BUFFALO, N.Y. — Five years ago, the state judicial system carried away Gregory Ramos without a second glance.
But now the state appellate court is taking another look.
The court overturned the second-degree murder conviction Friday of the man dubbed “the getaway driver” in the 2016 Anchor Bar shooting.
“In order to be a part of a murder, you have to have intended to do so,” said legal expert Barry Covert.
On May 20, 2016, prosecutors say Ramos drove the shooter, Jorge Suarez, to and from Anchor Bar where he fatally shot 32-year-old Freddie Dizon.
Prosecutors were able to claim Ramos drove with the intent to cause death based on video surveillance and the testimony of a jailhouse informant.
“The jailhouse informant is a traditional phrase we use for an individual who is at a prison or jail at which the defendant is located and claims that the defendant admitted to his or her participation in the crime,” Covert said.
Covert said the system has received criticism in the past for its large percentage of false convictions.
“If you think about it, you're in jail,” Covert said. “You don't want to be in jail, ‘how can I get out of jail? I'm going to claim that this person or that person or all these people admitted these crimes.’”
The state appellate court deemed the jailhouse informant in this case not credible and overturned the conviction due to the severe discrepancies between their story and the other evidence.
“Because he was the only proof that the defendant allegedly shared the intent of the shooter, there was not sufficient proof and it was against the weight of the evidence to uphold the conviction,” Covert said.
While some evidence was able to still point to Ramos’ being the driver, it can’t tie him to the murder without being able to prove his intentions, leading to all charges being dropped without the opportunity for a retrial.
“Certainly driving anyone around, dropping someone off, waiting for him to get back in your vehicle, something we all do hundreds and thousands of times in our lives, there is nothing illegal about that,” Covert said. “You are not responsible for what that individual did when they were outside of your vehicle.”