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Wrongly Convicted Database Record
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Charge: |
Firearm possession (including sale) |
Sentence: |
10 yrs |
Years Imprisoned: |
4 |
Year Crime: |
2010 |
Year Convicted: |
2011 |
Year Cleared: |
2015 |
U.S. State or Country of Crime: |
New York |
County or Region of Crime: |
New York |
City of Crime: |
New York City |
Result: |
Judicially Exonerated |
Summary of Case: |
"Andre Graham was wrongly convicted in 2011 of criminal possession of a weapon in the second and third degrees. After his conviction by a jury he was sentenced on July 22, 2011 as a second violent felony offender, to an aggregate term of 10 years. Graham appealed and on August 9, 2013 his convictions were affirmed by the New York Supreme Court, Appellate Div., 1st Dept. Graham then filed a post-conviction petition, which was granted on May 26, 2015 by the same court (Appellate Div., 1st Dept.), which reversed Graham's convictions based on the jury's verdict was contrary to the weight of the evidence. The Court's ruling stated: "The evidence failed to connect defendant with a pistol that had been discarded during a shooting incident. It is undisputed that defendant sustained gunshot wounds during this nighttime street incident, at which many persons were present, and at which at least two firearms were discharged. The People's theory was that defendant was not only a victim, but a participant in a gunfight, and that he fired the discarded pistol. Contrary to the People's principal claim, DNA evidence did not connect defendant with the pistol. ... Since there was no proof introduced relating to the bullets that struck defendant, the evidence even leaves open the possibility that the pistol at issue was the weapon that was used to shoot defendant himself. ... reversed, on the facts, and the indictment dismissed," (People v. Graham, 128 AD 3d 572 (NY Appellate Div., 1st Dept. 5-26-2015))" |
Conviction Caused By: |
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Innocence Proved By: |
"On May 26, 2015 the New York Suprem Court, Appellate Div., 1st Dept., reversed Graham's convictions based on the jury's verdict was contrary to the weight of the evidence. The Court's ruling stated: "The evidence failed to connect defendant with a pistol that had been discarded during a shooting incident. It is undisputed that defendant sustained gunshot wounds during this nighttime street incident, at which many persons were present, and at which at least two firearms were discharged. The People's theory was that defendant was not only a victim, but a participant in a gunfight, and that he fired the discarded pistol. Contrary to the People's principal claim, DNA evidence did not connect defendant with the pistol. ... Since there was no proof introduced relating to the bullets that struck defendant, the evidence even leaves open the possibility that the pistol at issue was the weapon that was used to shoot defendant himself. ... reversed, on the facts, and the indictment dismissed." (People v. Graham, 128 AD 3d 572 (NY Appellate Div., 1st Dept. 5-26-2015))" |
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Was Perpetrator Identified? |
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Sex: |
Male |
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Information Source 1: |
"People v. Graham, 128 AD 3d 572 (NY Appellate Div., 1st Dept. 5-26-2015) (Reversing conviction based on the jury's verdict was contrary to the weight of the evidence.)" |
Information Location 1: |
"https://scholar.google.com/scholar_case?case=1761212257270738113&q=2015+insufficient+evidence&hl=en&as_sdt=4,33" |
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Innocents Database Created and Maintained by Hans Sherrer innocents@forejustice.org