46 Convictions Dismissed After Former NYPD Detective Convicted Of Perjury

Former NYPD detective James Donovan pleaded guilty in 2023 to falsely testifying before a Queens grand jury, thereby tainting previous cases he testified in.

Forty-six convictions have been thrown out by a Queens, New York, judge after a former New York Police Department detective pleaded guilty to giving false testimony in 2023.

According to The Gothamist, Justice Joanne Watters dismissed 46 convictions in Queens Criminal Court on Aug. 8 due to the admission of wrongdoing by ex-detective James Donovan, who pleaded guilty to perjury last year. The decision affected dozens of people convicted of drug possession, trespassing, and other misdemeanor crimes. They will have the charges cleared from their records.

The court took action after Queens County District Attorney Melinda Katz petitioned the court to vacate the convictions of the 46 convicted based on Donovan’s testimony. An extensive review of the cases he testified in by the District Attorney’s Conviction Integrity Unit (CIU) helped in Katz’s decision to ask the court to dismiss the convictions.

The former NYPD detective pleaded guilty in 2023 to falsely testifying before a Queens grand jury.

“Today, I asked the Court to vacate and dismiss 46 criminal cases where former Detective James Donovan was the primary witness,” Katz said in a written statement. “We cannot stand behind a conviction where the essential witness was a law enforcement officer convicted of a crime that irreparably impaired his credibility. After an unflinching review proactively conducted by my Conviction Integrity Unit, I believe it is necessary to take this step to protect the public’s confidence in the justice system.”

The judge agreed with the Queens County District Attorney’s office, but it was noted that the dismissals did not state that the defendants were innocent but that it was based instead on a finding of Constitutional error.

Since 2020, the CIU has vacated 148 convictions. One hundred thirty-two convictions were dismissed based on the unreliable police work of former detectives who were later convicted of crimes that were committed while they were on the job, which undermined their credibility. The other 16 were vacated for a variety of other reasons, including newly discovered evidence.