A Reflection

I first became interested in wrongful conviction when I was introduced to the topic through Netflix's docu-series, Making A Murderer. I wrote about my experience watching this series, and how it affected me, a few weeks ago. The post on that is linked here.

Netflix's Making a Murderer

Since watching the series, I've become fascinated and appalled by peoples' stories of wrongful conviction. Through podcasts, television, and movies I've immersed myself in these stories and have done my own research on the side to better understand what went wrong.

What went wrong? That is the question that needs to be asked in cases of wrongful conviction. The answer, is not so easy. The answer, in fact, changes from case to case, from story to story.

In the case of the story I featured on this blog, The Central Park 5, so many things went wrong. Police coercion,  prosecutorial misconduct, and racism all played key roles in the conviction of 5 innocent boys who grew up in prison while serving time for a crime the didn't commit.

In the case of Rodney Lincoln, false witness testimony and incorrect DNA testing were the causes that lead to Rodney spending nearly 40 years in prison.

For John Giuca, prosecutorial and juror misconduct resulted in Giuca spending16 years and counting in prison. He is currently on Riker's Island while his mother fights for justice.

Jeffrey Deskovic, who I had the honor of hearing speak and interviewing, was imprisoned for 16 years after being coerced into confessing. Prosecutorial misconduct leant a hand as well, as did prosecutorial pride in not wanting to admit wrongdoing. But now, after studying and completing law school, Deskovic is an inspiration to others as he fights for his those within the wrongfully convicted community.

John Giuca and his mother Doreen Giuliano

And finally, the most recent profile I've done on this blog is of Anthony DiPippo, who, after false testimony, multiple trials, and the help of Jeffrey Deskovic, is finally free.

I'd like to end this blog post as I began this blog, with a statistic.

According to their website, the Innocence Project, “a national litigation and public policy organization dedicated to exonerating wrongfully convicted individuals” reports: “studies that have been done estimate that between 2.3% and 5% of all prisoners in the U.S. are innocent” (Innocence Project). There are currently 2,418,352 prisoners in the United States prison system, allowing for the conclusion that there are between 55,622 and 120,917 people currently behind for crimes they did not commit.

Our justice system needs reformation. Our justice system needs to convict those who are guilty–not those who are innocent. Our justice system needs adhere to its name and act justly.

Faces of Wrongful Conviction: Anthony DiPippo

In 1994, when he was 18, Anthony DiPippo was wrongfully convicted of raping and murdering at 12 year old girl in Putnam County, NY. DiPippo entered police's radar when a man who had been picked up by police for an unrelated drug charges said that a friend of his, DiPippo and four others, had committed the murder of the young girl.

Anthony DiPippo after he was released in 2016

Two years after the crime had been committed, DiPippo and his friend Anthony Krivak were arrested and convicted in separate trials. DiPippo's and Krivak's friends falsely testified that DiPippo and Krivak raped and murdered the 12 year old girl.

Throughout the trial, DiPippo and Krivak both maintained their innocence and denied any involvement in the crime. Nonetheless, they were both sentenced to 25 years to life in prison.

In 2011, DiPippo filed an appeal stating that his attorney had a conflict of interest. DiPippo was granted a new trial that began in 2012. During this trial, two of the three friends who initially testified against him recanted their testimonies.

Around this same time, a man named Joseph Santoro told his cell mate that he raped and murdered the young girl. DiPippo's defense was not allowed to use Santoro's admission of guilt and in May of 2012, DiPippo was again convicted and sentenced to 25 years to life in prison.

Again in 2016, the New York Court of Appeals granted DiPippo a new trial. His third and final trial began in September 2016 and this time his defense was allowed to present Santoro's testimony that he did in fact murder the young girl.

In October of that year, DiPippo was acquitted and released. Andrew Krivak, however, remained in prison. Not until this past May has Krivak been granted a new trial, and even now after it has been proven that the two men are innocent of this crime the prosecution is appealing the ruling for a new trial.

It is hard to believe that such an injustice is possible, but it is. It is hard to think about Andrew Krivak having to remain behind bars even after his friend Anthony DiPippo has been released for the same crime, but that is the reality. The date for Krivak's new trial is not yet known.

A Car Ride with Doreen Giuliano

Last fall I was in a journalism class called Interviews and Profiles at Fordham. For this class, I interviewed Doreen Giuliano, the mother of John Giuca who I previously wrote about in this post. For this interview, I met Doreen at Pace University's Law School in White Plains to attend a panel where she was speaking. The panel was organized by Jeffrey Deskovic on Wrongful Conviction Day, October 2, 2018.

After the panel, it was pouring rain. I had taken the Metro North up to White Plains to meet Doreen and was planning to set up another time with her to talk further. When we began discussing dates and times, she offered to drive me to the train station. Surprised and grateful to be out of the rain, I accepted the offer. Instead of taking me to the train station, Doreen directed her son's girlfriend to drive me home to my apartment in Manhattan. 

The following is an excerpt from the piece that I wrote on Doreen. My entire interview was done in the back of her son's car, and this section of the piece focuses on Doreen's decision to go undercover in order to prove her son's innocence.

