Prosecutor's Silence on Witness Lie Could Nix Murder Conviction
Four people said they saw Vance Haskell burst into an Erie bar and gun down Darrell Cooley in 1994, but only one testified at trial. According to a federal appeals court, that witness lied on the stand, and the prosecutor who handled the case did nothing to address it.
August 02, 2017 at 12:17 AM
3 minute read
Four people said they saw Vance Haskell burst into an Erie bar and gun down Darrell Cooley in 1994, but only one testified at trial. According to a federal appeals court, that witness lied on the stand, and the prosecutor who handled the case did nothing to address it.
Antoinette Blue, who was facing numerous unrelated criminal charges, said at Haskell's 1998 murder trial that she saw him pull out an Uzi in Jethroe's Steakhouse, a local bar, and shoot Cooley to death—but she lied about her legal troubles and a deal she had with prosecutors to lessen her sentence in exchange for her testimony.
That tainted testimony, and Erie County Assistant District Attorney Matthew R. Hayes' decision not to correct Blue, led to Haskell's conviction and sentence of life in prison, according to a ruling from U.S. Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit granting Haskell's petition for habeas corpus—and possibly a chance at freedom after further proceedings.
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