By Andrew Keshner and Andrew Denney, New York Law Journal

A man who spent almost 25 years in prison for a murder he said he did not commit walked out of a courtroom a free man Thursday after Brooklyn prosecutors told a judge they could no longer stand by a conviction made from a “systemic failure.”

Members of the Conviction Review Unit in the Brooklyn District Attorney’s Office moved to vacate Andre Hatchett’s 1992 second-degree murder verdict, pointing to an unreliable eyewitness and Brady violations.

“Mr. Hatchett was failed by almost every institution that he came in contact with during the course of this prosecution,” Assistant District Attorney Mark Hale said in court. He said the case was marred by Brady violations, as well as a substandard trial defense and an “incredibly sloppy investigation” by police.

Hale, the review unit’s chief, said the office would not seek to retry Hatchett, who “should not spend another minute in jail.”

Hatchett was represented pro bono by Seema Saifee, a staff attorney at the Innocence Project, Barry Scheck, co-director of the organization, and James Brochin, a partner at Paul, Weiss, Rifkind, Wharton & Garrison.

“Few people in this courtroom can imagine what Mr. Hatchett has been through,” Saifee said in court, noting her client had intellectual disabilities and could barely read or write at the time of his conviction.

Hatchett, 49, said in court that he fell victim to violence during his time in prison and that he suffered ridicule by corrections officers, but that he is “going to get back stronger. … I’m strong, I’m whole, I made it in one piece.”

His remarks were met with applause from the packed courtroom, which included about two dozen family members.

The courtroom again erupted in applause when Acting Brooklyn Supreme Court Justice Matthew D’Emic granted the prosecution motion to vacate the conviction and dismiss the indictment.

The work of District Attorney Kenneth Thompson’s review unit, instituted in 2014, has resulted in 19 overturned convictions. The unit has determined not to disturb 38 convictions. About 100 cases are pending review.

“After a thorough and fair review of this case by my Conviction Review Unit, I’ve concluded that, in the interest of justice, Andre Hatchett’s murder conviction should not stand and that he should be released from custody immediately,” Thompson said in a statement.

Hatchett’s conviction is rooted in the 1991 murder of a woman in a park.

Police responded to a 911 call about an unconscious woman around 11 p.m. on Feb. 18, 1991 and found Neda Mae Carter, 38, lying face up, naked, badly beaten in the face, head and neck.

Detectives visited the victim’s mother and learned that Carter had left home around 9:30 that evening and had been with Hatchett.

Carter and her mother lived in the same rooming house as Hatchett’s aunt and Hatchett visited the house frequently.

Hatchett cooperated with police and offered an alibi, according to the Innocence Project.

At the time of the incident, Hatchett was recuperating from gunshot wounds to his throat and legs. His right leg was in a cast and he was using crutches.

The only witness to testify against Hatchett was Jerry Williams, who was a “career criminal,” according to a Brooklyn District Attorney press release announcing the vacatur.

Williams testified he was walking with a woman in the park and heard screams. He said he walked to the sound of the screams and found a man standing over someone. The man yelled at them to leave, which they did.

Williams’ companion, Yvette Hopkins, called 911, but she and Williams left before police arrived.

A week later, Williams was arrested for an unrelated burglary and told officers at the precinct that he recognized a suspect in another robbery as the perpetrator of the murder the week earlier.

That man was investigated and determined to have an alibi.

Williams identified Hatchett in a lineup. So did Hopkins, though she was unsure at first and was never called to testify.

Prosecutors at the time never told Hatchett’s defense that Williams, the only eyewitness to testify, had implicated someone else and had told police he had smoked crack the day Carter was killed—information that cast his reliability into question and should have been disclosed, Thompson’s office said.

The first trial resulted in a determination of ineffective assistance of counsel before jurors reached a verdict. A second trial resulted in conviction and a 25-year-to-life sentence for Hatchett.

Nicholas Fengos appeared as the prosecution’s trial attorney in both cases. According to the Brooklyn District Attorney’s office, he left in February 1999. He could not be reached for comment Thursday.

Both of Hatchett’s original court-appointed defense lawyers are dead.

According to the Innocence Project, Hatchett’s defense never offered medical records that would have shown the virtual impossibility of him carrying out the crime in his physical state, as he was recovering from gunshot wounds. Having been shot in the legs, Hatchett was on crutches the night of the murder, and the wound to his trachea meant he would not have been able to yell at Williams and his companion.

“Sadly, the evidence we uncovered reveals that the system failed him at every step in the process,” Brochin said in a statement. “Bad judgment and errors plagued this case from beginning to end.”

IMAGES: 

Andre Hatchett, standing, speaks at a Brooklyn court appearance Thursday, before his release from prison. He was joined, seated from left, by Innocence Project cofounder Barry Scheck, Innocence Project staff attorney Seema Saifee and James Brochin, a partner at Paul, Weiss, Rifkind, Wharton & Garrison. NYLJ/Rick Kopstein

Andre Hatchett speaks to the media after being exonerated in Brooklyn Thursday, as Barry Scheck of the Innocence Project looks on. NYLJ/Rick Kopstein

For more on this story go to: http://www.newyorklawjournal.com/id=1202751919670/Wrongfully-Convicted-Man-Released-From-Prison-After-25-Years#ixzz42i4zflnM