Stickup conviction tossed over judge’s ruling

A jaywalking bust has given a convicted Queens robber a second shot at freedom.

In an Appellate Division decision last week Justice Ronald Hollie — who has a history of conviction reversals — was cited for ruling against Malakyle Hightower at a 2016 pretrial hearing that questioned the legality of the arrest of the then-19-year-old for a gunpoint robbery of a cell phone and backpack.

Though the 17-year-old victim said there were at least seven others involved, Hightower was the only one charged.

Hightower was picked out of a photo array, with an NYPD detective filing what’s known as an “I-card” flagging him for arrest. Soon after, Hightower was stopped for jaywalking in Jamaica, where the cop realized he was wanted for robbery, according to a source familiar with the case.

Though Hightower’s lawyer disputed the legality of the jaywalking arrest, Hollie denied the motion, and Hightower was later convicted of robbery and sentenced to up to five years in prison.

The appeals panel ruled because the Queens district attorney’s office didn’t prove the initial arrest was legal, “the hearing court should have suppressed … the lineup identification and the defendant’s statement to law enforcement officials.”

Hollie (photo) couldn’t be reached for comment.

But Lucian Chalfen, a spokesman for the state Office of Court Administration, said the appeals decision “was a matter of interpretation” and not reflective of Hollie being flagrantly wrong.

“The Appellate Division disagreed with Justice Hollie’s suppression ruling regarding whether the district attorney met their burden of showing that the police properly arrested the defendant,” Chalfen said.

Hightower is now entitled to a new trial, according to court papers. His appeals lawyer, Ronald Zapata, had no comment.

The Daily News last month reported that Tyrone Price, now 36, won himself a new trial when the same appeals panel reversed his murder conviction, saying Hollie should have allowed Price’s lawyer to dismiss a prospective juror.

The lawyer, Garnett Sullivan, had mistakenly chosen the wrong juror, then argued it took just “a couple of seconds” to realize his error. Hollie, however, would only let Sullivan correct his mistake and pick the intended juror if the prosecutor agreed. The prosecutor refused, and Sullivan was stuck with his original choice.

Price was convicted in 2010 of the murder of Jamaica grocery store owner Mohammed Alamgir and sentenced to 22 years to life in prison. His new trial will be before Hollie.