Law Suit Claims Bklyn D.A. Office Coerced Witnesses for False Testimony

An attorney for a recently freed inmate has filed a $150 million lawsuit against the Brooklyn District Attorney’s office, claiming it was running a private jail system where witnesses were forcibly detained, illegally interrogated and wrongfully convicted, reports the New York Post.

Joel Rudin, the lawyer for Jabbar Collins — who was freed after 15 years in prison for the murder of a rabbi after a federal judge found prosecutorial missteps by Hynes’ office — claimed Collins was badgered into making false statements, a tactic Rudin says is widespread in the DA’s Office.

The explosive charges claim that two key prosecution witnesses in the murder case against Collins were coerced, and that Charles Hynes, the district attorney, often would turn a blind eye.

Collins’ lawsuit alleges that one of the witnesses, Angel Santos, was “unlawfully imprisoned” in a Bronx jail and threatened with physical harm if he did not testify as directed. Another witness in the suit, Edwin Oliva, said he was coerced into becoming a prosecution witness and hidden away in an upstate jail.

“Oliva was sent to Ulster Correctional Facility. He was informed that he would remain imprisoned upstate until he agreed to ‘cooperate’ with the DA’s Office,” Collins said.

The attorney for Collins has asked the judge to order the DA’s Office produce evidence about “material witnesses" held in hotel custody and/or against their will preceding the civil trial.  

Hynes’ office argues that some of this material is private and cannot be released.