Justice Being Locked-up for 1,806 Days

Sitting in the second-to-last row, Kameke Jones’s girlfriend, Nicole Rivera, took notes on her palm-size pad. She wrote every detail the attorneys mentioned. She lost count of how many times she had accompanied Jones’ mother to the Bronx Criminal Court. On Friday morning, the only thing Rivera could be sure of was that after sixty months and fifty adjournments, the wait for a trial was finally over.

Kameke Jones, 32, and Nydrique Jones, 30, are facing murder, manslaughter, and firearms charges, in the shooting and killing of their childhood friend Gregory Washington, 41, outside the Pelham Parkway Houses in October 2017.

New York Prosecutor George Suminski claimed in court that, though unpremeditated, the killing was motivated drug-related disputes. Attorneys for the defense, fired back that the prosecution fabricated the crime motive without evidence.

After a five-year investigation, evidence linking the Jones brothers directly to the death of Gregory Washington, has come up short, according to defense lawyer, Toni Messina. She added that the testimony of witnesses has been tainted by the long wait and distance from the events in October 2017 that led to the shooting death of Washington.

With no forensic evidence or eyewitnesses, the primary evidence is CCTV footage that captured two people, allegedly Kameke and Nydrique Jones, chasing Washington. Not caught on camera was the actual shooting that resulted moments later in Washington’s body riddled by six bullets in his chest and arms. Now, the credibility of the video itself is in question.

Asked if it was possible the time stamps were inaccurate, Don Windsor, a NYC Housing Authority maintenance worker. Windsor confirmed the possibility of a mismatch in the time and timestamp but emphasized that the evidence video timestamp was correct.

“But how do you know there’s no mismatch?” asked Messina, “Did you stay there and watch the video all night?”

“No, I didn’t,” Windsor answered. After some contemplation, he added. “It’s long time ago. I don’t know. The IT guy took care of the video.”

The Jones brothers have been locked up merely for weak evidence according to Messina. Five years incarcerated and awaiting trial is not unusual. Delay is a notorious characteristic of the Bronx criminal court, has been criticized for years. “It’s an old issue,” Messina said, “but nothing changed over the years.”

According to statistics from National Center for State Courts, the Bronx has the worst delay rate in New York City courts and has beleaguered the Bronx for at least the better part of a decade. The Covid-19 pandemic has rendered Bronx’s court calendar even more inefficient, but delays have notably

“The system is corrupted,” Rivera, the girlfriend of Kameke Jones, said. “We are asked to come to court and just wait. At first, they just let us wait for no reason. After the Covid, they blame the Covid,” she added.

The jammed court calendar has been getting back on track in the post-pandemic era. “Oldest goes first,” Messina said. However, the court has been confronting another troubling trend – a high rate of prosecutor resignations.

“Another thing that affects the court delay is the lack of prosecutors in the Bronx,” Messina said. “Prosecutors are leaving their offices, especially after the pandemic. Then no one can take the case.”

Vince Southerland, Assistant Professor of Clinical Law at NYU Law School, said “The prosecutors see their jobs or the work that they've had to do is increasing significantly.” he added, “as they prepare for trial, the job is really long hours and not the greatest or highest paid legal job.”

The speedy trial clock in New York is longer,” Southerland said. In New York, the right to a speedy trial is not a guarantee in the case of homicide.

Incarcerated right after being arrested, Kameke Jones has already been locked up for 1,806 days, more than double the pre-trial wait average of 708 days cited by New York’s Center for Court Innovation research.

Messina concluded her opening statement, telling the jury “We will find the trial is going to be an end of the nightmare five-year wait -- with no benefit.”

Messina estimated the case to be ended in ten trial days – the next ten Tuesdays.

“But anything could happen by then,” Danielle von Lehman, from the Jones brothers’ attorney team, added.

“I love you, K.” Their mother, James Jones, threw the brothers a kiss, reluctantly saying goodbye before leaving the courtroom. The brothers smiled back before court officers escorted them in cuffs outside the courtroom.