Legal battles expected to continue despite conviction in Vetrano jogger case

Last November, the family of slain jogger Karina Vetrano returned to their Howard Beach home after a mistrial in the case of the man accused of her murder. The mood was somber and stunned family members said little to each other.

But last Monday night, after a second jury convicted Chanel Lewis in just five hours for murder and sexual abuse, it was a different scene.

Scores of neighbors gathered at the Vetrano home on 84th Street to show their support. Plates of food and bottles of wine were delivered. The gathering lasted until 3 am. A bouquet of flowers showed up with a card which read “Praise the Lord.”

 “Now I can finally start grieving properly for my daughter,” Karina’s mother Catherine Vetrano said. Karina, 30, was found dead in Spring Creek Park on Aug. 2, 2016, hours after she had gone out jogging.

But neither the Vetrano nor Lewis families are finished with the case--not by a long shot. A number of legal moves are expected from Lewis’  Legal Aid Society attorneys before his scheduled sentencing on April 17, according to the attorneys and legal experts. 

The motions will be addressed to Judge Michael Aloise and likely will be aimed at challenging the conviction.

The defense is expected to argue for a delay to the sentencing based on concerns raised by an anonymous note received late in the trial that claimed cops had been focused on other possible suspects. That information, the defense lawyers said, should have been made available to them for trial.

In a statement after the verdict, Legal Aid also complained that on the day of the verdict, Aloise wrongfully dismissed defense concerns and “kept jurors for well over 12 hours –an unprecedented action—to extract a verdict.”  Jurors deliberated for about five hours, with a tea and dinner break. They had been in court a total of 12 hours that day listening to closing arguments and Aloise’s charge before deliberating. 

Defense attorneys are also likely to file a sentencing memorandum along with a report telling Aloise why Lewis should receive leniency. City probation officials are also preparing a pre-sentence report for Aloise. A spokesman for Legal Aid wouldn’t comment last week about if and when such papers would be filed.

Described by authorities as an unemployed loner from East New York, Lewis was arrested in February 2017. He  faces a maximum sentence of life without parole following his conviction on first and second degree murder, as well as sexual abuse.        

Prosecutors can also file a pre-sentencing memorandum. Vetrano’s parents Catherine and Philip, as well as her sister Tana and other relatives said they would give victim impact statements in court about how Karina’s killing has affected them. 

According to noted criminal appellate lawyer Mark Baker, once Lewis is sentenced, the appeals process can formally begin, something that can take months and even years.

One Queens prosecutor who didn’t want to be named said often in such high-profile cases it takes years for the litigation to conclude.

The dramatically different jury results in the two trials, legal experts and law enforcement officials said, appears to have stemmed from a more lengthy jury selection process that got a second panel of older jurors.  Prosecutors with the Queens district attorney's office  -- shocked by the earlier mistrial—also tinkered with their case and made adjustments.

“It was a slam dunk,” jury foreman Brian Morrissey, 63, of Bayside said in a TV interview about the verdict. “There is no doubt, no doubt, no doubt…he confessed to it, the DNA was overwhelming.”

At the core of their case, prosecutors Brad Leventhal and Michael Curtis had essentially the same evidence from the first trial. There was DNA which police said linked Lewis to the crime and his two confessions from Lewis following his arrest. Autopsy photos underscored the bloody injuries Vetrano sufferered.

Defense attorneys Robert Moeller, Julia Burke and Jenny Cheung made their case through the cross examination of prosecution witnesses.

The defense in the first trial raised the issue that Lewis’s DNA found on Vetrano’s neck and cell phone could have been transferred to her by innocent contact, perhaps from a third person. In the second trial, Leventhal anticipated that defense tactic and raised the transfer issue himself. A prosecution expert testified it was unlikely DNA transfer occurred. There wasn’t any evidence Vetrano and Lewis ever had prior contact.

“I think that tactically that was  a very smart move on behalf of the prosecution,” said Brooklyn defense attorney and former Nassau County prosecutor James DiPietro. “Experienced prosecutors will always try to bring out [potential ] weaknesses in their case to avoid it being a big splash on cross examination.”

While there was no evidence that Lewis, a black man, targeted Vetrano because  she was white, race was a subtext in the case, something Leventhal addressed in  summation.

“This case is not about race, it is not about the color of his skin…it about right and wrong,” Leventhal said.

Still, race is likely to come up again. The anonymous, unsigned letter, riddled with factual misstatements according to court records, has been used in Legal Aid court papers to bolster a defense claim that cops originally suspected  “two jacked up white guys” and carried out a race-biased dragnet among black men before zeroing in on Lewis.  

By Anthony M. DeStefano

tony.destefano@newsday.comtonynewsday

Anthony M. DeStefano has been a reporter for Newsday since 1986 and covers law enforcement, criminal justice and legal affairs from its New York City offices.