Bronx District Attorney Darcel D. Clark announced on Tuesday, Nov. 26, that she joined a request to vacate the conviction and dismiss charges against Kimberly Hanzlik in the 1999 fatal shooting of Joseph Brown in the Throggs Neck section of The Bronx, after a review of the case by the DA’s Conviction Integrity Bureau (CIB) yielded new evidence that Hanzlik’s conviction was based on an unreliable identification of her as it pertained to the incident.

 

Administrative Judge Alvin Yearwood granted the motion by Hanzlik’s attorney to vacate the conviction, dismiss the indictment and seal the case against Hanzlik, 59, in a hearing at the Bronx Hall of Justice on Tuesday, ordering her release from State prison.

 

In the context of the announcement, “Ms. Hanzlik served 13 years in prison based on trial testimony that would not meet today’s threshold of credibility given the discovery of new information, which casts doubt on the integrity of her conviction, and we cannot stand by it. I realize this causes pain and anguish for the victim’s family, but in the interest of justice, we are dismissing the indictment against Ms. Hanzlik.”

 

After a trial in Bronx Supreme Court, Hanzlik and her co-defendant, Joseph Meldish, were convicted by a jury on March 9, 2011, of second-degree murder. Hanzlik was sentenced to 20 years to life in prison and Meldish to 25 years to life in prison for the March 21, 1999 fatal shooting of Joseph Brown in Frenchy’s Bar at 3392 East Tremon Avenue in the Throggs Neck section of The Bronx.

Hanzlik was said to have entered the bar to look for the intended victim, Thomas Brown, and told Meldish where he was sitting. Meldish then went in and shot Joseph Brown, who looked like his brother, Thomas Brown. Meldish’s getaway driver gave several different statements about Hanzlik’s involvement, but at trial testified that she was in fact present, and informed Meldish of the victim’s location. Joseph Brown’s wife testified that she saw Hanzlik in the bar before the shooting.

 

After a request by Hanzlik’s defense counsel in 2021, the CIB conducted a comprehensive reinvestigation of the case. The CIB determined that Brown’s wife identified Hanzlik for the first time in 2006, seven years after the murder.

 

The identification was secured by an NYPD detective, who is now deceased, but who was recently discovered to had coerced a false identification on a separate, unrelated case. Further, CIB found a previously undisclosed police document from 1999, that contains information by the getaway driver stating that Hanzlik was not present at the time of the homicide.

 

The newly discovered evidence called into question the reliability of the identification of Hanzlik and led to the vacating of the conviction.

 

Clark thanked Senior Investigative Assistant District Attorney Gabriela Tully and Major Case Assistant District Attorney Jennifer Russell of the CIB, Risa Gerson, chief of the CIB, NYPD DA Squad Detectives Daniel Angen, Andro Stambuk and Kristopher Persaud, Bronx DA Detective Investigator Brendan Hammond and CIB Trial Preparation Assistant Kayla Santiago for their work on the reinvestigation.

 

More to follow….