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New evidence in 1993 Bayside murder
Brooklyn man jailed for 26 years wants name cleared, claiming new DNA test exonerates him
BY BILL PARRY
A man convicted in a notorious
Bayside murder case
in 1993 and spent 26 years
in prison wants his name
cleared.
The Legal Aid Society
called on the Queens district
attorney’s office to immediately
consent to a recently
filed vacatur motion regarding
the case of Michael Robinson
after the city’s Office
of the Chief Medical Examiner
(OCME) generated a
new DNA result excluding
Robinson as the source of
the male DNA found under
the fingernails of the decedent,
Gwendolyn Samuels.
This result differs from
OCME’s initial result of
“inconclusive,” which was
based on an incomplete DNA
profile from the victim. After
Legal Aid discovered and
raised this with the court,
OCME agreed to run a second
test which revealed that
a match between the fingernail
evidence and Robinson
is “78.1 trillion times less
probable that a coincidental
match to an unrelated African
American person.”
The Queens district attorney’s
office even agreed
to stipulate that Robinson
is excluded as the male DNA
donor under Samuel’s fingernails,
yet still refuses to
vacate the conviction.
The jury that convicted
Robinson in 1993 did not
hear that Robinson was excluded
from the DNA under
Samuels fingernails.
“Our position under the
facts of this case is that the
presence or absence of the
defendant’s DNA under the
fingernails of the victim
is irrelevant,” A Queens
DA spokesperson said. “We
Michael Robinson (r.) and his team of attorneys from The Legal Aid Society want his name cleared in a 1993 Bayside murder.
Courtesy of The Legal Aid Society
never argued that it was the
defendant’s DNA. There is
no evidence that the poor
deceased woman in this
case had the opportunity
to struggle with her assailant.
And the evidence that
convicted the defendant remains
intact.”
Samuels, Robinson’s estranged
wife, was a home
health aide who was caring
for a patient, 89-year-old
Elveina Marchon, at her
Bayside home.
Samuels was killed during
a violent stabbing by a
male perpetrator. Defense
attorneys for Robinson argued
that Samuels’ thenboyfriend
had stabbed and
murdered Samuels.
“As we maintained since
day one, Mr. Robinson is
completely innocent of this
crime, and in the interest
of justice, prosecutors owe
it to Mr. Robinson to vacate
this conviction,” The Legal
Aid Staff Attorney with the
Criminal Appeals Bureau
Harold Ferguson said. “Mr.
Robinson spent 26 years incarcerated
for a crime that
he did not commit. These results
— from the city’s own
medical lab — fully exculpate
our client.”
This past July, New York
Supreme Court Justice Stephen
Knopf ordered a hearing
to assess the impact
of newly discovered DNA
evidence.
This case is currently
adjourned to Nov. 18.
Robinson’s current motion
asks for a new trial
where a jury can consider
the DNA evidence. He was
paroled on March 27 and
works as a delivery man
back home in Brooklyn, according
to a spokesman for
The Legal Aid Society.
Reach reporter Bill Parry
by e-mail at bparry@schnepsmedia.
com or by phone
at (718) 260–4538.
Vol. 28 No. 44 52 total pages
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