Unreasonable Doubts

To the Editor:

Michael J. Gorman's Oct. 27 letter in response to my letter in your Sept. 29 issue implied that I'd intentionally ignored exculpatory evidence that casts doubt on former Patrolman William Phillips's murder conviction.

It was not my intent to analyze every piece of evidence and all the lengthy testimony presented in the two trials and numerous state and Federal appeals over a 10-year period. To do so would require far more space that that accorded a letter sent to the editor.

Mr. Gorman points out that the ballistics tests showed the fatal rounds were not fired by any guns Phillips owned. If Phillips were even half as smart as Mr. Gorman thinks he was, he would have used a gun he didn't own (at least not officially), and then disposed of it afterward. I believe the cops of that time referred to such a weapon as a "throwaway."

Mr. Gorman then points out that Phillips's fingerprints were not found in the apartment where the murders took place. So what? All that means is that he didn't touch anything in the apartment. The victim heard a knock at the door, he opened it, the killer (whoever he was) stormed in - BOOM BOOM BOOM - and the killer left. Most people carrying out a premeditated murder would probably try to avoid leaving fingerprints; certainly Phillips, who had once been a Detective, would know at least that much. Gorman's next point: Charles Gonzalez, the eyewitness who was at the murder scene and survived being shot, initially described the perp as being between 5'8" and 5'9" tall, whereas Phillips is 6' tall. Again, so what? Gonzalez was sitting next to the two murder victims when all three of them were shot. Not only was his adrenaline undoubtedly flowing at full throttle, but he was looking up at the killer from a seated position - not exactly ideal conditions under which to accurately gauge the perp's height. If it were me in that situation, I'd probably remember the perp as being somewhere in the neighborhood of 10 feet tall.

During Phillips's first trial, his lawyer (F. Lee Bailey) made much ado about a comment Gonzalez had made when he viewed the police line-up. Before picking out Phillips as the perp, Gonzalez had hesitated because he remembered the gunman as having "looked Italian." Though Phillips was Irish, Gonzalez nonetheless identified him as the perp. Mr. Gorman rehashes this point as well, to which I say once gain - so what? I happen to be Jewish and of Eastern European descent. Many times throughout my career, people I had arrested would try to get under my skin by insulting my heritage. I've been called Italian, Irish, Greek, and a few things that can't be printed. It means nothing. What's important is that the line-up was properly conducted within prescribed legal and procedural guidelines, and that Phillips was identified.

Simply saying, for example, that Phillips would not have been stupid enough to leave a live witness at the crime scene, without offering anything to back that claim, shows poor debating skills not worthy of a high school auditorium, let alone a court of law. As I said in my first letter, someone obviously was that stupid, because someone did precisely that. (By the way, did it ever occur to you that he simply ran out of bullets?")

Don't care for that question? Then feel free to address any of the other points I raised in my first letter, such as, oh, the 15-some-odd witnesses who saw Phillips in the building the night of the murder or heard him threatening the victim the day before (despite his sworn testimony that he had not seen the victims for three years prior to the murder); the numerous times Phillips was caught perjuring himself, his bragging to undercover investigators about how easy he found it to have shot and killed three people, even though he was only known to have been involved in one (justified) fatal shooting; his own memo book entry on the day of the murders connecting him to the victim. But please, address something. Just don't call me names or accuse me of being part of some dark conspiracy. I can get that from the people I deal with in the street; I don't need to get it in a forum that's supposed to be used for high-spirited, informed debate.

SETH KAUFMAN, Police Officer, 17th Precinct, NYPD