Please watch or record The Richard DiGuglielmo Story on CNN Sunday night Jan. 22, 2012 at 8pm and 11pm
I got to know Jerry Palace when I asked his advice on what I could do to assist a woman I believed was wrongly convicted. Jerry is a retired NYPD homicide detective and present day P.I. who was the lead investigator on Court TV's The Wrong Man, so I figured he'd know. On the series Jerry and his partner Reggie looked into cases which were suspected to be wrongful convictions and re-investigate those cases.
Jerry is responsible for helping to get several wrongful convictions overturned over the years but the case he became most invested in is that of former NYPD cop Richie Guglielmo who, when he was off duty, killed a man in self defense after the man became enraged that Richie took his parking place & began whacking Richie's father with a baseball bat. At this point Richie feared for his father's life and shot in self-defense.
The case took on a political tone when headlines read White Off-Duty Cop Kills African American Man. To make matters worse, several witnesses reported that Richie used the "N word" during the altercation. (These witnesses later admitted under oath on videotape that they lied during the original trial. However the damage had been done.)
Although the facts prove a case of self-defense, astonishingly, Richie was convicted not of manslaughter but second degree murder in 1997. In NYC people were angry about perceived racism and saw this as an unjustified "cop killing" without knowing the facts and the D.A. was pressured to put Richie behind bars.
DiGuglielmo spent 11 years in Sing Sing (mostly in isolation given his former NYPD status) . Richie's parents spent all their savings trying to help him and eventually Richie found an experienced appellate law firm who believed in the case & took it on pro bono. Jerry Palace was hired by the DiGuglielmo family as an investigator for two years and after funds ran out, Palace took on the case gratis and has been working for free for the past 11 years.
In 2008, a judge overturned the conviction based on the recantation by several witnesses who admitted they lied in the original trial and Richie was released. He immediately got a job and planned to go to law school. In 2010 a higher court overturned the lower court's ruling and sent Richie back to Sing Sing to serve out his sentence.
An Open Letter From Ret. NYPD Detective Jerry Palace
THIS SUNDAY WHILE WE ARE ALL HOME WATCHING OUR FAVORITE TEAMS BATTLING IT OUT, RICHIE DIGUGLIELMO WILL BE SPENDING ANOTHER DAY IN PRISON FOR A MURDER HE DID NOT COMMIT.
FOR THOSE OF YOU WHO MAY NOT KNOW ABOUT THIS CASE, RICHIE GUGLIELMO WAS AN OFF-DUTY NYC COP AT THE TIME. HE SHOT AND KILLED CHARLES CAMPBELL AN INDIVIDUAL WIELDING A BASEBALL BAT AND STRIKING RICHIE'S FATHER TWO TIMES.
RICHIE GUGLIELMO WAS SET FREE AFTER SERVING 11 YEARS IN SING SING AND SPENT NEARLY 2 YEARS AS A FREE MAN BEFORE BEING SENT BACK TO PRISON. TRULY A POLITICAL PRISONER.
PLEASE WATCH THIS IMPORTANT CNN PRODUCTION.
PASS THIS ALONG TO EVERYONE WHOS' EVER BEEN A COP, KNOWS A COP, IS RELATED TO A COP, AND A FRIEND OF A COP AND TO ANYONE WHO FEELS PASSIONATELY ABOUT WRONGFUL CONVICTIONS.
JERRY PALACE
http://www.cnn.com/2012/01/19/justice/diguglielmo-new-york-deli-killing/index.html?hpt=hp_c2
