SCENE OF THE CRIME
"The date was April 10th, 2002...I'm walking from the eastbound section of Linden Boulevard..so right about when I got to the front of my building is when I heard the first shot ring out. The commotion was not taking place on my side of the block. It was happening across the street and further down, that's where I saw people running from. The first thing I want to do was to get out of here."
THE 911 CALL
"A lady from the block called 911 when the incident occurred. Based on her description of what she saw, she said she witnessed the shooting take place and the perpetrator is a medium-height, dark-skinned male, and she saw him fleeing after shooting."
"The person she saw doing it was 5'8" with short hair"
Gary Benloss is over six feet and light-skinned, and had an afro at the time. The 911 call was during broad daylight.
THE 911 CALL POLICE REPORT
The facts about the identification in this case have been drastically distorted for years. The police report and 911 call of Paula Edghill is particularly compelling because it describes the shooter as a medium height, dark-skinned male and reinforces Gary’s contention that the eyewitness who identified him was mistaken. Its significance lies in persuasive logic that challenges the competency of the police investigation, discredits the reliability of his arrest, and contradicts the identification evidence offered at trial. Similarly, the impact of Paula Edghill’s police report tends to exculpate Gary Benloss in ways that can not be lightly dismissed. Yet, these very important key facts never surfaced during Gary’s trial.
In the absence of Paul Edghill’s testimony, the only explanation of the case that the jurors heard was consistent with the prosecution’s version of the case. Had the jury also heard testimony from Edghill, it would have been faced with highly credible testimony that directly contradicted the prosecution’s version and raised substantial doubt as to the testimony regarding the identification, and the circumstances of Vulcain’s death offered by the key prosecution’s witness. There was a substantial basis for the prosecution to believe this evidence would sing the pendulum of justice in Gary’s direction–so they intentionally did not subpoena Paula Edghill to testify and deliberately deceived trial counsel into believing that this document had no relevance to Gary’s innocence. This intent indicates that this was a calculated tactic utilized to win at any cost. Moreover, the trail judge failed to place this information in context of the other evidence presented at trial because the evidence collectively would have severly impaired the prosecution’s case by showing that someone else had committed the crime of which Gary is wrongfully convicted of.
HEARSAY
"They arrested a gentleman initially for the crime based on him, matching that description that was given in the 9-1-1 call. That gentleman, while he was being obtained, later informed them that he saw me go into the building with a duffel bag. They searched my apartment. There was never no duffel bag or a murder weapon recovered from the apartment."
"They now have another witness [Anthony Holder], who was a superintendent of a building across the street who alleged that he witness the entire offense take place and he knows the perpetrator to be a guy by the name of Chucky, which he indicated to be myself. However, the problem with his story is that he never described. He just said that he heard the name, and according to police reports, no one else ever stated that they heard any name being called in reference to the perpetrator."
CORRUPTION
The Wrongful conviction of Gary Benloss is yet another tragic example of the long tolerated, and Well documented misconduct of former Kings County Assistant District Attorney Kyle Reeves. The issues and blatant injustice in this case raises serious questions concerning the integrity of our due process of law and calls for an immediate investigation, as the egregious and unethical tactics administered affected the outcome and caused irreparable harm to an innocent man and his family.
