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David Wong.
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Demanding Justice
APA community groups rally for man they say is wrongly sentenced
By Ji Hyun Lim
AsianWeek Staff
David Wong, 37, has spent the last 18 years in prison. Locked up in the Auburn Correctional Facility in upstate New York, Wong is serving time for second degree murder — a crime, eyewitnesses and supporters allege, that he did not commit. APA organizations are rallying for Wong’s release and demanding that the criminal justice system re-examine its cultural and linguistic inadequacies.
Originally, Wong was serving time for armed robbery he committed when he was 19. It was his first and only offense. He was imprisoned in Suffolk County, New York and was later moved to the Clinton Correctional Facility on June 1984.
During that time, fellow inmate Tyrone Julius was fatally stabbed on March 12, 1986 and died on March 27. The principal prosecution witnesses were Peter Dellfava and Richard LaPierre, who claimed that Wong had committed the crime. According to LaPierre,ûhe saw an Asian man walk over to the crime scene to examine Julius’ body. Dellfava, who was later found to be nowhere near the crime scene, also claimed to witness Wong near Julius’ body. These two accounts raised suspicions with correctional authorities.
On March 12, Corrections Officer Kevin Daugherty searched Wong’s cell and discovered a handwritten note containing comments about “settling a score.” At this point, Wong was named as the perpetrator.
Eleven months later, a trial counsel requested further information about Wong’s ties to the case. This included what the defense calls “exculpatory” evidence, or benefits offered to criminal witnesses in exchange for testimony. Wong was subsequently charged and convicted of second-degree murder, and was sentenced to 25 years to life in prison in August 1987.
However, years later defense evidence from Dellfava shows that he may have been lying in order to receive a transfer to a less dangerous prison and to receive a favorable letter of recommendation from the prosecutor to the parole board.
“This murder happened in a prison, and the people close to the murder were inmates,” Jaykumar Menon, Wong’s representative and a lawyer with the Center for Constitutional Rights, pointed out. “In prison, they don’t want to rat or be called a snitch. They can be injured or killed. Some of the witnesses are out of jail now, and it took a lot of legwork [to gather the evidence].”
Menon said that he has uncovered evidence of a motive for someone else to commit this crime. “It was a revenge killing. The victim was involved with a brawl a few months earlier. Upon transfer to Clinton [Correctional Facilities], he was killed by a person involved in the brawl. David never even met the victim,” Menon said.
Witnesses later surfaced naming Nelson Gutierrez as the killer. They claimed that the perpetrator had a visible limp, and noted that Julius and Gutierrez were said to have been involved in a violent altercation prior to the stabbing where Gutierrez’s leg was severely injured.
A two-year investigation from 2000 to 2002 emerged to show that Wong might not have committed the crime. The defense pointed out that there was no physical or forensic evidence, or motive that tied Wong to the crime. The four defense witnesses also claimed Wong did not commit the crime.
“I identify with [Wong’s situation] because I myself am an immigrant, and I can understand the language factor of not understanding English,” said Wayne Lum, coordinator of the David Wong Support Committee and who became involved in the case 10 years ago.
Wong’s supporters claim that he may not have received a qualified interpreter who spoke his dialect. Prior to the trial, the court-appointed lawyer informed the judge that Wong’s native dialect was Mandarin, which is incorrect, resulting in incompetent translations.
“It was an all-white jury. Wong claimed that they picked on him as an Asian because they needed a scapegoat, and they exploited his vulnerabilities as an immigrant and railroaded him to this murder charge,” Lum said.
Lum pointed out that he and the APA community are committed to raising awareness of the systematic barriers to the criminal justice system due to anti-immigrant sentiments, racism and poverty. Groups such as Organization of Chinese Americans have drafted a letter in support of Wong. The Asian American Legal Defense and Education Fund and Asian Pacific American Labor Alliance are asking the local district attorney to reconsider the case.
Wong’s lawyers are hoping to file a motion with the court in several weeks to show new evidence that Wong did not commit the murder and that conviction be reversed.
“Because of Wong’s background, he had less of a position to defend himself,” Menon pointed out. “The criminal justice system is an adversarial process. The system wants to preserve the finality of judgement. If a person has no financial resources, does not speak the language or has no familiarity with the system, he is easier to convict. It becomes tragic when the person is innocent.”
Reach Ji Hyun Lim at jlim@asianweek.com.
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