Advocates for Chanel Lewis demand Queens DA reopen murder case
Community advocates call for the Chanel Lewis case to be reopened. Photo by Dean Moses
TIMESLEDGER | QNS.COM | JULY 23-JULY 29, 2021 17
BY DEAN MOSES
More than 40,000 New
Yorkers have signed on to a
petition urging Queens District
Attorney Melinda Katz
to reopen the conviction of
Chanel Lewis, the Brooklyn
resident found guilty of murdering
Howard Beach resident
Karina Vetrano back in
2016.
That petition was delivered
to Katz’s Kew Gardens
office last week by a group
of community activists and
leaders including members
of Color Of Change, VOCALNY
and Housing Justice for
All.T
he murder stunned the
quiet Queens community
of Howard Beach and much
of the city. Vetrano, 30, was
found sexually assaulted
and fatally strangled inside
Spring Creek Park on Aug.
2, 2016, after going for a run
and never returning home.
Lewis was arrested
months later following a police
investigation, but his
first murder trial ended with
a hung jury. He was convicted
of first-degree murder at
his second trial and is now
serving a prison sentence of
life without the possibility of
parole.
Protesters, however, listed
several criteria that they believe
depict Lewis’ innocence,
such as a reported history
prosecutorial misconduct
by prosecutor Brad Leventhal,
concerns about racial
profiling, mid-trial disclosure
of significant scientific
evidence, and claims that the
Lewis was coerced by police
into making a confession.
Schneps Media reached out
to District Attorney Melinda
Katz’s office for comment, and
is awaiting a response.
Assembling across the
street from DA Katz’s office
on 125-01 Queens Blvd.,
demonstrators brandished
signs calling for a retrial and
erected a podium plastered
with newspaper clippings
involving the nearly half-decade
old case.
Community activists
Mike Thomas, Tiffany Cabán
and Erica Ford; wrongfully
convicted survivors; and
even Chanel Lewis’ own
mother led the charge, which
asks Katz to reopen the case,
something they say she
promised to do while running
for office.
Mike Thomas, a community
advocate and retired law
enforcement officer, believes
Lewis’ race played a deciding
factor in the conviction.
He began his speech by stating
that his heart goes out to
both Karina Vetrano’s family
and the Lewis family who
have both been under turmoil
due to this case.
“We are here today to
correct this injustice that
was done to this young man.
They want to tell you that
this case is not about race,
but it is. Chanel Lewis is in
jail because he simply was
walking through Howard
Beach, minding his business,”
Thomas said.
He added that Lewis was
stopped four times after being
racially profiled by officers,
but despite the NYPD’s
policy on filing a worksheet
report for stop and frisk, no
paperwork was ever filled
out. “Chanel Lewis is convicted
of a murder. How can this
young man walk into Howard
Beach, kill this young lady
and not be seen on any camera
or cellphone or anywhere? It’s
unconscionable and it makes
no sense. We want to say to
DA Katz today, get it right, we
want this overturned, and we
want a new trial,” Thomas demanded.
He cited the infamous
Central Park Five case as an
example of racial profiling
and wrongful conviction.
Lewis was sentenced in
2019, and as Katz campaigned
for the Queens district attorney
seat, she vowed to look
into the case and discuss it
with the Conviction Integrity
Unit (CIU). Activists say
that Lewis’ situation meets
the guidelines for the CIU to
reopen the case, calling it a
wrongful conviction and demanding
that he be released
on bail during that time.
Derrick Hamilton, a man
who spent 23 years falsely
imprisoned for a murder he
did not commit, also joined
the fight for Lewis’ case to be
reopened.
“I too know how it feels
to be Chanel Lewis. False
confessions are one of the
leading causes in wrongful
convictions. If you look at
Chanel’s confession, you see
at the end of it he is speaking
to a detective saying: ‘Are
you my lawyer?’ That in itself
should have prohibited it
from being used in a Queens
courtroom. I stand here today
to order Melinda Katz
to deliver justice, not ask.
You are the district attorney
of Queens. Your integrity
means everything to that office,”
Hamilton said.
Chants began to ring out,
“No Justice, no peace,” and
“Melinda Katz, we want a retrial”
as protesters marched
to the district attorney’s
locked building. Advocates
cited that the office is public
and requested they be
permitted to hand over a
box filled with some 40,000
signatures.
After several minutes a
staff member emerged to retrieve
the petition before the
group continued to chant,
“Reopen the case!”
Chanel Lewis (r.), shown at his February 2017 arrest, was convicted
of murdering Karina Vetrano (l.) in Howard Beach on Aug. 2, 2016
File photos/QNS
/QNS.COM
