John Giuca

John Giuca (born October 8, 1983) is an American felon. He was convicted of second-degree felony murder in the October 2003 shooting death of 19-year-old Mark Fisher in Brooklyn, New York. Giuca is currently serving a sentence of 25 years to life for the murder of Fisher.[4] Mark Fisher's murder has also been referred to as the "Grid Kid" homicide.[5]

John Giuca
John Giuca
Born (1983-10-08) October 8, 1983[1]
Brooklyn, New York, U.S.
NationalityAmerican
EducationBishop Ford Central Catholic High School[2]
Alma materJohn Jay College of Criminal Justice
Known for2nd-degree murder conviction
Criminal charge(s)second-degree murder, robbery, and multiple counts of criminal possession of a firearm.[3]
Criminal penalty25 years to life
Criminal statusOn August 6, 2019, Giuca's legal team filed a motion to vacate his conviction

Early life

Prior to his arrest, 20-year-old John Giuca had graduated from Bishop Ford Central Catholic High School, and taken courses at the John Jay College of Criminal Justice.[6] He occasionally worked as a film or TV extra, landing roles in Spider-Man, School of Rock, and Law & Order.[7]

Giuca was arrested in July 2004 for assault, accused of having shot at a group of men in Florida while he was on vacation; the charges were later dropped.[8][9] On September 30, 2004, three months before his felony indictment, Giuca was arrested on a Bensonhurst, Brooklyn, street corner for selling narcotics while wearing a bulletproof vest.[10][11][12]

Murder of Mark Fisher
Map detailing the location of Mark Fisher's body in relation to John Giuca's and Albert Cleary's homes.

On October 11, 2003, Mark S. Fisher, a 19-year-old former Lenape Valley Regional High School football star and Fairfield University sophomore from Andover, New Jersey, was out drinking with three friends in Manhattan, in New York City.[13][14][15][16] He was studying to be an accountant, and was on the Dean's List at school.[16] By chance, Fisher ran into fellow Fairfield University student Angel DiPietro, and one of her girlfriendds at a First Avenue Upper East Side bar.[6][15][17][16][18] DiPietro meet another friend of hers, Albert Cleary[13] who joined with 20-year-old, John Giuca.[15][16]

Giuca, invited the group to party at his house in Brooklyn, because his parents were away.[15] Fisher, DiPietro, and her girlfriend taxied to Giuca's house, arriving around 5 a.m.[13][17][19][20][15] According to witness testimony, Fisher sat on a table in the house, which upset Giuca.[21] A number of Giuca's friends joined, including 17-year-old Antonio Russo.[15][16] At 5:23 a.m., Fisher withdrew $20 from a nearby ATM.

At 6:40 a.m., police responded to gunfire reports within minutes and found Fisher's body face down at the foot of a driveway on Argyle Road two blocks away from Giuca's house.[15][22][16][13] Fisher had been badly beaten and shot five times in the chest, side and back, was wearing a torn shirt with buttons missing, had $12 in cash in his pocket (his wallet was discovered in a nearby sewer), and was wrapped in a bloody yellow blanket from Giuca's home.[23][24][25][15][26][12] The police recovered two .22 caliber shell casings.[15]

Russo and Giuca did not have much telephone contact before the shooting.[27] In the 24 hours afterward, there were 26 phone calls between the two.[5] The next morning, Russo cut his dreadlocks, and a few days later he flew to California.[15][28]

Giuca claimed he last saw Fisher around 5 a.m., falling asleep sitting on his sofa under a yellow blanket.[23]

Arrest and indictment

Giuca was arrested on December 21, 2004, at his home in Brooklyn. He was charged with providing Mark Fisher's murder weapon, a semiautomatic handgun, to Russo. Russo had been arrested and charged with Fisher's murder the prior month. At the time of his arrest, Giuca had been at the center of the investigation. A party Giuca held at his home on Stratford Road in Prospect Park South was the last place Fisher was known to have been before he was shot five times and left in a driveway on nearby Argyle Road.[11][12]

Giuca was subsequently charged with second-degree murder, first-degree manslaughter, robbery in the first and third degrees, and multiple counts of criminal possession of a weapon.[11][4][12]

2004 homicide trial

Over a year later, Russo and Giuca were charged with murder and robbery.[29][23] Giuca and Russo were tried together as co-defendants in September 2005,[6][30] but with two separate juries. Giuca pled not guilty.

Evidence

The prosecution argued that Giuca and Russo, members of a street gang dubbed "Ghetto Mafia," beat and shot Fisher on October 12, 2003, out of machismo, a need for street credibility, and because Mark Fisher was a rich kid who made an easy target.[31]

The government presented evidence of Giuca's involvement as a captain in the neighborhood street gang. Testimony showed that the Ghetto Mafia had recently put in place a policy that members would have to kill someone to join and that Giuca had been showing off a .22-caliber Ruger pistol a week before the murder.[32][33] Giuca’s best friend, Albert Cleary, testified that before the shooting, Giuca worried that his crew was "getting soft” and needed to "get a body.”[34]

Witnesses, including Giuca’s girlfriend at the time, testified to Giuca’s involvement in the murder, including providing the gun to Russo.[33][32] Cleary testified that within hours of the shooting, Giuca told him he had led Fisher out to the street toward Russo, who was waiting with a gun, around dawn. Cleary also testified that Giuca told him Russo had attacked Fisher, but that the 19-year-old who stood 6' 5", fought back and Russo had shot Fisher with a .22-caliber Ruger pistol. Russo then returned the gun to Giuca, saying, "It's done." Giuca then asked Cleary to get rid of the weapon.[26][21]

Russo claimed in his trial that Giuca was the person who fired the shots and killed Fisher.[32][34][33]

The government also called as a witness Giuca’s former cellmate John Avitto, who testified that while imprisoned at Rikers Island he had overheard Giuca confess to the murder.

