Queens District Attorney Melinda Katz petitioned the court on Thursday to vacate the convictions of 46 defendants whose cases involved NYPD Detective James Donovan, who was convicted of perjury last year.
The disgraced detective, who was assigned to the Warrant Squad at the 103rd Precinct in Jamaica, pleaded guilty in 2023 to falsely testifying before a Queens grand jury, and an extensive review was conducted of his previous cases by the District Attorney’s Conviction Integrity Unit (CIU).
“Today, I am asking the Court to vacate and dismiss 46 criminal cases where former Detective James Donovan was the primary witness,” Katz said. “We cannot stand behind a conviction where the essential witness was a law enforcement officer convicted of a crime that irreparably impaired his credibility.”
After identifying the 46 affected convictions, the CIU contacted the Wrongful Conviction Unit at The Legal Aid Society and filed joint motions in each case seeking to vacate the convictions.
“We applaud District Attorney Melinda Katz for taking further action to vacate convictions involving a discredited detective who was convicted of perjury after he testified falsely in the grand jury in a separate case,” said Elizabeth Felber, supervising attorney of the Wrongful Conviction Unit at The Legal Aid Society. “While we hope this moment delivers justice and closure to the New Yorkers impacted by these tactics, the sad reality is that many were forced to suffer incarceration, hefty legal fees, loss of employment, housing instability, severed access to critical benefits and other collateral consequences resulting from criminal convictions.”
Acting Queens Supreme Court Justice Joanne Watters granted the motions and dismissed the charges. According to the motions, Donovan pleaded guilty to perjury in the third degree before Queens Supreme Court Justice Anthony Battisti in May 2023. On Aug. 11, 2021, Donovan testified under oath to a Queens grand jury that he arrested a wanted individual in November 2020. Donovan claimed that he found the individual sleeping in a car and discovered a loaded firearm in the car. He later admitted his testimony about the arrest was false when interviewed by a prosecutor preparing the case for a hearing.
Subsequent interviews confirmed that, although Donovan was present at the address, a different detective actually made the arrest outside of Donovan’s presence. Because of Donovan’s perjury, the District Attorney’s Office was required to dismiss the gun charges brought against the individual. Donovan’s perjury conviction led to the review by the DA’s CIU of all cases in which he was the arresting officer. The CIU identified the 46 cases which required dismissal.
“After an unflinching review proactively conducted by my Conviction Integrity Unit, I believe it is necessary to take this step to protect the public’s confidence in the justice system,” Katz said.
Including the motions granted on Thursday, the CIU has vacated 148 convictions since the office was launched by Katz in May 2020. The unit has dismissed 132 convictions based on the unreliable police work of former detectives later convicted of crimes committed on the job that undermined their credibility. Another 16 convictions have been vacated for a variety of other reasons, including newly discovered evidence.
“The Legal Aid Society urges DA Katz and other local prosecutors to continue to conduct these reviews on a rolling basis with full transparency,” Felber said. “The same lens used on our clients charged with criminal conduct must be applied to those in law enforcement. Anything less will erode the public’s trust in the criminal legal system to hold those accountable for egregious acts of misconduct.”
