Witness Says Prosecutors Threatened to Arrest Her If She Recants Her Testimony That Sent Black Man to Prison for 1991 New York Double Murder He Claims He Didn’t Commit
Questions have been raised about the 1991 double murder conviction of Allen Porter, who is serving a 47-years-to-life prison sentence after a wrongful conviction claim was filed in late April.
Claims have surfaced that Vanessa Thomas, a key witness in the case, was coerced into falsely pointing to Porter as the murderer of two individuals due to an undisclosed deal with prosecutors, according to a report from the New York Daily News. Porter claims he was wrongly convicted in the 1991 killing of a rival drug dealer and his girlfriend.
But now Porter’s legal team has filed a motion to overturn what they claim to be a wrongful conviction at trial in 1996. Following Thomas’ own arrest in 1993 for the crime, prosecutors allegedly dropped the charges after she implicated Porter.
In another twist to the case, Thomas was recently visited by Queens prosecutors who threatened to arrest her if she changed her original testimony to speak in Porter’s favor, according to court documents filed last week, the New York Daily News reported.
The Daily News provided details of the alleged misconduct in the 51-page motion filed by Porter’s legal team. The motion, backed by the recantations of two other key witnesses and over 2,000 internal case documents, accuses Queens prosecutors and police of suppressing evidence and manipulating witnesses in Porter’s case.
Thomas, 70, told her ex-boyfriend, Nathaniel Wright, that two prosecutors visited her Georgia home on April 4 and threatened her with perjury charges if she changed her original testimony, according to reports. During the trial, Thomas’ testimony placed Porter at the murder scene and alleged that he conspired to murder a competing drug dealer.
In response, Porter’s legal team submitted an affidavit along with a 30-page request for a hearing on this issue to the Supreme Court in Queens.
Porter was only 19 while working as a small-time dealer selling drugs on one side of a housing project in Queens for Earnest “Budd” Jarvis. While, rival dealers Charles Bland and Mark Rogers sold drugs on the other side of the housing project.
In a brief report, The New York Times outlined what transpired in the 1991 murders of Bland and Rogers.
At the time, in Astoria, Queens, the man and a woman were gunned down while sitting in a car, according to police reports. The victims were identified as Bland, 25, and Walker, 20. Their bodies were discovered by officers in the parking lot of Woodside Houses. Both victims had sustained multiple gunshot wounds.
Despite an extensive search, no firearm was found at the scene. However, a police spokesperson indicated that up to 15 shots may have been discharged. The parking lot was reportedly known as a hot spot for drug-related activities.
Meanwhile, witnesses reported seeing two or three individuals dressed in dark clothing fleeing the scene, but no physical evidence was found to identify a suspect. Reportedly, an initial investigation looked at drug dealer Jarvis, who was killed four weeks later.
Porter was interrogated but chose to exercise his right not to cooperate. He was arrested approximately three months later. Thomas’ testimony was a pivotal part of the case.
Thomas stated at trial that she willingly cooperated with the police, alleging that she saw Porter with armed men on the night of the murders and that he had confided in her about his plans to kill Bland for several months, the New York Daily News reported. During his closing statement, prosecutor Richard Schaeffer asserted that Thomas testified “to relieve herself of the guilt she carries.” Porter was convicted of the murders on Jan. 31, 1996.
However, in 2018, Porter’s legal team discovered that Thomas was actually arrested in Georgia in November 1993 and charged with the murders based on a warrant issued in New York. According to case records submitted with Porter’s motion, the charges against Thomas were dropped only after she agreed to accuse Porter.
Porter’s defense was never made aware of the sequence of events, which is allegedly mandated by law, said Edwin Schulman, his trial lawyer.
The news outlet reported that Wright, who was arrested along with Thomas, wrote an affidavit in 2021 expressing fear for Thomas’ potential imprisonment while he was imprisoned in Georgia. He claimed that detectives corrected him when he named a shooter and that he was repeatedly brought to prosecutor Schaeffer’s office without his lawyer.
Schaeffer allegedly admitted knowing Porter wasn’t the shooter but had refused to cooperate.
“I was terrified because … Vanessa stood to go to prison,” Wright wrote. “My only reason for giving this affidavit is because Allen did not commit this crime.”
Jacqueline Aviles, another witness, testified to seeing Porter commit the crime. However, in October 2021, she recanted her testimony, alleging coercion by detectives. She admitted she couldn’t identify the shooters due to their masks and confessed to giving false testimony out of fear for her children. “The detectives then told her bits and pieces of what to say, and said, ‘You’re not stupid, you can fill in the blanks,’” Porter’s motion alleges.