Defense attorneys say the prosecution team withheld evidence in the 2013 murder case that led to the conviction of a Brentwood man. Photo Credit: James Carbone
By Nicole Fuller of Newsday
Attorneys for a Brentwood man found guilty of murder in an alleged MS-13 gang beating asked a Suffolk judge Tuesday to set aside the conviction because the former homicide prosecutor who tried the case failed to turn over key evidence to the defense.
Jairon Gonzales-Martinez was convicted of second-degree murder in 2013 for committing an alleged MS-13 gang beating that left Rumaldo Bethancourt Lopez, 29, dead outside a pool hall. Defense attorneys Michael Brown and Danielle Coysh on Tuesday filed a motion, alleging that 167 pages of documents — including a police photo line-up in which an eye witness identified another man as the perpetrator — were withheld by former Assistant District Attorney Glenn Kurtzrock in violation of what is known as the Brady rule. That rule generally requires prosecutors to disclose evidence favorable to the defense.
Kurtzrock, who was forced to resign in 2017 after he was caught withholding evidence from the defense in another case, had his law license suspended for two years in late 2020 after an appellate court found he “committed serious misconduct that undermines the public’s trust in the justice system” in a murder case that fell apart mid-trial when his actions were discovered. The accused murderer ended up pleading guilty to attempted burglary.
“The misconduct engaged in by Glenn Kurtzrock is not an isolated occurrence,” Brown and Coysh wrote in a 56-page motion. “It is apparent that Glenn Kurtzrock actively engaged in a pattern of systematic and deliberate wrongdoing aimed at securing convictions rather than seeking justice.”
Defense attorneys Michael Brown and Danielle Coysh, outside Suffolk County Court in Riverhead on Tuesday. Credit: James Carbone
The motion added: “The willful concealment of 167 pages of case related documents which included Brady and other discoverable material in this homicide prosecution was an intentional and undeniable deprivation of Mr. Gonzales-Martinez’s right to due process and a fair trial.”
A spokesperson for Suffolk County District Attorney Timothy Sini said it had provided defense attorneys with the information cited in Jairon Gonzales-Martinez’s motion several years ago as part of a review the office conducted of cases Kurtzrock had handled.
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“The Office will review it and respond appropriately based on the facts contained in the motion, the evidence of the defendant’s guilt, and the relevant law,” the Sini spokesperson said of the new filing.
Gonzales-Martinez was sentenced on May 22, 2013, to 20 years to life in prison and remains incarcerated at Great Meadow Correctional Facility in upstate Washington County. Brown denied his client was an MS-13 gang member.
The conviction should be overturned “based on extreme misconduct by a rogue prosecutor,” Brown said in an interview. “We’re anxious to get a fair and just trial as opposed to the trial that we had some eight years ago.”
According to the motion, the prosecution’s lone eye witness to the killing, Jorge Martinez, initially identified another man as the perpetrator when presented with a photo array of suspects by police. When Martinez testified during Gonzales-Martinez’s trial, he identified Gonzales-Martinez as the person who beat the victim to death with a pipe, contradicting his earlier comments, the motion said.
“In concealing this exculpatory photo array, prosecuting attorney Glenn Kurtzrock strategically prevented the preparation and execution of an effective cross examination and deprived council the ability to present a meaningful defense.”
Coysh said Kurtzrock also concealed 21 pages of the lead detectives’ memo book and redacted information on tips that implicated others. “The defense never had the opportunity to go and locate, to investigate, was someone else responsible for this murder?”
Kurtzrock’s Bay Shore-based attorney David Besso declined to comment.
By Nicole Fuller from Newsday
