NOPE … STILL GUILTY
Judge rejects call to dismiss 1999 B’klyn murder conviction
A Brooklyn killer convicted of gunning down a Chinese restaurant worker over an order of uncooked chicken lost an appeal Friday to vacate his 1999 murder conviction.
Anthony Sims, 46, found guilty nearly a quarter-century ago for the sawed-off shotgun slaying, later claimed the killing inside Mr. Hing’s Kitchen was actually committed by his best friend — who testified against him at trial.
But Supreme Court Justice Danny Chun, in a 59-page ruling, rejected Sim’s appeal.
“This court finds that the defendant failed to provide clear and convincing evidence that the defendant is actually innocent,” wrote Chun. “Therefore, the defendant’s motion to dismiss the indictment on a finding of actual innocence is denied.”
Sims accused prosecution witness and long-time friend Julius Graves of pulling the trigger on March 18, 1998, in a killing sparked by an earlier confrontation where worker Li Run Chen, 28, pulled a gun in response to complaints about the cuisine.
The since-paroled defendant and his attorney said they would appeal the judge’s ruling in an effort to clear Sims’ name.
“The system is broke,” said
Sims after the decision. “I used to think the justice system was broke, but now it protects guilty people. I lost everything, my family — lost everything.”
His lawyer Illan Masel vowed to keep working on the case and promised a “fight to the end.”
Two years ago, Sims claimed that he was framed in the fatal Bushwick shooting and produced a witness who testified about seeing Graves carrying a “long gun” as he ran from the restaurant.
Graves has acknowledged cleaning the fingerprints off the murder weapon, but was never charged in the case.
The district attorney’s office issued a statement declaring the decision showed the right person was convicted.
“Our office consented to this hearing to allow all the claims and arguments to be heard in open court,” the statement read. “After a lengthy and thorough proceeding, the judge issued his ruling, and we agree with his decision.”
Graves, in an interview with the Daily News in 2021, insisted the right man was convicted but said he held no animosity toward Rachel Lewis, an eyewitness who was on a payphone down the block at the time of the killing, for his efforts to implicate him for the murder.
On the other hand, Sims told The News that his ex-friend was “living with the guilt” of blaming him. But two other witnesses testified to seeing Sims jumping into a car with the shotgun before they fled the scene.
Chun, in the last line of his decision, noted “the defendant has failed to meet the burden of proving any of his claims to vacate the judgment, order a new trial or dismiss the indictment. Accordingly, the defendant’s motion is denied in its entirety.”