Opinion ID: 2718461
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 1

Heading: Homicide in Hunts Point, New York

Text: Around 2:30 p.m. on Saturday, April 6, 2002, Margie Rodriguez heard gunshots from the street below her Hunts Point, Bronx apartment and called 911. From her sixth floor window, Rodriguez saw two men drive off in a gray car with a distinctive sunroof. Daniel “Dapper Dan” Colon, a local drug dealer, had been shot twice and lay dying in the street. Moments earlier, Dan Colon had met with two teen‐aged crack dealers: 15 year‐old Manny Colon (no relation to Dan) and 19 year‐old Aramis Fournier.1 Dan, Manny, and Fournier had discussed a recent police raid on their stash house at 735 Bryant Avenue. As Dan, Manny, and Fournier walked down Bryant Avenue, a car pulled up; one of its two occupants hopped out, said, “What’s up now, Dap?” and then opened fire. Despite gunshot wounds to his leg, Manny 1 To avoid confusion, we refer to Dan Colon and Manny Colon by their first names. 4 13‐2828‐pr Julio Alvarez v. Robert Ercole fled on foot while Fournier, who was also hit, played dead. Both of the teenagers survived. Dan, however, died en route to the hospital. NYPD officers questioned Manny and Fournier within hours of the shooting, but neither identified the shooter or the driver. Fournier said that the car was “possibly a Toyota,” and Manny described it as “a small gold or silver car.” That same day, NYPD Detective Donnelly interviewed Ariel Roche, a car mechanic working on Bryant Avenue. Donnelly jotted notes during the interview, which he turned into a DD5 investigation report. According to Donnelly’s notes and the DD5, Roche told Donnelly that, at the sound of gunfire, he had run to the shop’s door, facing onto Bryant Avenue. Roche saw an Hispanic male in his twenties get into the back of a four‐door gold or gray Maxima or Altima type vehicle. Roche said the man was carrying a gun. Donnelly’s notes include Roche’s description of watching the gold or gray car back down Bryant Avenue (a one‐way street), make a turn, and then head northwest on Hunts Point Avenue. The car, Roche said, had New York plates. The day after the shooting, a Sunday, Manny told police that he remembered the shooter’s name was “Julio.” On Monday, April 8, Detective DeSalvo in the 44th Precinct called Detective Monaco in the 41st (who was 5 13‐2828‐pr Julio Alvarez v. Robert Ercole investigating Dan’s homicide). DeSalvo had detained Edwin Vasquez, a computer technician who claimed to have information about Dan’s murder. Detective Monaco interviewed Vasquez, taking hand‐written notes which he later turned into a DD5 investigative report. According to the report, Vasquez told Monaco that either late on the night of Dan’s murder, or early the following morning, Vasquez’s longtime acquaintance “Julio” told Vasquez that he “took care of” his “problem” with a man who had argued with Julio’s wife, “Vianchi.” In the report’s words, Vasquez told the detectives that “the guy who was killed” had insulted both Julio and Vianchi, a slight that Julio could not “let . . . lie.” The report also included Vasquez’s description of Julio as a Dominican man in his thirties who used the nickname “Chan” or “Chang,” drove a gray or charcoal‐ colored Acura Legend, and hung around a dark‐skinned man known as the “General.” The DD5 shows that Vasquez also gave the detective a phone number for Julio. Monaco’s notes from this interview include information additional to the DD5 report, like his notation “rips drug dealers—JULIO” on a page with Julio’s nicknames, physical description, phone number, and what appear to be directions to Julio’s home in Hunt’s Point, near the shooting. Below the 6 13‐2828‐pr Julio Alvarez v. Robert Ercole directions, Monaco also jotted “borrowed 9 mm” and included several possible nicknames for Julio’s wife: “His wom[a]n is ‘Chena[,]’ ‘China[,]’ or ‘Cheena[.]’” Another page of Monaco’s notes adds that Julio’s “partner,” “Herniniel” (“General” in Spanish, according to Monaco) lives in Yonkers. The DD5 report states that Monaco ran a “Nitro” database search using the nicknames that Vasquez gave for Julio. The database produced two potential suspects. But when Monaco showed Vasquez photo arrays containing pictures of these suspects, Vasquez denied recognizing any as “Julio.” On April 9, 2002—three days after the shooting—Detective Alfred showed Fournier a photo array that included Respondent‐Appellee Julio Alvarez’s image. Fournier did not identify anyone. On April 10, Alfred showed Manny a photo spread, again including Alvarez’s photo, whom Manny identified as the shooter. On April 12, almost a week after the shooting, Alfred again showed Fournier a photo spread including Alvarez’s picture. Fournier said that Alvarez looked like the shooter but he was not sure, and failed to definitively identify anyone. Learning that the police were looking for him, Alvarez turned himself in and was arrested on April 15, 2002. Detective Alfred told Fournier and Manny, “We got the guy,” and asked them to view an in‐person lineup, which 7 13‐2828‐pr Julio Alvarez v. Robert Ercole included Alvarez. Both shooting victims identified Alvarez.2 Police searched Alvarez’s car pursuant to a warrant and found a box of 9 millimeter bullets in the trunk. The NYPD Firearms Analysis Unit could not link these bullets to any gun used in the shooting. Over a year before trial, the Bronx district attorney gave Alvarez redacted copies of the DD5 reports and notes from Roche’s and Vasquez’s interviews. The redacted versions blacked out Roche’s name and both witnesses’ birthdates and contact information. Vasquez’s report included his unredacted, full name in one location as well as the phone number that Vasquez attributed to “Julio.” The police apparently never called Julio’s number, nor did they use the directions to locate Julio’s home. Soon after receiving the Vasquez DD5 report, defense counsel used the number Vasquez attributed to “Julio” to identify “Julio Guerrero,” who lived near the shooting on Bryant Avenue, was married to a woman named “Bianchi,” and drove a silver Acura. The state court had a bench warrant out for Guerrero’s arrest on a minor traffic offense, but Guerrero was never apprehended, and defense counsel could not locate him. 2 The reliability of this in‐person identification is not before us on appeal. 8 13‐2828‐pr Julio Alvarez v. Robert Ercole Defense counsel also sent a private investigator to Roche’s garage address. But the investigator, not knowing Roche’s name, hit a wall when each of the employees denied having talked to the police. Despite Alvarez’s continued request for the redacted contact information for Vasquez and Roche, the Bronx district attorney refused to disclose it until after jury selection for Alvarez’s trial. By that time, Vasquez had moved and changed his phone number, and Roche had relocated to Puerto Rico.