Opinion ID: 774017
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: The Witnesses Cited in the Brady Claim

Text: 7 Leka's Brady claim cites three other eyewitnesses known to the police. Before discussing the circumstances of disclosure or non-disclosure by the prosecution, it is useful to set out the witnesses' observations, and compare those observations to the trial testimony of Torres and Modica. 8 Anthony Chiusano, the driver of a Command bus on the Ocean Avenue route, noticed a light-colored car stopped beside his bus at a light. When the light changed, he noticed that the car out-accelerated his bus and double-parked, and that gun-fire broke out right after, from the car's rear passenger-side window. Preoccupied as he was with ordering his passengers to duck, and with negotiating his bus around the scene of the gunfire and out of harm's way, he saw nothing else. 9 Joseph Gonzalez, a postman, was at home watching television when he heard gunfire. Gonzalez went to his third-floor window overlooking Ocean Avenue and saw a man standing across the street falling backwards firing a gun [at a white car]. Jose Gonzalez Aff. of May 24, 1991. He watched the car speed from the scene, around a bus. 10 Officer Wilfredo Garcia of the New York City Police Department was in his second-floor apartment, looking out the window for a friend who was expected momentarily. He heard gunfire, looked in that direction, and saw a light-colored car pull up in front of a man in the street. His account, which is critical to the appeal, is as follows: 11 I saw muzzle flashes coming from the passenger side of the vehicle. Simultaneously, I observed a [C]ommand bus on the southbound lane go around this vehicle by proceeding in the oncoming (northbound) traffic lane. Since my friend was due at my house momentarily, it flashed through my mind [that] he may be involved. 12 I immediately ran to my bedroom and retrieved my off-duty weapon. As I was leaving my bedroom, I heard other shots and I looked out of my bedroom window and saw additional muzzle flashes coming from the passenger side of the white vehicle. 13 I then ran out of my apartment and as I was running down the steps of my building, I heard additional rapid shots. As I got to the main floor of the apartment building, which is one flight down, the shots had stopped. As I exited to the street, the vehicle had already fled the scene. All of this transpired in an amazingly short period of time, which I would estimate to be between 15 and 20 seconds. 14 I observed the deceased lying face down across the street directly in front of his vehicle. As I approached him, I noticed a black revolver laying on the street in the immediate vicinity of his body. 15 Wilfredo Garcia Aff. of Jan. 15, 1991 at 1-2.