Brian Kendall was 16 when Brooklyn detectives arrested him for a deadly taking pictures outdoors a Flatbush online game parlor, regardless of eyewitnesses describing an older, heavier gunman and telling police {the teenager} wasn’t the shooter.
Thirty-eight years later — after his homicide conviction was overturned when prosecutors concluded he was “likely innocent” — Kendall is suing New York Metropolis, alleging detectives fabricated proof, manipulated witnesses and hid exculpatory info that despatched him to jail earlier than he was deported to Guyana.
“The suit is for the NYPD and district attorney to be held accountable,” Kendall, 55, informed The Metropolis Reporter. “Back in the ‘80s there was a lot of misconduct. This was a practice happening all over.”
A couple of week after the Feb. 24, 1988, taking pictures, police took Kendall from his mother and father’ Flatbush condo in handcuffs. They stated two eyewitnesses recognized him because the gunman and charged him with the homicide of 20-year-old Raphael Reyes, who was fatally shot contained in the constructing on Cortelyou Highway.
The lawsuit, filed in Brooklyn federal courtroom, says detectives with the NYPD’s Brooklyn South Murder Squad ignored eyewitness accounts that contradicted their concept of the case. As a substitute, they constructed a homicide prosecution round manipulated witness statements and unreliable identifications, in line with the go well with.
From Guyana, Brian Kendall, 55, joined a courtroom listening to in Brooklyn the place a decide vacated his murder conviction in 2025. Credit score: Rita Dave
“We’ll review the case and respond in the litigation,” stated metropolis Regulation Division spokesperson Nicholas Paolucci.
Kendall is in search of damages from town, a former detective, and the estates of two case detectives who’ve since handed away. The lawsuit doesn’t search a selected greenback quantity.
On July 19, 1989, Kendall pleaded responsible to first-degree manslaughter after his lawyer warned he risked a far harsher sentence if he went to trial. He was sentenced on Aug. 7, 1989, to 8⅓ to 25 years in jail. After serving greater than 16 years, he was paroled on Dec. 20, 2004, and deported to his native Guyana simply over a month later, on Jan. 22, 2005.
In keeping with the lawsuit, witnesses constantly described the shooter as a brief, heavyset middle-aged man. Kendall was a thin 16-year-old. One witness informed police the gunman remained contained in the Sport Room whereas Kendall had been taking part in video video games.
The lawsuit additionally alleges detectives used suggestive picture arrays till witnesses recognized Kendall, withheld exculpatory witness statements from prosecutors and protection attorneys, relied on testimony that modified repeatedly after police interviews and pressured Kendall into falsely confessing by telling him he might go house if he admitted involvement.
“I thought it was a big mistake that they would correct,” Kendall informed The Metropolis Reporter.
In 2022, the Brooklyn District Lawyer’s Conviction Assessment Unit reopened the case after reinvestigating the proof. Prosecutors finally concluded Kendall was “likely innocent,” citing eyewitness accounts that had been ignored, unreliable witness testimony and proof that had by no means been disclosed to the protection.
A decide vacated his conviction and dismissed the indictment.
Kendall and his authorized crew argued that he was by no means given a good probability by detectives and the prosecutor dealing with the case.
Contained in the police precinct, officers put him in a lineup and refused to let him name a lawyer, in line with his account.
His household employed a non-public lawyer, Harry Dusenberry, who interviewed no less than 5 folks inside the sport room on the time. All of them stated Kendall had nothing to do with the homicide, in line with the 35-page CRU report.
Lots of the similar folks spoke to prosecutors on the time, the report stated.
The case was earlier than a decide, Francis Egitto, who had a popularity of doling out most sentences.
Dusenberry, in flip, informed the household that it could be “suicide” for Kendall to proceed to trial the place he would nearly absolutely be convicted and sentenced to 25 years to life, in line with the CRU report.
“I had no choice,” Kendall remembered, including that he was by no means informed he’d be deported on the finish of his sentence.
Brian Kendall was 17 when, dealing with a attainable life sentence, he pleaded responsible to a deadly 1988 taking pictures. He was freed in 2004 after greater than 16 years in jail, and exonerated in 2025.
Kendall, who had been a authorized everlasting U.S. resident, served 16 years and eight months in jail earlier than he was launched in 2004. He was deported to Guyana, the place he was born, the next yr.
Throughout his time in jail, Kendall’s mom and older sister each handed away.
The lawsuit says the detectives’ conduct mirrored broader NYPD customs and practices that tolerated coercive interrogations, suggestive eyewitness identification procedures and failures to reveal exculpatory proof.
“Brian Kendall lost decades of his life because law enforcement built a case against him instead of following the evidence,” stated Julia P. Kuan, a associate at Emery Celli Brinckerhoff Abady Ward & Maazel LLP. “He spent years in prison, was deported from the country he called home and separated from his family. This lawsuit is about holding those responsible accountable.”
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