DA hid key slay evidence: att’y

Manhattan prosecutors withheld evidence that would have exonerated a man convicted of killing a retired cop in 1998, advocates said Tuesday.

Attorney Robert Gottlieb wants a new trial for JonAdrian Velazquez, who is serving 25 years in the death of Albert Ward during a Harlem gamblingparlor holdup.

Gottlieb claims that prosecutors refused to release a police report during the 1999 trial against the now41-year-old Velazquez that has statements from the father of one of the co-defendants, describing the killer as a black man. Velazquez is Hispanic.

Gottlieb was accompanied by a handful of previous exonerees including Martin Tankleff, Sundhe Moses and Johnny Hincapie.

Manhattan DA spokeswoman Joan Vollero said: “The existence of the police report in question was disclosed to the defendant’s legal team in 1999 prior to the trial. The same report was also disclosed in 2011, pursuant to a FOIL [Freedom of Information Law] request.”