Article originally posted on Pollard & Koenig, attorneys
website. Newspaper origin, if any, is unknown.
Lawsuit next for twice-wronged man
By Sean Gardner
A Queens man who was released in 2002 after spending 10
years in prison for murder he didn't commit was acquitted yesterday on
assault charges after spending another 10 months in jail awaiting trial.
It took only an hour and 15 minutes for a jury to acquit Lazaro Burt, 32, of
charges he shot Ronald Laws, 28, in the left thigh in May.
"We suspected that Laws shot himself in the leg, either intentionally or
unintentionally, and then tried to frame Lazaro in order to get money from
his multimillion dollar lawsuit," said Burt's defense attorney, Mark
Pollard.
Before his arrest in the Laws shooting, Burt had filed a $30-million suit
against the state for the decade he wrongfully spent in prison after his
arrest in the murder of Wilfredo Cesacro.
On Aug. 20, 1992, Cesacro's girlfriend, Lissette Saillant, was groped by a
man on a street corner in East Elmhurst. Cesacro was shot to death by the
groper in the ensuing confrontation.
Saillant identified Burt as the shooter and, based largely on her word, he
was convicted of murder and sexual assault.
In 2001, lawyers for a Wall Street firm took on Burt's case pro bono. With
the help of private investigator Michael Race, they located Saillant, who
said police had pressured her into making an identification she knew to be
wrong.
At the same time, the Queens district attorney's office started an
investigation after an arrested drug dealer said Jarrett Smith, a Burt
look-alike, was Cesacro's killer. Another witness also identified Smith, who
was later convicted.
Burt was released on Sept. 26, 2002. He couldn't find a job and was
receiving $275 in case and food stamps on welfare. Then, three weeks shy of
a year out of jail, Laws accused him in the shooting.
Laws did not return phone calls yesterday. In a previous interview, he said
he and Burt were in a car on May 29 when Laws stopped to speak with a group
of men. Burt and one of the men were rivals from a decade before. Laws said
Burt shot him because Burt believed Laws was trying to set him up for a
fight.
Burt's defense team had a different theory.
"My argument was this guy's a bold-faced liar, a low-level street hustler
and a con man," Pollard said. "This is nothing but a hustle to get this
guy's money."
Pollard said they were suspicious of the accusation from the start because
Laws was the only witness, there was no bullet casing or blood found where
Laws said the shooting occurred, and it took Laws three months to identify
Burt. Pollard said suspicion turned to disbelief when Race tried to speak
with Laws and was given the name of the lawyer.
"I asked him, ‘Is this because you have a lawsuit you're going to file' and
that's when the mother threw me out," Race said. "He's a moneyminded
complainant."
Burt was expected to be released from Rikers Island last night and couldn't
be reached for comment.
Patrick Clark, a spokesman for Queens District Attorney Richard Brown said,
"The jury has spoken, and we accept its verdict."
Attorney Ron Kuby, who is handling the $30-million civil suit filed by Burt,
said that price may have just gone up.
"He spent eight years in prison (plus two years awaiting trial) for a murder
he didn't commit; now he has spent another 10 months in jail for a shooting
he didn't do," Kuby said. "I think the Queens district attorney's office
should declare a moratorium on future Lazaro Burt prosecutions."