‘Grid Kid’ murder suspect’s lawyer requests DA launch probe into his office
A lawyer for the man awaiting retrial for a 2003 murder is personally petitioning the Brooklyn district attorney to launch a probe – into his own office.
In a letter to DA Eric Gonzalez, defense attorney Mark Bederow requests an investigation into why Brooklyn’s lauded Conviction Review Unit missed evidence that Bederow claims supports his longstanding accusations of prosecutorial misconduct in the case against John Giuca.
Giuca was convicted in 2005 in the murder of college football player Mark Fisher after a house party in Brooklyn. The conviction was overturned by an appeals panel in February and Giuca now faces retrial
Bederow has long maintained that trial prosecutor Anna-Sigga Nicolazzi suppressed evidence in order to frame Giuca and maintain her perfect record.
The letter comes after Bederow filed motions earlier this month detailing the sudden emergence of new materials – including an audio recording of jailhouse snitch Joseph Ingram clearing Giuca, and a letter of recommendation penned by Nicolazzi for a key witness.
“The CRU apparently failed to discover that Nicolazzi suppressed the Ingram recording” ahead of Giuca’s 2015 wrongful conviction hearings, the note says. “I further request that you immediately commence an investigation into why the Ingram recording was suppressed from Giuca for 13 years.”
Bederow also asks Gonzalez to drop all charges against his client.
“As a result of this latest and egregious violation of Giuca’s right to due process, I urge you to withdraw your office’s effort to appeal the reversal of Giuca’s murder conviction to the Court of Appeals and to move to vacate Giuca’s conviction in the interest of justice,” the papers read.
Nicolazzi did not return a message.
“We will review the letter,” a spokesman with the Brooklyn DA’s office said.