow him to be at rallies in support of what – he has enough people running around doing that from what I can see.”

“I haven't told him to shut up, I haven't put a gag order on this, I haven't put a gag order on you. I am considering it, but I haven't done it,” the judge said, adding that he was going to order the sheriff to put a “tight, tight reign on [Churaman’s] ankle bracelet.”

Churaman’s case has drawn attention from a number of activists and lawmakers. Desi’s Rising Up and Moving, a Queens-based organization, recently organized a phone drive, urging Queens residents to call the DA’s office and ask the charges against Churaman be dropped.

Queens lawmakers including Assemblymember Zohran Mamdani and City Council Speaker Adrienne Adams have also written to Katz asking her to reconsider the charges.

In late December, Queens Assemblymember David Weprin said in a letter to Katz that there were “a number of concerning irregularities” in the case and asked that she “review his case as soon as possible and consider dismissing all charges.”

But prosecutors said they’d continue on with the case, citing “evidence which he was previously convicted by a jury.”

On Dec. 5, 2014, three men broke into a home in Jamaica to steal marijuana. The robbery went wrong, and Clark, who lived in the home and whose younger brother was friends with Churaman, was fatally shot by one of the intruders.

Churaman was arrested for the crime after then-74-year-old Olive Legister told police that she heard Churaman’s voice, but did not see him, when she was being held at gunpoint during the robbery.

Churaman has maintained his innocence ever since the arrest except for one moment – while under interrogation after his arrest, Churaman admitted to being involved with the robbery to NYPD Detective Barry Brown. Churaman, who confessed to the crime without the presence of a lawyer, later would say he was coerced.

There is no physical evidence tying Churaman to the crime scene.

Last week, Churaman’s mother, Nandani Churaman, wrote in an op-ed in the New York Daily News, that she was confused and unaware of the situation when Brown urged her to get her son to confess to the crime.

“I didn’t know someone had died and the charge was murder,” the op-ed reads. “If I had known that, I wouldn’t have urged my son to confess to something he did not do. I still feel so disappointed in myself. I didn’t know that we had a right to a lawyer. It was my first time inside a precinct, let alone locked in a room with cops.”

Churaman was ordered to return to court, for what is likely the last appearance before trial, in February.

“We have to get this trial,” Holder said Wednesday. “Enough is enough.”