Two men who spent years in jail for a Bronx murder they didn't commit were put there because of the false testimony of 60-year-old Penny Cameron. Cameron claims she was coerced into giving false information by a threatening detective and is now coming forward because she has terminal breast cancer. "Every day of my life, I thought about them. I was serving time with them," she tells the Post. Given the choice between being held in a prison of lies and an actual prison, we're going to go with the metaphysical one.
One of the convicted men wasn't even in the country at the time of the murder—he was still in his native Dominican Republic, as "government documentation" later showed. That man, José Garcia, was released in 2007 after spending 14 years in jail. He later received a $7.5 million settlement before being deported on a drug-related offense. The other man, Carlos Morillo, was released on November 2 after 20 years behind bars, thanks to the efforts of his attorney, a judge and Cameron. "I wanted him out before I pass away because he doesn't belong in there," she said.
Cameron's 14-year-old son allegedly witnessed the murder of a drug dealer in 1991, but refused to cooperate with the police, who then approached his mother and said they'd "make life a living hell" for him if she didn't finger the culprits, she claims. The detective in question then allegedly showed Cameron photos of Garcia and Morillo before she identified them in a lineup.
She said she bowed to pressure from an overzealous detective to nail the pair because her troubled 14-year-old son was suspected of having witnessed the murder and refused to cooperate with cops — and the officer threatened to go after the boy if she didn’t implicate the men.
Garcia was released in 2007, after 14 years behind bars, only because his girlfriend finally convinced authorities that he was not even in the country when the murder took place.
There was government documentation to show he was in the Dominican Republic at the time — given that several days after the murder, he was jailed by immigration officials for trying to sneak into the United States.
Garcia, who has since been deported back to the Dominican Republic for an unrelated drug crime, received a $7.5 million settlement from the city after Cameron recanted.
But Morillo, 49, languished behind bars until Nov. 2, when he was finally released after serving 20 years, helped by his lawyer and a sympathetic judge.
“I wanted him out before I pass away because he doesn’t belong in there,” Cameron said.
“I got my death sentence once the case started,” she added.
“I thought about them [being] in jail every day. I’m a mother of boys. I kept thinking about how their mothers felt. It was eating away at me. I don’t want to die knowing these two men are in jail. I have suffered with them from the outside. I had to free them.”
Morillo’s lawyer, Ramon Pagan, said that his client will sue the city.
“He’s been in jail most of his adult life, and there are a lot of things that he doesn’t understand — the smartphone, the Internet,” Pagan said. “The world is immensely different.”
Garcia’s lawyer, Martin Klotz, ripped authorities over the botched case, saying it raises troubling questions involving what they knew about Cameron’s tale, when they knew it — and why they didn’t move to help free the two men sooner.
“The government had to have known that there was a significant possibility that this was a misrepresentation,’’ Klotz said. “You would think that would have caused an internal re-examination” of the case.
A spokesman for the Bronx District Attorney’s Office shot back that “there was not even a hint of misconduct’’ by the DA’s office in the case:
“Our position is that the ADA did nothing improper,’’ he said.
Still, Cameron said she told authorities what they wanted to hear only after a detective threatened to “make life a living hell” for her son, who saw the gunmen who killed Cesar Vazquez outside her Bailey Avenue home buwho refused to cooperate with them.
Cameronsaid the detective bullying her showed her pictures of Morillo and Garcia before she picked them out of a lineup, an apparent violation of the identification process.
Cameron said that after she testified against the men, she moved to the Jersey Shore.
But the guilt followed her, she added, and her health immediately began to deteriorate.
She has suffered from post-traumatic-stress syndrome, two strokes, heart disease, diabetics and finally breast cancer that has spread to her uterus.
One of the convicted men wasn't even in the country at the time of the murder—he was still in his native Dominican Republic, as "government documentation" later showed. That man, José Garcia, was released in 2007 after spending 14 years in jail. He later received a $7.5 million settlement before being deported on a drug-related offense. The other man, Carlos Morillo, was released on November 2 after 20 years behind bars, thanks to the efforts of his attorney, a judge and Cameron. "I wanted him out before I pass away because he doesn't belong in there," she said.
Cameron's 14-year-old son allegedly witnessed the murder of a drug dealer in 1991, but refused to cooperate with the police, who then approached his mother and said they'd "make life a living hell" for him if she didn't finger the culprits, she claims. The detective in question then allegedly showed Cameron photos of Garcia and Morillo before she identified them in a lineup.
She said she bowed to pressure from an overzealous detective to nail the pair because her troubled 14-year-old son was suspected of having witnessed the murder and refused to cooperate with cops — and the officer threatened to go after the boy if she didn’t implicate the men.
Garcia was released in 2007, after 14 years behind bars, only because his girlfriend finally convinced authorities that he was not even in the country when the murder took place.
There was government documentation to show he was in the Dominican Republic at the time — given that several days after the murder, he was jailed by immigration officials for trying to sneak into the United States.
Garcia, who has since been deported back to the Dominican Republic for an unrelated drug crime, received a $7.5 million settlement from the city after Cameron recanted.
But Morillo, 49, languished behind bars until Nov. 2, when he was finally released after serving 20 years, helped by his lawyer and a sympathetic judge.
“I wanted him out before I pass away because he doesn’t belong in there,” Cameron said.
“I got my death sentence once the case started,” she added.
“I thought about them [being] in jail every day. I’m a mother of boys. I kept thinking about how their mothers felt. It was eating away at me. I don’t want to die knowing these two men are in jail. I have suffered with them from the outside. I had to free them.”
Morillo’s lawyer, Ramon Pagan, said that his client will sue the city.
“He’s been in jail most of his adult life, and there are a lot of things that he doesn’t understand — the smartphone, the Internet,” Pagan said. “The world is immensely different.”
Garcia’s lawyer, Martin Klotz, ripped authorities over the botched case, saying it raises troubling questions involving what they knew about Cameron’s tale, when they knew it — and why they didn’t move to help free the two men sooner.
“The government had to have known that there was a significant possibility that this was a misrepresentation,’’ Klotz said. “You would think that would have caused an internal re-examination” of the case.
A spokesman for the Bronx District Attorney’s Office shot back that “there was not even a hint of misconduct’’ by the DA’s office in the case:
“Our position is that the ADA did nothing improper,’’ he said.
Still, Cameron said she told authorities what they wanted to hear only after a detective threatened to “make life a living hell” for her son, who saw the gunmen who killed Cesar Vazquez outside her Bailey Avenue home buwho refused to cooperate with them.
Cameronsaid the detective bullying her showed her pictures of Morillo and Garcia before she picked them out of a lineup, an apparent violation of the identification process.
Cameron said that after she testified against the men, she moved to the Jersey Shore.
But the guilt followed her, she added, and her health immediately began to deteriorate.
She has suffered from post-traumatic-stress syndrome, two strokes, heart disease, diabetics and finally breast cancer that has spread to her uterus.
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