According a a September 30, 2005 article in tne New York Post, Louis Eppolito, the well-known former New York City detective turned screenwriter, may have been responsible for the 17 year sentence served by innocent man Barry Gibbs, now 57. Gibbs has long maintained his innocence, although he admits that he knew the murder victim.
Gibbs was convicted and jailed for the 1986 strangulation of Virginia Robertson, a 27-year-old "conviccted drug addict and prostitute", according to the article by Murray Weiss, Mark Bulliet and Marsha Kranes of the NYP. Barry Gibbs walked out of jail on September 29th, 2005, accompanied by Attorney Barry Scheck of "Innocence Project", which consists of several lawyers and others who work to free those who they believe were wrongly convicted of serious crimes. Sara Spencer is the attorney who first recommended Gibbs' case to the Innocence Project.
Back in 1986, the murder case was assigned to former Detective Eppolito, who, according to IMDB.com - Louis Eppolito, has had parts in 13 movies - often playing a wiseguy or a cop. He portrayed "Fat Andy", a member of the Mob, in 1990's Goodfellas. According ot imdb.com, Louis Eppolito also has a screenplay under his filmography writing credits. Detective Eppolito, who is one of the most decorated detectives in the history of the New York City police force (according to trivia at imdb.com), produced a witness, Peter Mitchell, who testified to seeing Gibbs dumping Ms. Robertson's body alongside the Belt Parkway in Brooklyn.
The testimony was enough to send Barry Gibbs away for 20 years to life. Many believed Gibbs to be innocent. Later efforts by Scheck and other lawyers to prove Gibbs innocence were hampered because the NYPD case file couldn't be found
However, when the retired Eppolito was arrested in Las Vegas last year by the Drug Enforcement Administration, and the file was found in his basement, the wheels of delayed justice began to turn. The file indicated "serious and glaring contradictions" in Mitchell's testimony, and he later admitted to being "coerced", according to the NYP article, into "fingering Gibbs."
Congratulations to Barry Scheck and the others involved in the Innocence Project. It makes you wonder just how many other innocent people are serving life sentences or, worse, headed for the death chamber.
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