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Defense says police ignored tip

Lawyers for suspect in bank manager death said tipster pointed to another who could have posed as a cop

BY ANN GIVENS | STAFF WRITER

March 15, 2006

Cop impersonator Reginald Gousse is taken to jail after his sentencing, on April 19, 2006, in the murder of James Gottlieb in January 2005. (Newsday / Karen Wiles Stabile)

Days before Reginald Gousse was charged with shooting a Cedarhurst bank manager to death while posing as a cop, police received a tip that a different man had committed the crime, Gousse's attorney said yesterday during his trial.

The tipster told Nassau police that Amili Chambers of Cambria Heights drove a late-model Ford Expedition like the one used in the crime, and that he used it when he killed James Gottlieb, said Martin Geduldig of Hicksville.

He said that Chambers had his car rigged with a siren amplifier to seem like a police vehicle.

When police checked out the tip, they found that Chambers did indeed drive an SUV rigged with a siren, Geduldig said. But the investigation never went any further.

"They never bothered to show Chambers' photo to the eyewitness in the case, or to get a search warrant for the car," Geduldig said. "They had made up their mind that Gousse was their man, and they were going to ignore anything that contradicted that."

Gousse is being tried in Nassau County Court on charges of first- and second-degree murder, attempted armed robbery and impersonating a police officer.

Assistant District Attorney Fred Klein said that Chambers, who has no criminal record, is nearly a foot taller than the man eyewitnesses saw commit the crime.

"It's completely inconsistent with the person who committed this crime," Klein said.

Chambers could not be reached to comment.

Judge Jerald Carter ruled yesterday that Geduldig will be allowed to question police about Chambers, even as Gousse cursed the judge loudly for not allowing other testimony into the record.

Carter ruled that Geduldig cannot say the investigation of Chambers came a from tipster, because that is hearsay. He also ruled that Geduldig cannot introduce testimony about another Cedarhurst bank manager who said he was followed by a dark SUV the night before Gottlieb was killed, because he said there is not enough evidence that the two incidents are connected.

"How can I get a fair trial?" Gousse said during a break with the jury out of the room. Twice while the jury was out of the room, Gousse shouted racial epithets at Carter, who, like Gousse, is black.

Geduldig said his client is under a lot of pressure, but Klein said that's no excuse.

"Not anything to do with his innocence or guilt in this case, he's a rotten individual," Klein said.