The father of an NFL lineman had his 1983 armed robbery conviction vacated Friday in Westchester County, but an investigation found misconduct on the part of the detectives who investigated the case.
Jeffrey Koonce, 67, smiled in court as Westchester County District Attorney Miriam Roca agreed to throw out a decades-old conviction stemming from an assault at a Mount Vernon social club. He said he felt vindicated after receiving the offer. According to Rohad.
Roca said in a statement that an investigation by the District Attorney's Office found that Koonce's conviction was “tainted by such questionable investigative procedures.”
“I feel like a weight has been lifted off my shoulders in terms of my personality,” Koonce, the father of Las Vegas Raiders defensive end Malcolm Koonce, said in court. “That goes directly to my family, because I have great kids. Because of that,” he told the court. According to Rohad.
“They had to suffer all their lives despite what society thought of me, which was not true at all. This here will vindicate everything for them.” he added.
A review by the prosecutor's office's Conviction Review Division found that one of the lead detectives in the case gave false testimony and that investigators used inappropriate photo identification methods.
“From the highly suggestive photo arrays and identification procedures used by MVPD detectives to the totality of new evidence uncovered during the CRU investigation, Jeffrey Koonce's 1983 conviction is one such “We agree with the defense that the integrity of this belief is tainted by a questionable investigation process and therefore we can no longer stand by.” Roca said in a statement.
Koonce has maintained his innocence since he was first charged and served more than eight years in prison for an armed robbery committed by three men on June 20, 1981.
That day, more than 20 patrons and employees were held at gunpoint inside the Vernon Stars Rod & Gun Club in Mount Vernon. A shotgun shot was fired during the robbery, hitting a 15-year-old boy in the arm and grazing three adults.
Koonce and his brother Paul were arrested a week after the crime, but only one witness, the 15-year-old shooting victim, said Koonce was at the scene.
The prosecutor's investigation found that two lead detectives and a lieutenant investigated improper photo identification methods, including a “highly suggestive photo array” shown to injured victims in hospital. was found to have been used to produce false testimony against Mr. Koonce.
Mr. Koonce claimed he had an alibi and was not in Mount Vernon during the robbery.
