BROOKLYN, NY — The Brooklyn District Attorney’s Office is set to vacate the murder conviction of Detroy Livingston, who served nearly 35 years in prison.
District Attorney Eric Gonzalez announced that his Conviction Review Unit (CRU) found critical faults in the conviction of Livingston, 59, stemming from a 1982 Bedford-Stuyvesant bodega murder. The case hinged on the testimony of a single eyewitness, who the CRU deemed unreliable after a detailed investigation.
Livingston, paroled in April 2021, was convicted after a 1986 trial. The sole eyewitness, who was 19 at the time of the trial and on crack cocaine, gave inconsistent statements about the incident. She claimed to have seen Livingston commit the murder and identified an accomplice based on distinctive marijuana bags. However, her account contained numerous contradictions about key details and her drug use at the time.
The CRU’s investigation also highlighted the physical improbability of her testimony, including her purported vantage point during the crime, which was blocked by obstacles and possibly a security gate, according to never-before-seen crime scene photos.
Livingston will appear before Brooklyn Supreme Court Justice Matthew D’Emic today. His case adds to the list of convictions overturned by the CRU, totaling 36 since 2014, with around 40 investigations still open.