DA VANCE ANNOUNCES INDICTMENT OF TWO DEFENDANTS FOR PERJURY AND CONSPIRACY AT CRIMINAL DWI TRIAL
Vance: Honest Testimony is the Bedrock of Our Legal System
Yesteday, Manhattan District Attorney Cyrus R. Vance, Jr., announced the indictment of LEONEL POLANCO-COLON and LUIS D. NUNEZ, also known as “Danny Nunez” and “Daniel Almeda,” for engaging in a conspiracy to commit felony perjury as witnesses in a trial conducted in New York County Criminal Court in June 2012. POLANCO-COLON was on trial for Driving While Intoxicated (DWI), and NUNEZ was a witness for the defense. The indictment accuses them of committing perjury at POLANCO-COLON’s criminal trial, which resulted in a not guilty verdict. The defendants are charged with multiple counts of Perjury in the First Degree and Conspiracy in the Fifth Degree.
“Honest testimony is the bedrock of our legal system – lying to cover up a crime is itself a very serious crime,” said District Attorney Vance. “The defendants are accused of telling a jury of six New Yorkers a made-up story, under oath, so that the jury would vote not guilty. As the ten perjury counts show, the cover-up is, in this case, more serious than the crime.”
According to the indictment, in the early morning hours of August 17, 2011, a police officer came across POLANCO-COLON in the driver’s seat of his parked car on West 14th Street in Manhattan. The engine was still running, and the defendant showed signs of intoxication. Under New York law, a defendant may be found guilty of DWI even if the car is not moving, as long as he intended to put it in motion.
POLANCO-COLON was arrested that morning and charged with DWI. He pled not guilty, and stood trial between June 19, 2012 and June 21, 2012 in New York County Criminal Court. During the course of this trial, POLANCO-COLON testified that in the late evening of August 16, 2011, a few hours before his arrest for drunk driving, he and his friend, NUNEZ, consumed food and two glasses of sangria each at Tabaco y Ron, a restaurant in Inwood, and then drove to Gaslight, a bar on West 14th Street. POLANCO-COLON also testified that when they arrived at Gaslight, he gave his car keys to NUNEZ and planned to have NUNEZ drive them both home. According to the indictment, POLANCO-COLON committed perjury during this testimony because NUNEZ was not with him at these locations on the evening of August 16 and 17, 2011.
NUNEZ is charged with falsely testifying in a manner that was nearly identical to POLANCO-COLON’s story about the events of the night of August 16 and 17, 2011. NUNEZ is also charged with falsely testifying about the extent of his conversations about the case with POLANCO-COLON and POLANCO-COLON’s criminal defense lawyer.
Finally, according to the indictment, at the end of the court day on which POLANCO-COLON testified, June 20, 2012, both defendants met in person with POLANCO-COLON’s defense attorney to discuss how NUNEZ would alter his testimony the next day to make it consistent with how POLANCO-COLON had testified about the particular alcoholic beverage he had supposedly had at Gaslight. Because, according to the indictment, NUNEZ had not been at Gaslight with POLANCO-COLON, he had no first-hand knowledge of what, if anything, POLANCO-COLON had had to drink.
When NUNEZ was questioned the next day by an Assistant District Attorney about whether he had met with the defendant and his lawyer the previous afternoon after court, NUNEZ falsely denied the meeting. The jury, therefore, never heard about the meeting nor its purpose, which, according to the indictment, was to ensure consistency with POLANCO-COLON’s altered version of the story.
The case is being prosecuted by Chief Assistant District Attorney Daniel R. Alonso and Assistant District Attorney Jennifer Sigall. Assistant District Attorney William Darrow, Chief of Trial Bureau 70, Senior Trial Counsel Peter Casolaro, Trial Preparation Assistants Lucy Nicholas and Kathleen Coulson, Supervising Financial Investigator Irene Serrapica, Financial Investigator Biagio Rosano, Detective Marisa Valle-Zarakas and Captain Joseph Del Duca of the District Attorney’s Office Squad, Senior Rackets Investigator Patrick O’Brien, Assistant Chief Investigator Richard Bellucci, Chief Investigator Walter Alexander of the District Attorney’s Investigation Bureau, and Senior Computer Forensic Analyst Tanya de Vulpillieres assisted with the investigation.
[1] The charges contained in the indictment are merely allegations, and the defendants are presumed innocent unless and until proven guilty.
Defendant Information:
LEONEL POLANCO-COLON, D.O.B. 11/20/1980
Willow Grove, PA
Charges:
• Perjury in the First Degree, a class D felony, 8 counts
• Conspiracy in the Fifth Degree, a class A misdemeanor, 1 count
LUIS D. NUNEZ, a/k/a “Danny Nunez,” a/k/a “Daniel Almeda,” 6/24/1984
Bronx, N.Y.
Charges:
• Perjury in the First Degree, a class D felony, 6 counts
• Conspiracy in the Fifth Degree, a class A misdemeanor, 1 count