11 in Mount Vernon had drug convictions overturned because of unreliable cop. Here's how.
Eleven Mount Vernon residents whose felony drug convictions were overturned because of credibility issues with the undercover Westchester police detective used in a sting operation six years ago will now have their cases dismissed after months in legal limbo.
Westchester County Judge George Fufidio made that decision Thursday after a hearing in which a prosecutor laid out why the indictments were tainted and could not stand. Part of that presentation, at the judge’s insistence, was the revelation of the undercover officer’s identity. He was Matthew Lewis, a veteran detective who The Journal News/lohud learned after the hearing retired in 2021 and now works as a police detective in Texas.
Seven of the 11 were in court, six remaining in the gallery and the seventh, Jonathan Long, sitting with the lawyers at the defense table because he is in custody on an unrelated case. Fufidio offered his "sincere apologies" on behalf of the criminal justice system for them having to "live through this."
"Hopefully you can continue living your lives without this hanging over you," he said.
When the hearing ended moments later and the men walked out of the courtroom, one proclaimed: "Justice is served."
The defendants were among 32 people arrested in a months long drug sweep in Mount Vernon in 2017 and 2018. Five cases were dismissed and 27 eventually pleaded guilty. The 11 convicted of felonies served sentences ranging from probation to one year in the county jail to up to four years in state prison.
But their lawyers had not been provided exculpatory, or so-called Brady, material, showing that the county police officer had misidentified two of the defendants and his reports about the drug purchases differed significantly from his grand jury testimony and from the accounts of other officers.
After a review by its Conviction Review Unit, the Westchester District Attorney’s Office announced in May that it would join the defendants’ motions to vacate all 27 convictions. The defendants who faced misdemeanors had their convictions overturned and cases dismissed months ago in Mount Vernon City Court.
Prosecutors also sought to dismiss the underlying indictments in the 11 felony cases in the interest of justice. Fufidio agreed in late November that the convictions should not stand because the defendants might not have pleaded guilty if they knew about the officer’s unreliability. But he ordered Thursday’s hearing and simply returned the defendants to their pre-plea status.
Fufidio found that, aside from the officer’s lack of credibility, the evidence presented to the grand jury appeared legally sufficient for the indictment. So he was requiring prosecutors to be more forthcoming about why they would not have been able to proceed to trial.
That task fell to Anastasia Heeger, head of the Conviction Review Unit. She detailed how there were no admissions of guilt, limited evidence of text messages did not match the dates of transactions and surveillance video and photographs either did not capture transactions or clearly identify suspects.
And she said prosecutors would not have been able to call other officers as reliable witnesses to any of the 21 claimed drug sales. The main reasons were that in eight cases, there was no backup officer's report; in eight other cases the backup officer saw the suspect but not the transaction; and in two cases where the backup officer witnessed the transaction there were discrepancies with Lewis' account. In another case the backup saw the interaction but could not identify the seller, Heeger said.
At Fufidio's prodding, she said the investigation had not revealed the "affirmative innocence" of the defendants only that constitutional violations did not allow the convictions to stand.
Defense lawyers representing the 11 said they and their clients were appreciative of the CRU's efforts to right wrongs but suggested they had not gone far enough in revealing the details. Richard Portale, who represents Lance Clark and Richard Overton, demanded any reports, evidence and grand jury minutes that had not been turned over to the defense.
"By and large, local police perform a necessary, dangerous and many times thankless job keeping the community safe, so we cannot allow a few bad apples to spoil the whole bushel," Portale said. "However, our clients' rights were snubbed by and in favor of a few reckless, renegade police officers who have yet to be held accountable for their misdeeds."
Portale and others suggested that the records might reveal misconduct by Mount Vernon officers, particularly members of a since disbanded narcotics unit. That unit, including Det. Camilo Antonini, has been under scrutiny in recent years after secret recordings by a fellow cop revealed allegations of false arrests and evidence planting.
Heeger acknowledged that there was an allegation that Antonini, who worked on the tainted drug sweep, had urged the undercover cop to perjure himself.
The District Attorney's Office did not pursue criminal charges, saying the recordings alone could not bolster a prosecution. But the case was among those that led to a request that the U.S. Department of Justice undertake a review of the Mount Vernon Police Department to determine if there is a pattern and practice of civil rights violations. That review is ongoing.
Fufidio said the additional records should be provided but recognized that stricter discovery rules instituted in recent years were not in place following the indictments in the Mount Vernon case.
The judge granted the lawyers' request that once he signs the order dismissing the indictments he will stay the required sealing of the files for 90 days so that they can be accessed in preparation for any civil lawsuits.
The delay in overturning the convictions was particularly onerous for one of the defendants, Sadat Yancy, who served three years in state prison before his release on parole in late 2022. He was twice picked up on parole violations last year following an arrest in Mount Vernon – and his lawyers fought to keep him out of jail by arguing to a judge that if the conviction had been overturned in a timely manner, he wouldn’t have been on parole.
Still, he remained under parole supervision until mid December, two weeks after Fufidio’s ruling, because that was when his parole maxed out.
The DA's announcement in May that the office would support overturning the convictions indicated none were still incarcerated but made no mention of parole statuses.
In addition to Yancy, Overton, Clark and Long, those whose convictions were overturned were Candace Brown, Rachel Bush, Derrick Clark, Sean Farrow, Jaquan Harris, Dwayne Pennant and Sensa Velasquez.
Fufidio said it was important that the undercover officer be publicly identified so that his work on other cases can be scrutinized and anyone affected by his involvement can get justice. That process apparently began last year.
A spokeswoman for the District Attorney’s Office said that cases of Lewis’ in multiple jurisdictions have been reviewed and flagged, with defense lawyers of 19 individuals notified of his unreliability in the Mount Vernon case. It was not clear to what extent if any there were similar inconsistencies in Lewis’ work in those cases.
Fufidio seemed curious as to whether Lewis continues to work in law enforcement. Heeger only said that he no longer works for the county and has moved out of state.
After brief stints as a police officer in Syracuse and Peekskill, Lewis joined the Mount Kisco Police Department in 2000 and then became a Westchester County detective when the county began policing Mount Kisco in 2015. He retired in March 2021 with an annual New York pension of $103,000, according to the state Comptroller's Office. The following month, according to his LinkedIn page, Lewis became a detective for the University Park (Texas) Police Department and continues to hold that job.
Reached there Friday morning, Lewis expressed surprise at being asked about a Westchester case. He said he was a cop for a long time, had committed no misconduct and assailed a reporter for questioning his integrity.
"I am so far gone from those cases," he said, declining to answer any questions about the Mount Vernon case or the review of his other cases. "I don't care about those cases. I did my job."
This article originally appeared on Rockland/Westchester Journal News: 11 drug felonies overturned because of ex-Westchester NY cop
