Brooklyn defendant demands access to evidence buried under Sandy debris
A Brooklyn defendant seeking release from prison has petitioned a federal court for access to evidence that he says is buried in a Red Hook evidence warehouse underneath Superstorm Sandy debris.
The defendant, Rohan Hamilton, argued that errors made at trial and denied access to evidence prevented denied him his constitutional rights to effective counsel and a fair trial. Late last month, a decision by Brooklyn Federal Judge Jack Weinstein provided Hamilton some hope to retrieve the sought evidence, but Weinstein’s ruling made clear that even with access and the defendant’s review of the evidence, there is little chance it would disprove Hamilton’s guilt.
Hamilton was arrested in 2004 after his child’s mother, Paschal, was discovered dead in her Bedford-Stuyvesant apartment. She was bound with duct tape and had three gunshot wounds to the chest. Upon his arrest, Hamilton was fingerprinted and later gave three statements to investigators (oral, written and videotaped).