Queens DA won’t re-try wrongfully convicted trio

Queens District Attorney Melinda Katz will not bring charges against Rohan Bolt, George Bell and Gary Johnson, she said on Thursday, June 3, 2020.  Photo via GoFundMe

By Jacob Kaye

Queens District Attorney Melinda Katz announced Thursday that her office will not pursue charges against three men who spent nearly a quarter of a century in prison for a 1996 double murder for which they were wrongfully convicted.

Rohan Bolt, George Bell and Gary Johnson had their sentences vacated in March after Katz’s Conviction Integrity Unit corroborated charges of prosecutorial misconduct by two assistant district attorneys on the case.

Katz’s office had 90 days to decide whether her office would re-try Bolt, Bell and Johnson in the double murder of Ira “Mike” Epstein, the owner of an Astoria check cashing business, and Charles Davis, an off-duty police officer working security for the store, on Dec. 21, 1996.

The DA’s office announced Thursday that they will seek to dismiss the charges at a hearing scheduled for 9:30 a.m., on Friday, June 4 before acting Administrative Judge of the Queens Supreme Court Michelle Johnson.

“Three months ago, as the result of review by my office’s Conviction Integrity Unit, we

filed a motion with defense counsel to vacate the convictions of these three men,” Katz said in a statement. “At that time, I launched an investigation to determine whether to re-try the case or move to dismiss the charges. That investigation has concluded and we are moving to dismiss the indictments against the defendants.”

Marc Wolinsky, a lawyer with Wachtell Lipton who represented Bell pro bono, said he expected Katz to decline to bring charges against the three men.

“[The DA’s office] spent three months combing through every last thing they could find, and they confirmed what we've always known – that these guys were innocent,” Wolinsky said. “So I wasn't surprised. I was gratified, but I wasn't surprised.”

The wrongful conviction of Bell, Bolt and Johnson stemmed from the actions of prosecutors Brad Leventhal and Charles Testagrossa, the DA’s investigation found.

Leventhal, who most recently served as Katz’s Homicide Bureau chief, resigned in late March, nearly a month after the three men’s sentences were vacated. Testagrossa quit his job as Nassau County’s chief of investigations four days after then-Administrative Judge of the Queens Criminal Courts Joseph Zayas made the ruling.

The two prosecutors withheld evidence from the defense that would have identified other suspects in the case and also suppressed the mental health records of a key witness that would have brought his testimony into question, the DA’s office found.

“We are moving to amend the grounds on which the convictions were overturned to include ‘newly discovered evidence which, if available at the time of trial, would more likely than not have led to a verdict more favorable to the defendants,’” Katz said. “A fair and accurate trial depends on all parties knowing all of the evidence so that the jury can make an informed decision about the guilt or innocence of a defendant.”

During Bolt, Bell and Johnson’s March hearing, Katz wouldn’t go as far as to say that Leventhal and Testagrossa purposefully withheld information from the defense. However, Zayas took a different view.

“The stakes could not have been higher and the duty of care by the prosecution should have been correspondingly heightened,” Zayas said in March. “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.”

Lawmakers and activists called on Katz’s office to pore over other cases handled by Levanthal and Testagrossa following the discovery of their misconduct in the Bell, Bolt and Johnson case.

The DA’s office did not respond to request for comment concerning potential investigations into other cases prosecuted by Leventhal or Testagrossa.