NJ - Murder conviction of Richard Kamienski overturned

Wudge

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[Introductory comments ... This regards the long-ago deaths of Barbara and Nick DeTournay and the subsequent murder conviction of Richard Kamienski. It's one of the oldest cases in my top twenty list of likely wrongful convictions. The ruling discussed herein overturns Kamienski's murder conviction (Federal review of the case under a Writ of Habeas Corpus) and represents a classic back-alley, butt-kicking given to prosecutors and appellate jurists in the state of New Jersey by The U.S. Third Circuit Court of Appeals.

As a reference point, the Third Circuit's complete mopping-of-the-floor is even worse than the woodshed treatment that was similarly administered to New Jersey judges, prosecutors and LE by the Federal District Court in the Rubin Hurricane Carter case. ... End of comments]


"A federal appeals court panel today ordered a judge in Newark to free a NJ playboy who spent the past 26 years in prison for two murders he didn't commit.

Three U.S. Third Circuit Court of Appeals judges, who overturned the murder conviction earlier this month, said Richard Kamienski should go free.

Unless there is a change of venue, U.S. District Court Judge Stanley Chesler could sign the order as early as 1 p.m. Monday."
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"Kamienski's conviction was based on nothing more than "rank speculation" that he knew what he'd gotten into when he introduced the victims to their eventual killers, the U.S. Third Circut of Appeals in Philadelphia wrote.

To convict him of felony murder, "the state had to produce sufficient evidence to allow a reasonable juror to conclude beyond a reasonable doubt that he knowingly participated or aided in the commission of a robbery," which it didn't, the judges said." [my comment: prejudice attaches and double jeopardy forecloses any possible retrial]
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"This is so rare. This is the first time that this court has ever granted [a writ of habeus corpus] in this context," McInnis said by phone today from his Manhattan office. "I couldn't be happier for Paul. It's just a decision that has to be savored."
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"They also had words for their robed colleagues: The Appellate Division conflated that proof into its inquiry into evidence of murder and felony murder. Doing so was not only error, it was unreasonable; it allowed Kamienski to be convicted on something less than proof of 'every element of the offense' of conviction beyond a reasonable doubt.

"It is essential . . . that there be a logical and convincing connection between the facts established and the conclusion inferred,” they wrote."


http://www.examiner.com/x-2446-Nort...e-of-wrongfully-convicted-NJ-playboy#comments


If you read the article (and I hope you do), you will find that the trial Judge overruled the jury's murder conviction but that a State Appellate Court reinstated it.

[Sometimes, Christmas arrives early.]
 
Very intriuging case, Wudge. I'll be looking to read more about this case on my next day off. Thanks for bringing some attention to it here at WS.

Have to add ... the word Mis-truths keeps popping up. Makes a girl wonder.
 
Very intriuging case, Wudge. I'll be looking to read more about this case on my next day off. Thanks for bringing some attention to it here at WS.

Have to add ... the word Mis-truths keeps popping up. Makes a girl wonder.

Welcome to WebSleuths.

In its day, this was a high-profile case. It's a case an evidence purist would love as well as anyone who abhors prosecutorial misconduct -- put a check by my name on both counts.

I always believed the trial record lacked evidence that Kamienski had the knowledge necessary (much less aided) to support the jury's murder conviction (two murders, double life sentence). Twenty plus years later, a Federal Court ruled as I've always argued.

In this regard, the oral arguments to the Third Circuit Court expose the central evidence issues -- I believe it was a far better day for McInnis and the defense than for Marzarella and the State. The following link will bring-up the oral arguments.

http://www.releasepaulnow.com/filed_documents/ThirdCircuit_Kamienski_OralArgument_20090416.pdf

More case background exists here.

http://www.releasepaulnow.com/
 

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