Source: www.thecity.nyc || After more than three decades of fighting to prove his innocence, Brian Kendall — a Guyanese-born man convicted in 1989 of a fatal shooting in Brooklyn — is finally on the verge of exoneration.
Brooklyn District Attorney Eric Gonzalez announced Tuesday that the Conviction Review Unit (CRU) has determined Kendall is “likely innocent” in the 1988 killing of store clerk Raphael Reyes and recommended that his conviction be vacated and the indictment dismissed.
“I only wish my mother and father were alive to see this day,” Kendall said in an emotional statement.
Kendall, then 17, was arrested in March 1988 and charged with second-degree murder after two witnesses claimed he was the gunman who entered a Flatbush game room and shot Reyes in the head. But Kendall has always maintained that he was inside the game room playing video games with friends when the shooting occurred — and even helped chase the actual shooter.
Under pressure and lacking the financial resources to continue fighting, Kendall pleaded guilty to first-degree manslaughter in 1989 and was sentenced to eight years and four months to 25 years in prison. He spent nearly 17 years behind bars before being released in 2004. A year later, he was deported to Guyana, despite being a legal U.S. resident.
New Evidence Uncovered
The CRU’s 35-page report outlines troubling flaws in the original investigation and prosecution, including suppressed evidence and questionable eyewitness testimony.
The prosecutor in the case, Eric Bjorneby — who later became a judge — failed to disclose a letter he wrote asking for leniency on behalf of a key witness, a man identified as “F.F.,” who was then incarcerated on drug charges. F.F. later admitted to the CRU that he no longer remembered who committed the shooting and was battling crack addiction at the time.
Another witness, 13 years old at the time, also provided inconsistent accounts, while a friend of the victim initially described the shooter as a man in his 40s — a far cry from the teenage Kendall.
Kendall’s defense attorney at the time, Harry Dusenberry, reportedly told the family that taking the case to trial would be “suicide” given the judge’s reputation for handing down harsh sentences.
Kendall’s CRU petition — which he filed himself in 2019 after learning about the unit from another wrongfully convicted inmate — languished for years. But with renewed momentum under new leadership, investigators re-interviewed surviving witnesses, reviewed archived police radio transmissions, and uncovered additional evidence that cast serious doubt on the original case.
One key discovery: police radio logs revealed that officers saw a group of teens — including Kendall — chasing a possible suspect immediately after the shooting, contradicting the theory that Kendall was the gunman.
“A Broken Process”
David Crow of the Legal Aid Society, who formally took on Kendall’s case last year, said the conviction was a “stark reminder of the devastating consequences of a system that too often fails young people of color.”
“Despite clear evidence pointing to his innocence, Brian was forced to plead guilty under the weight of a broken process,” Crow stated.
The case is expected to be formally vacated in Brooklyn Criminal Court on Tuesday. Kendall, now 54 and living in Guyana, hopes the decision will help pave the way for his return to the U.S. He plans to petition the Department of Justice and appeal to the Board of Immigration Appeals for relief.
Life After Prison
Since his deportation, Kendall has struggled to rebuild his life. He lives with his partner in a modest apartment in Guyana and works as an electrician. He described life back home as “rough,” saying, “I’m just surviving to pay the rent.”
Kendall said the trauma of his wrongful conviction devastated his family. His father passed away believing he had failed his son, and his mother died of cancer while Kendall was still incarcerated.
“I stopped calling my mother because her voice started changing,” he recalled. “I didn’t want to remember her like that.” He was permitted to attend her funeral — in handcuffs.
“This incident killed my family,” Kendall said through tears. “My mother is not at rest. This killed everybody.”
Kendall now seeks not just justice, but peace — and the chance to reclaim the years stolen from him.
Other News
Firearm and Narcotics Recovered at Crown Dam, Parika
