The Case Against David Wong
Here is information about a case that many friends are doing some hard work on. Go to their website to learn more about it and better yet, to sign a petition:
David Wong is a Chinese immigrant wrongly convicted of murder in 1987 in upstate New York. A New York appellate court overturned his murder conviction in October 2004 and ordered a new trial. On November 9, 2004, David Wong's lawyers (Jaykumar Menon of the Center for Constitutional Rights and Professor William Hellerstein of the Second Look Program Clinic at Brooklyn Law School) filed two motions with Judge Lawliss: to recuse himself from the retrial and to dismiss the murder charge because it was based on lies -- a former inmate has admitted that prison guards coached him to fabricate his testimony.
Contrary to a published account that District Attorney Richard Cantwell had written responses to the motions, he in fact did not file any opposition to the recusal motion.
In a decision dated Friday, November 19, 2004, Judge Lawliss announced that he was stepping down from the case by granting the motion for recusal. According to Judge Lawliss, his close ties to the District Attorney did not require him to step down, but he chose to step down because of his written decision in 2003 indicating that he believed the large amount of evidence of David Wong's innocence was incredible -- a conclusion unanimously overturned by the New York Appellate Division in 2004. According to Judge Lawliss, "recusal is appropriate to avoid even the appearance of partiality in any future proceedings." David Wong's supporters believe that Judge Lawliss had demonstrated his bias in this case and that his refusal to acknowledge the overwhelming evidence of David Wong's innocence raises questions about whether he is covering up proof that prison guards manufactured evidence to pin the murder on David Wong, a poor Chinese immigrant who was unable to defend himself.
David Wong is waiting in Clinton County Jail to see whether the retrial scheduled for December 6, 2004 will go forward, will be rescheduled, or whether the District Attorney will agree to drop the case to avoid consuming considerable taxpayers' money to a case that lacks any motive or physical evidence and where several witnesses have identified the name of the real killer.
Visit www.freedavidwong.org to find out more and learn how you can get involved with the David Wong Support Committee.
Posted by Angela at 10:51 AM
