QUEENS DA’S EMBATTLED HOMICIDE CHIEF
RESIGNS FOLLOWING WRONGFUL CONVICTION
TIMESLEDGER | QNS.COM | APRIL 2-APRIL 8, 2021 5
BY JACOB KAYE
A notable member of the
Queens district attorney’s office
resigned from his post on
Monday, less than a month after
a judge ruled that he had
“deliberately withheld” evidence
as a prosecutor in a 1996
murder case that resulted in
the wrongful conviction of
three men, sources confirmed
with QNS.
Brad Leventhal will step
down from position as the
Homicide Bureau Chief in
the DA’s office after Queens
District Attorney Melinda
Katz accepted his resignation
on Monday, March 29, citing
a “mutual concern that his
continued employment had
become a distraction from the
critical, ongoing work of the
office,” according to a spokesperson
for the DA’s office.
Leventhal’s resignation
followed the overturning of
the convictions of George Bell,
Gary Johnson and Rohan Bolt,
who were all sentenced to life
in prison for the 1996 murders
of Ira “Mike” Epstein,
the owner of an Astoria check
cashing business, and NYPD
officer Charles Davis.
Leventhal, who worked in
the DA’s office as an assistant
district attorney at the time,
was accused by Queens Administrative
Judge Joseph
Zayas of withholding evidence
from the defense, including testimony
claiming someone else
committed the double murder.
At the time of the murder,
Leventhal contended that the
trio had a premeditated plan
to rob the check-cashing store
and eliminate the witnesses.
A review of the case,
prompted by Katz’s Conviction
Integrity Unit (CIU), concluded
that Leventhal and the
DA’s office failed to disclose
records favorable to the defense.
Additionally, the CIU,
which has been behind the reversals
of seven wrongful convictions
since being created
by Katz last year, found that
one of the prosecution’s star
witnesses was found to have a
history of mental illness and
was experiencing hallucinations
around the time of the
murder.
On March 5, Zayas overturned
the three men’s convictions
and Bell, Johnson
and Bolt walked free.
Leventhal’s departure
from the DA’s office marks the
second job he’s left in the last
two weeks.
St. John’s University Law
School parted ways with Leventhal,
who taught a class on
evidence practice and served
as an adjunct professor at the
school since 2012, after learning
of his involvement in the
wrongful conviction case, according
to reporting by the
Queens Daily Eagle.
Despite the wrongful conviction,
Judge Zayas didn’t go
as far as to completely exonerate
Bell, Johnson and Bolt.
The DA’s office will have until
the first week of June to determine
whether or not to pursue
prosecution of the three men.
Katz has assigned Executive
District Attorney Pishoy
Yacoub, who has led the DA’s
Supreme Court Trial Division
and Legal Training since
January 2020, to lead the investigation
and determine
whether or not to vacate Bell,
Johnson and Bolt’s indictment.
Yacoub’s decision will
be presented to the court on
June 4, according to the DA’s
office.
Leventhal did not respond
QNS’ request for comment.
Queens District Attorney Melinda Katz accepted the resignation of
Homicide Bureau Chief Brad Leventhal on Monday, March 29, 2021.
Photo by Mark Hallum
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