Law Office of Mark A. Bederow, P.C.

Important update in the John Giuca wrongful conviction case

Can anyone--prosecutor, former prosecutor, Investigation Discovery producer, ANYONE--explain how the host of True Conviction, who promotes her "perfect" record could have called an eyewitness to a murder to testify, purposefully avoid asking him to identify the defendant Jermaine Cox (because she knew he couldn't), but have him provide a detailed description of the defendant WITHOUT knowing that the witness viewed a photo array shortly after the murder and failed to identify ...the defendant? Does anyone believe that during preparation for the witness' testimony, the ADA would know that he couldn't identify the defendant in court but remained ignorant to the fact that he failed to previously identify him? Can anyone explain how the prosecutor twice acknowledged the existence of the photo array under oath, but at trial adamantly denied it existed when the truth started trickling out about this exculpatory evidence? Shouldn't a prosecutor hosting a show titled "True Conviction" be compelled to publicly explain all of this under oath? Shouldn't the producers of a show that literally cites veracity in its title do a real investigation on whether the host of that show has "false" convictions supporting her "perfect" record? Shouldn't the Brooklyn District Attorney, who promotes fairness in his "Justice 2020" initiative be outraged by this conduct as well as the same prosecutor's conduct in the John Giuca case, which led a judge of the NY Court of Appeals to criticize the prosecutor's "particularly egregious" misconduct? See more

In Jermaine Cox’s murder trial, identification was the key issue. In 2004, under penalty of perjury, Anna-Sigga Nicolazzi stated that she possessed and disclosed evidence related to a photo array (in which it turns out, the witness did not identify Cox less than 24 hours after the murder). A year later, Nicolazzi repeatedly and emphatically denied to the court and defense that any such evidence existed. So which is it? This and other exculpatory identification evidence only came to light years after the trial. Deliberate misconduct? An incomprehensible level of incompetence and ignorance of her own case? Hopefully she will be forced to testify about these issues and her other misconduct later this year.

Jermaine Cox's motion to vacate his conviction has been calendared for July 7. A decision on John Giuca's motion is calendared for July 16. Both motions allege substantial Brady violations committed by former Brooklyn ADA and star of Investigation Discovery's True Conviction, who styles herself as the "perfect" homicide prosecutor who has never lost a case. A copy of Cox's motion is attached.

This morning we filed a motion to vacate the 2005 murder conviction of Jermaine Cox. Once again, former Brooklyn ADA Anna-Sigga Nicolazzi's misconduct made a mockery of a man's right to a fair trial. Her misconduct in this case is as bad I've seen. It's not every day that you see a prosecutor twice swear under oath that she possesses important evidence and then adamantly denies its existence to the court at trial when its clear the evidence was going to substantially help the defense. She tried this case just 2 months after she tried John Giuca. The papers should be available as a link later today and I'm happy to email them to anyone interested in reviewing them.