Verdict and sentencing

After a two-week trial and three hours of deliberation, the Brooklyn jury found Giuca guilty on charges of second-degree murder of Mark Fisher, robbery, and multiple counts of criminal possession of a firearm.[15][22] Russo's jury deliberated for two days before finding him guilty. In October 2005, two years after Fisher's murder Giuca and Russo were sentenced to sentences of 25 years to life.[3] The judge said: "This was a callous crime, and the defendants’ reactions were callous—brutal, callous, and shockingly senseless. So my sentence will be callous."[23] Giuca was imprisoned on Rikers Island.[13]

Appeals

2008-2015

In 2008, Giuca filed his first motion to vacate the verdict in New York State Supreme Court in Brooklyn arguing that he did not receive a fair trial due to juror misconduct.[20][35][36] The court denied Giuca's motion. He appealed the decision. The New York Appellate Division 2nd Department denied the request for a hearing to review evidence of juror misconduct against former juror Jason Allo.[37]

In November 2010, a panel of four state Supreme Court judges ruled that even if the alleged statements the juror Jason Allo had made were true, there were no grounds for overturning his conviction.[38]

On May 14, 2013, federal judge Frederic Block of the United States District Court for the Eastern District of New York denied Giuca's federal habeas petition.[39][40]

In February 2014, Giuca's attorney submitted a petition to the newly elected Brooklyn District Attorney, Kenneth P. Thompson, requesting that the conviction be reviewed and voided due to prosecutorial misconduct, a failure by the defense lawyer at trial to point out multiple inconsistencies, and recantation of testimony by key witnesses.[41][42][43] In January 2015, Thompson, who established the Conviction Review Unit in NYC, announced that after a thorough review, the department determined there was no wrongdoing with the Giuca case. Thompson stated, "I have determined that John Giuca's conviction for the murder of Mark Fisher is just and should not be vacated."[34] He added: "This defendant got a fair trial. He may not like the result, but the result was based on the evidence presented. There’s no evidence of actual innocence."[27]

2016-2018

On June 9, 2016, Giuca filed his second motion to vacate the verdict (Alan D. Marrus, J.). After a hearing Brooklyn Supreme Court Justice Danny Chun denied the motion on June 13.[44] The judge ruled that Giuca had received a fair trial. Giuca's attorney stated that he would appeal the verdict.[45]

On February 7, 2018, a four-judge panel of the New York State Second Judicial Department Appeals Court in Brooklyn unanimously overturned Giuca's conviction and ordered a new trial.[31] It ruled that the district attorney's office had withheld evidence from the defense.[22] On February 20, June 28, and September 6, 2018, Giuca was denied bail.[46][47][48]

On March 22, 2018, Russo confessed to killing Mark Fisher.[49] In a statement passed to Giuca's lawyer, Russo told detectives that he had murdered Fisher and that the gun was his.[50][51]

On June 28, 2018, New York's highest court announced it would hear Giuca's case, with oral arguments scheduled for April 30, 2019.[52]

On June 11, 2019, the New York Court of Appeals overturning the appeals court decision, and reinstated Giuca's murder conviction.[53] Chief Judge of the State of New York Janet DiFiore wrote for the majority, disagreeing with the lower court in Brooklyn that information never turned over to the defense about favors the prosecution had done for a key witness would have changed the course of the trial, "there is no reasonable possibility that the verdict would have been different if the information at issue had been disclosed."[54]

2019-present

On August 6, 2019, Giuca's legal team filed a third motion to vacate his conviction based on new evidence. A hearing for these claims was scheduled for January 2021.[55]

Support

After Giuca's sentencing, Giuca's supporters distributed pamphlets outside the courthouse claiming too few witnesses had been called to testify in the trial and that Giuca had not led a gang.[3] Giuca's supporters believed injuries to Fisher's body indicated a left-handed assailant, the location of Fisher's body, and details of the 911 calls implicate a crucial prosecution witness in Fisher's murder.[7][56]

Looking for evidence to overturn her son's conviction, Doreen Giuliano began an unsanctioned inquiry in the jury's composition. Giuliano targeted juror Jason Allo, whom a friend of Giuca's had recognized in the courtroom. Using the alias Dee Quinn, Giuliano rented an apartment close to Allo's residence, transformed her appearance, and established a close relationship with the juror. Giuliano recorded her conversations and submitted audio of Allo making antisemitic comments about Giuca to the State Supreme Court in an appeal of Giuca's conviction. Giuliano’s conduct was condemned by Judge Alan Marrus.[32] Giuliano's crusade to free her son attracted widespread attention from media outlets and the nickname "Mother Justice".[7][33]

References
  1. "NYS Department of Corrections and Community Supervision". nysdoccslookup.doccs.ny.gov. Retrieved 10 June 2016.
  2. Winston, Hella (September 24, 2014). "Did an Ambitious Prosecutor Convict the Wrong Man for the Killing of Mark Fisher?". New York Observer. Retrieved 10 June 2016.
  3. Brick, Michael (March 11, 2006). "Unlikely Cause Célèbre Puts Courthouse on Edge". The New York Times. Retrieved June 11, 2016.
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  8. Feuer, Alan (February 22, 2018). "A Murder, a Conviction and a Never-Ending Case". The New York Times.
  9. "Fisher murder remains unsolved". October 21, 2004.
  10. Celona, Larry (October 1, 2004). "SWEEP NETS GRIDDER-SLAY SUSPECT".
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  56. DD-5 police report, Interview of Albert Cleary, Case No. 3106, Complaint No. 70919 - 10/14/2003 and 11/16/2003
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