DOREEN GIULIANO HAS LIVED IN BROOKLYN HER WHOLE LIFE. You can hear it in her voice, the way the –a at the end of her words sometimes sound more like an –er, and vice versa. Brooklyn is where she grew up and where she raised her two sons, John Giuca and Matthew Giuliano. They lived in a big white house with a white picket fence, and everything was perfect.

 Then, in 2003, when her eldest son John was 20 years old, he was found guilty of murdering a college student after a house party he hosted at their white picket fenced home while Doreen was out of town for the weekend. John was sentenced to 25 years to life in prison. 

Now 35, John has maintained his innocence for the past 15 years, and his mother has done everything in her power to get her son a fair trial. 

Immediately following John’s conviction, Doreen went undercover and befriended a jury member she suspected of jury misconduct. She tells me, “I knew the verdict was wrong. And if the verdict was wrong, I wanna know what went wrong behind the scenes. I wasn’t after this big elaborate thing. It just spiraled into this big elaborate thing.” 

Realizing the suspected juror, Jason Allo would not talk with the mother of the man he had just put away for life, Doreen rented an apartment close to his home, dyed her hair platinum blonde, bought some heels and a push up bra, and set out to befriend Jason Allo.  

“I paid for everything” she tells me, “First of all, I was twelve years older than him. So, if he didn’t want to hang out with me, he wanted to hang out with the young girls. So, how could I make him want to hang out with me? You get free food, free beer, and laugh at every stupid joke. Make him feel like the king! I would call up and say I’ve got meatballs, I’ve got salad, I’ve got wine. And he’d say okay, and he only had to walk right around the corner. It was crazy.” 

Jason depended on Doreen for support, he confided in her, and she became a sort of therapist for him. “Jason, I’ve come to realize,” she says, “he was lookin’ for a friend, he had just got out of a 5-year relationship, he was hurting, he wanted to talk, and I would listen and I would laugh, but I hated his fucking guts. I wanted to stab him.”

I am so grateful that I got to know Doreen. Her story is so interesting and though all the hardships she has gone through, she is one of kindest, most positive people I have ever met. 

An Interview with Jeffrey Deskovic: Part 2

This is part 2 of my interview with formerly Jeffrey Deskovic, a man who was wrongfully convicted for 16 years. Read part one here. 

Vera: What has been your foundation's biggest challenge? 

Jeffrey: Raising money and gathering board members. There’s a couple of aspects in terms of board members. One challenge is that, I was incarcerated for 16 years so I don’t have a cohort of people that came up the ranks professionally with me who I can go to in order to look for board members. I don’t have that. The challenge is that I have to find people who can serve as connectors in their networks, so that has proven to be a challenge. Another challenge has been a lot of people are already serving on boards and so they and their networks are tapped out. So, I have to find new people who are successful and professional people of means who know people who are similar to them who haven’t already gotten involved with nonprofit work. Another issue is the competition. Do you want to contribute to The Deskovic Foundation that’s been around for 6 years and has 7 people out started by an exoneree with a law degree or do you want to contribute to the organization that has a 14 million dollar budget that’s been around for 22 years that’s helped get maybe 150 people out. The frustrating thing is that some people are in a financial position where they don’t have to pick one or the other the could support both if they chose to. But, they look at it like it’s work in the same area so they pick one over the other. But we do things in different ways.

Vera: What does a normal day look like for you?

Jeffrey: There’s doing emails, phone calls, scheduling, media interviews, presentations, meeting with elected officials, there’s more emails. Checking in with lawyers, reading summaries from case analysts, connecting with all the volunteers. There are about 22 volunteers working with the foundation, so I need to connect with them. Doing quality control on what the volunteers are working on. There’s a lot of different sides, creative, technical, legal. All this comes while I simultaneously have gone through law school. 

Vera: Out of everything you've done, what has been your proudest accomplishment? 

Jeffrey: Well, you’re asking me to pick between the first person we exonerated, William Lopez, and getting the legislation passed that has taken us 7 years to get passed that resulted in the country’s first law that sets up an independent oversight board on prosecutorial misconduct. It’s the only one in the country that exists. You can’t choose one. 

Vera: What's next for The Deskovic Foundation? What are your goals? 

Jeffrey: My first goal as an individual is passing the Bar Exam. I’m studying for that now. But, after that my goal is to add new board members, build out the donor base of financial support. My goal is to get money in the door to be able to hire employees so that our volunteers are supplemental and not the main body of work force. So, while I’m preparing for the Bar I have someone putting together promotional materials so that we can get the funds to hire time employees. I’m hoping that having the law degree is going to give an additional level of credibility and then I can represent clients personally and negotiate with lawyers. I have an advantage over other lawyers, I have a draw.

Vera: How can people get involved with The Deskovic Foundation?

Jeffrey: Our offices are in the Bronx and we do have an intern program so people can get involved that way. We accept volunteers, we are in the process of digitizing our files so there’s a mountain of work there. Within their profession, there is always a skill you can provide to a non-profit setting like us

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I want to thank Jeffrey for taking the time to chat with me. Please visit his foundation's website to see how you can get involved.