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However, in her October 27, 1971 NYPD statement, she said the five men returned together "during the late hours of May 21 or the early hours of May 22." Contrary to her trial testimony, she mentioned no contact with the defendants prior to the shooting nor that guns were placed on a table.
Three days later on October 30, she changed her story, saying the men left at 7PM, returned from 11 - 11:30PM, and "one of the individuals place(d) three pistols on a table," contrary to at trial claiming each defendant placed a weapon there.
The prosecution also withheld a January 13, 1972 FBI teletype regarding an interview with Karen Parks, allegedly in the apartment on May 21, 1971.
At trial, Valerie Wall and Patricia Bryant identified Muntaqim as one of two shooters, but prosecutors didn't disclose material relating to a May 29, 1971 FBI interview with Bryant. Also withheld was evidence proving other individuals, not the defendants, committed the murders.
After the crime, NYPD detective David Gregory told the FBI that he interviewed a woman named Will Jean Davis who said her boyfriend, Michael Williams, told her that his brother, Reggie, fit the description eyewitnesses provided. She also identified photos of persons she knew as the Davis brothers, not Muntaqim and Washington, even though they resembled the individuals she knew. Neighbors identified them as well.
In sum, charges against the New York Three were inconsistent, fraudulent, aided by perjury, and based on a deal struck between the prosecution and a key witness. The defendants were denied due process and judicial fairness, never should have been convicted, and at minimum deserve a new trial.
Under New York State constitutional law, prosecutorial withheld evidence entitles a defendant to retrial if what's suppressed creates a "reasonable possibility" that the verdict might have been different. Clearly that's true. A new trial should be ordered, or charges dismissed altogether after decades of injustice.
The trial was a mockery of justice. Testimonies were riddled with inconsistencies and perjury:
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