The daddy of an NFL lineman had his 1983 armed theft conviction vacated in Westchester County on Friday, after a overview discovered misconduct on the a part of detectives who investigated the case.
Jeffrey Koonce, 67, smiled in court docket and mentioned he felt vindicated after Westchester County District Lawyer Miriam Rocah agreed to toss the decades-old conviction stemming from a stickup at a Mount Vernon social membership, in line with Lohud.
An investigation by the district lawyer’s workplace discovered that Koonce’s conviction was “tainted by such questionable investigatory processes,” Rocah mentioned in a press release.
“I feel like a burden has been lifted off my shoulders as far as my character goes and that leads directly to my family because I have some wonderful kids,” Koonce, the daddy of Las Vegas Raider’s defensive finish Malcolm Koonce, mentioned in court docket, in line with Lohud.
“They had to suffer whatever it was that society thought of me, which was not true at all, throughout their entire lives and this right here is vindication of everything for them,” he added.
The overview by the DA’s workplace’s Conviction Evaluate Unit discovered that one of many lead detectives on the case gave false testimony and investigators used improper picture identification strategies.
“From the highly suggestive photo array and identification procedures used by MVPD detectives to the totality of new evidence found by the CRU investigation, we agree with defense counsel that Jefferey Koonce’s 1983 conviction was tainted by such questionable investigatory processes and therefore can no longer stand by the integrity of this conviction,” Rocah mentioned in her assertion.
Koonce, who maintained his innocence since first being accused, served greater than eight years in jail for an armed theft dedicated by three males on June 20, 1981.
On that day, greater than 20 patrons and workers had been held at gunpoint contained in the Vernon Stars Rod & Gun Membership in Mount Vernon. One shotgun shot was fired in the course of the theft, placing a 15-year-old within the arm and grazing three adults.
Koonce and his youthful brother Paul had been arrested every week after the crime was dedicated and just one witness — the 15-year-old gunshot sufferer — testified that the elder Koonce was on the scene.
The DA’s workplace overview discovered that two lead detectives and a lieutenant used improper picture ID strategies that resulted in false testimony in opposition to Koonce, together with the “highly suggestive photo array” that was proven to the wounded sufferer within the hospital.
Koonce maintained that he had an alibi and was not in Mount Vernon in the course of the theft.
