A woman who served more than a decade in prison was released Tuesday after new evidence contradicted her testimony that she helped a hitman take out innocent victims in the Bronx 25 years ago.
Kimberly Hanzlik, 59, was convicted along with gunman Joseph Meldish of tipping off Meldish about sitting at the French Tavern on East Tremont Avenue on March 21, 1999. .
A judge sentenced Mr. Handzlik to 20 years to life in state prison, but new evidence unearthed by the Bronx District Attorney's Office casts doubt on whether Mr. Handzlik was even at the Bronx watering hole when the murders occurred. She languished there until she was seen.
According to reports, Meldish, who is suspected of involvement in 40 gang murders, was furious that Brown, a former drug dealer, refused to lend him cash for a transaction, and Meldish broke into his home. When he did so, he reported it to the police. Retaliation.
Handzlik, who was a crack-addicted prostitute at the time, went with Meldish and another man to the Throggs Neck bar where Brown was hanging out, and when they went inside, they saw Brown sitting with his wife. It is said that he saw it and told Meldish that he was there.
Meldish burst in and shot the man eight times, killing him.
However, it turns out that Meldish actually shot and killed Brown's look-alike brother, Joey.
And unfortunately for Handzlik, Meldysh's getaway driver testified that she helped the criminals carry out their despicable mission, which led to her conviction.
In 2021, Handzlik's attorneys asked the DA's Office of Conviction Integrity to reinvestigate the case. That's when they discovered an old police document in which the getaway driver allegedly said, “Mr. Handzlik was not there when the shooting ended.''
Investigators also found that Brown's wife, who said she had seen Handzlik at the bar before the shooting, never mentioned her until 2006, seven years after the killing.
The now-defunct NYPD detective who obtained the ID then coerced him into providing a false ID in another unrelated case, Clark said.
On Tuesday, an administrative judge in Bronx Judicial Court granted Hanzlik's motion to vacate the conviction, drop the charges, seal the case and release her from prison.
“MS. Ms. Handzlik has served 13 years in prison based on trial testimony that does not meet today's standards of reliability given the discovery of new information and casts doubt on the integrity of her conviction.” We cannot support this,” Clark said.
“We understand the pain and suffering this has caused the victim's family, but in the interest of justice we are dropping the charges against Mr. Handzlik.”
“It was a great day,” Hanzlik's lawyer, Irving Cohen, said afterward.
“We knew right away that she was innocent,” the lawyer said, adding that his client was “absolutely thrilled” to be freed.
“So she's completely innocent. She wasn't there when this happened.”
But not everyone was overjoyed.
Joseph's widow, Eileen Brown, told the Post that she was “disgusted that this is happening.” “I don't understand how they can let her out.”
“Her record will be expunged. It appears she was never arrested,” she continued. “If she hadn't come into that bar and pointed my husband out, he would still be with us. My husband was a good man. He had a good job and was in the Air Force. I was in the reserves. We had a young son.
“We were a happy family with a great future, but it all ended that night because of her.”
