FREE MY SON
Ma says DA ignores evidence he’s innocent in slay
LAWYERS FOR A man who spent the past 26 years behind bars for murder say they’ve gathered enough evidence to prove his innocence — but the Staten Island district attorney refuses to set him free.
Foster Thompson’s legal team says it has obtained a deathbed confession from a witness recanting her testimony from his 1994 murder trial. The lawyers also say they have a videotape of the real killer admitting to the murder and have proof of prosecutorial misconduct.
But when presented with the evidence, Staten Island DA Michael McMahon declined to vacate the conviction. McMahon’s office made the decision this month.
Thompson’s lawyer Abe George said his client and his family had hoped McMahon — who took office in January 2016 — would do the right thing. George said Sunday that they now believe the new DA is protecting the former prosecutor in Thompson’s murder trial.
“My client’s mother firmly believes that her son can’t get justice in Staten Island,” George said.
George, his client’s family and civil rights leaders have planned a rally Monday outside McMahon’s office, where they will demand that an independent body like the state attorney general’s office review the case.
“Everyone knew from day one that he was innocent,” Thompson’s mom, Brenda, said Sunday.
A spokesman for the Staten Island DA said the office takes all wrongful conviction claims seriously and conducted a careful review of the allegations by Thompson’s legal team.
“However, there is insufficient credible evidence to support an application to set aside the jury’s verdict at this time,” the spokesman said. “Of course, we will continue to look at any additional facts if they are brought to light.”
Thompson left behind two young children when he was arrested in the July 4, 1992, murder of Cynthia Browning during a botched robbery at a drug-stash house in a public housing building in New Brighton.
A jury found Thompson and an alleged cohort, Gilbert Franklin, guilty of the crime in 1994 after two previous trials had ended in mistrials.
Thompson appealed his case but lost.
However, a few years ago, Brenda Thompson hired a private investigator to look into the case. When the private eye found exculpatory evidence, he brought in George.
George said Mark Macron, the prosecutor in the case, relied on two witnesses who had dubious reasons for cooperating.
One witness, a neighborhood junkie named Denise Concepcion, had initially told detectives she didn’t know who committed the crime, according to George.
But five months after the murder, she went to police to say that she had seen Thompson in the hallway outside the apartment where the murder occurred.
George said that less than a year ago, Concepcion recanted that account to the private investigator hired by Brenda Thompson.
The other key witness in the trial was Alton Staley, who was inside the stash house when the robbery occurred. Staley was shot when a gunfight broke out.
George said Staley testified against Thompson only after prosecutors decided not to charge him with drug and weapons possession charges.
George said he has tried to interview Staley, but Macron blocked him for two years.
Macron, who is now a private practice attorney, is currently Staley’s lawyer and has represented him in several legal matters the past eight years, according to George.
George called Macron’s representation of Staley a conflict of interest and a giant ethical breach.
George said that he and the private investigator identified the real killer — a man named David Clark who lives on the island of Jamaica and is nicknamed Jamaican Tony. They got Clark to say on video that he was the killer, George said.
An unearthed police report also identified Clark, according to George.
But Macron was hellbent on fingering Thompson for the murder because he wanted leverage over Thompson, George said. The then-prosecutor believed Thompson had knowledge of a string of bank robberies, according to George.
Macron did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
“He’s got to be crazy for him to really want to mess a person’s life up like this,” Brenda Thompson said of Macron. “He went above and beyond to level an innocent man.”