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Wrongly Convicted Database Record
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Charge: |
Attempted Murder and Robbery |
Sentence: |
10 to 20 years |
Years Imprisoned: |
8.75 |
Year Crime: |
1997 |
Year Convicted: |
1998 |
Year Cleared: |
2006 |
U.S. State or Country of Crime: |
New York |
County or Region of Crime: |
Bronx |
City of Crime: |
New York City |
Result: |
Judicially Exonerated |
Summary of Case: |
"Marcos Poventud (aka Michael Poventud) and his codefendant Robert Maldonado were wrongly convicted on April 29, 1998 of attempted murder in the second degree, attempted robbery in the first degree, assault in the first degree, and criminal possession of a weapon in the second degree, related to the attempted robbery of a livery driver in the Bronx, New York City on March 6, 1997. Poventud's conviction by a jury as the shooter was based on the eyewitness testimony of the victim. Other witnesses were unable to identify Poventud. Poventud was sentenced to 10 to 20 years in prison. The conviction of Poventud's co-defendant Robert Maldonado was overturned in 2002, and during his retrial in 2003 evidence was introduced that cast doubt on the reliability of the victim's identification of Poventud. That evidence had not been disclosed by the prosecution to Poventud during his trial in 1998. The jury acquitted Maldonado after his retrial. In December 2004 Poventud filed a motion for a new trial based on the prosecuton's Brady violation of failing to disclose the exculpatory evidence. On October 6, 2005 the New York Supreme Court vacated all of Poventud's convictions and ordered a new trial. The prosecution expressed the intention to appeal the ruling (but did not immediately do so), and if they prevailed to proceed with his retrial. Desperate to get out of prison after almost 9 years in custody, in January 2006 Poventud accepted a deal for his immediate release in exchange for his guilty plea to the lesser crime of second-degree attempted robbery -- a crime for which he had not originally been charged -- and imposition of a one year sentence that he had served almost nine times over. In May 2007 Poventud filed a federal civil rights lawsuit (42 USC 1983) against the City of New York, the NYPD, and individuals involved in his prosecution, for the time he spent in prison for his vacated convictions which the State didn't appeal. Three years after his release a Bronx Assistant District Attorney stated in a deposition related to his lawsuit that they did not intend to appeal the vacating of his convictions -- which means they were intending to dismiss the charges if the hadn't gamed Poventud into pleading guilty. Poventud's lawyer described the DA's tactic as a dirty "trick" to induce an innocent man into pleading guilty to a crime just to get out of prison. In 2012 U.S. District Court Judge Deborah A. Batts granted the defendant's summary judgment motion to dismiss the lawsuit, finding that it was barred because Poventud pled guilty to conduct that “necessarily required his presence at the scene of the crime," and thus, the success of his lawsuit “would logically imply the invalidity” of his guilty plea. Poventud appealed, and in April 2013 a panel of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit in a majority (2-1) ruling overturned Judge Batts’s ruling and allowed Poventud's suit to continue. The defendant's petition for en banc consideration of Judge Batt's ruling, which was granted. On January 16, 2014 the full Second Circuit reversed Judge Batt's decision, ruling that his lawsuit wasn't barred by Heck v. Humphrey, 512 U.S. 477 (1994). The Court stated that Poventud could sue for damages related to his 1998 jury conviction based on the prosecution's Brady violation of faiing to disclose exculpatory evidence, but not for his 2006 conviction by a guilty plea. The Court stated that because Poventud's 1998 convictions had been vacated and the state did not appeal, that he met Heck's requirement that "a § 1983 plaintiff must prove that the conviction or sentence has been ... declared invalid by a state tribunal authorized to make such determination," 512 U.S. at 486-87. ... Poventud's claim is premised on an unchallenged finding made in state court [reversing his 1998 convictions]." U.S. Second Circuit Judge Gerard E. Lynch stated in his concurring opinion regarding Poventud's 2006 guilty plea to a lesser charge: "The choice of freedom in exchange for an admission would be easy for a guilty man, but even an innocent one would be hard pressed to decline the prosecution's offer. A hero might resist the bargain and insist that he would not accept the ignominy of falsely admitting guilt. One is reminded of John Proctor, falsely accused of witchcraft in Arthur Miller's play The Crucible, who goes to the gallows rather than accept an offer that would let him go free in exchange for a false confession. It is difficult to expect such heroism of mere mortals. Proctor, though based on a historical figure, is after all a fictional character, and even he first signed the false confession before having a change of heart Poventud did what I suspect most ordinary human beings would do in his situation, even if they were innocent." 750 F. 3d at 144-145. On December 17, 2015 New York City's Law Department announced that an agreement had been reached to settle Poventud's lawsuit for $2.75 million." |
Conviction Caused By: |
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Innocence Proved By: |
"On October 6, 2005 the New York Supreme Court vacated all of Poventud's convictions and ordered a new trial. The prosecution expressed the intention to proceed with his retrial, and after almost 9 years in custody, in 2006 Poventud accepted a deal for his immediate release in exchange for his guilty plea to second-degree attempted robbery -- which he had not originally been charged -- and imposition of a one year sentence that he had served almost nine times over." |
Defendant Aided By: |
New York City lawyers Joel B. Rudin and Julia P. Kuan. |
Compensation Awarded: |
"$2.75 million (New York City, Dec. 2015)" |
Was Perpetrator Identified? |
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Age When Imprisoned: |
26 |
Age When Released: |
35 |
Sex: |
Male |
Skin/Ethnicity: |
Black |
Information Source 1: |
"People v. Poventud, 10 Misc. 3d 337, 802 N.Y.S.2d 605 (NY Supreme Court, 10-6-2005) (Vacating conviction based on Brady violation)" |
Information Location 1: |
"http://scholar.google.com/scholar_case?case=12099063158664624821&q=Marcos+Poventud+&hl=en&as_sdt=6,48" |
Information Source 2: |
"Path Cleared for Civil Rights Claims Against City and NYPD, By Mark Hamblett (writer), New York Law Journal, March 13, 2015" |
Information Location 2: |
http://www.newyorklawjournal.com/home/id=1202720447372/Path-Cleared-for-Civil-Rights-Claims-Against-City-and-NYPD?mcode=1202617075062&curindex=2 |
Information Source 3: |
"Poventud v. City of New York, 715 F. 3d 57 (2nd Circuit, 4-19-2013) (Reversing the US District Court, and ordering that Poventud's 1983 lawsuit could proceed)" |
Information Location 3: |
"http://scholar.google.com/scholar_case?case=16456412983729282856&q=Marcos+Poventud+&hl=en&as_sdt=6,48" |
Information Source 4: |
"Poventud v. City of New York, 750 F. 3d 121 (2nd Cir. 1-16-2014) (en banc) (Affirming 3 judge panel's decision Poventud's 1983 lawsuit wasn't barred by Heck v. Humphrey, 512 U.S. 477 (1994), reversing district court's decision to dismiss Poventud's lawsuit.)" |
Information Location 4: |
"http://scholar.google.com/scholar_case?case=5141800664471784512&q=Marcos+Poventud+&hl=en&as_sdt=6,48" |
Information Source 5: |
"New York City to Pay $2.75 Million in Wrongful-Conviction Settlement, By Benjamin Weiserdec (staff writer), The New York Times, December 17, 2015" |
Information Location 5: |
http://www.nytimes.com/2015/12/18/nyregion/new-york-city-to-pay-2-75-million-in-wrongful-conviction-settlement.html |
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Innocents Database Created and Maintained by Hans Sherrer innocents@forejustice.org